What's stopping the US from solving these incredible social, scientific etc problems isn't money. It's the will of the people in particular politicians. Many of whom are themselves taking money by people and companies who benefit from these problems being unsolved.
The comment you're calling naive is clearly aware of this fact, given the statement "if the public could be as compelled by anything non-security related".
What's stopping the US from solving these incredible social, scientific etc problems isn't money. It's the will of the people in particular politicians. Many of whom are themselves taking money by people and companies who benefit from these problems being unsolved.