Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Too Much Money

In the upcoming election, Texans will be voting on 16 propositions to pass the legislature. Proposition 15 wants to give hospitals and researchers 3 billion dollars to try to find a cure for cancer. Most of the money will go to Houston and Baylor because they have some of the best experts in the country working to find a cure. Giving money for cancer research sounds good, but the problem is that 3 billion dollars has to come out of taxpayers pockets. Taxes are going up as it is, this will only make them go up faster. People that are for the proposition say that the money is needed to save the 35,000 Texans that die from cancer a year. Lance Armstrong is promoting the proposition for the same reasons. Cancer research has been very highly funded in the past and is still funded heavily today, but what has come of it? with all money, technology and hard work no one as found a cure for cancer. it is still a good chance that even with 3 billion dollars of taxpayer money our experts still wont find a cure. Without the cure, can the money be justified? Experts say they wont know until they try; 3 billion dollars is a huge amount just to "try".
The bottom line is that this proposition is too much of a burden on taxpayers. 3 billion dollars is not an amount that is easily collected, our government also doesn't have the best record of using our taxes wisely. There are so many other diseases that are killing countless amount of people. These diseases need research money as well, if we poor all our efforts into cancer then we are condemning all the other people dieing of other diseases. I want a cure for cancer to be found, but we can't afford to give 3 billion dollars to hospitals to do it with. They are being funded as it is, and there are other ways for Private and public institutions to get more funding.

2 comments:

Mvdh05 said...

I fee that the author of “ To much Money” discussing proposition 15, has done a good job of stating his opinion for not providing the three billion dollars to cancer research.

I feel like he was a little blunt though in getting his point across, and could have been more considerate to the people who do feel strongly about getting proposition 15 passed.

Instead of saying none of the three billion should go to cancer research, he could of said that splitting the three billion dollars to the top five diseases that are killing people every year would help save more lives in the long run.

Yes I understand how you feel that billions of dollars have been put into finding the cure for cancer and there has been no luck, but it is better to know that we gave it another shot. Rather than having that feeling of doubt…that what if that money had made a difference.

Those families that are actually going through the cancer process with a loved one, have hope that every penny will help to save many lives.

Also, what if you or somebody you love gets cancer, and you did not help support the research, because you thought it was a waste of money. How would that make you feel?

Julianne said...

In response to "Too Much Money"

In response to Josh's article, I thought it was well written with valid points and can see where he is coming from. He believes that the proposal of Texas granting $3 billion to cancer research is too much and Texas will not benefit, especially if no cure is found. While I agree that $3 billion is a high number and think perhaps it should not all be given at one time, I do believe granting money for cancer research is a good idea.

On a personal level, because my best friend had cancer and beat it, and because I have lost family to it and am therefore at a greater risk for getting it, I would much rather see money going towards cancer research than to the war in Iraq.

Thirty-five thousand people die from cancer a year in Texas alone; compare that to the 3,000 casualties from September 11th, and the billions of dollars that are going towards the war in Iraq, sparked from September 11, which is killing more people than saving people. Not that those fallen on 9/11 should not receive justice, I'm just saying that money could just as well be going towards finding cures for cancer, and other deadly diseases.

Even if no cure is found right away, the money spent is used for a good purpose and contributes to bringing researchers that much closer to finding a cure.