U.S. abandons hunt for signal of cosmic inflation

Wordplay on “Inflation” and Economic Framing

• Many comments riff on the double meaning of “inflation,” contrasting cosmic inflation with domestic price inflation.
• Several argue that cutting science has a “tiny” or negligible effect on inflation or debt, likening it to deleting a few text files to free disk space.
• Others insist that “spending must be brought under control,” but are challenged that this focus is selectively applied and often ideological.

Budget, Debt, and Tax Policy Debates

• One camp emphasizes the rising interest cost of national debt and argues “everything needs to be cut,” including science.
• Opponents say there’s “no evidence” spending is out of control and blame large, regressive tax cuts and giveaways to the wealthy and corporations.
• Disagreement over timing of tax increases (avoid them near recession vs. raise on the rich now) and over whether higher corporate taxes necessarily cause layoffs.
• Multiple comments highlight that recent legislation increased the deficit, making claims of fiscal responsibility appear hollow or fraudulent.

Science Funding vs. Social Needs

• Some argue funding should prioritize homelessness, health care, and food security over “ivory tower” cosmology.
• Others respond that science funding is ~1–2% of the budget, mostly medical, and cutting it won’t fix structural issues like housing or US health-care inefficiency.
• There is criticism that social services (Medicare/Medicaid) are being cut anyway, contradicting claims they are “untouchable.”

US Scientific Leadership, China, and Systemic Inefficiency

• Many see the cut as “deeply embarrassing,” especially as China invests in large telescopes and a Hubble-like mission, and as its share of global R&D surges.
• Some argue the US still spends more than peers on science, health, and space, but gets worse results due to systemic inefficiency and institutional bloat.
• Others counter that cutting high-impact, talent-attracting research to make a negligible debt dent is strategically self‑defeating.

Practical Value of Fundamental Cosmology

• Skeptics question the utility of large-scale cosmology, calling it “useless stargazing” compared to asteroid defense or nearer-term needs.
• Defenders note:
  • Historically, astronomy underpinned navigation, time-keeping, gravity, and relativity, which later enabled technologies like GPS.
  • Blue‑sky research produces unpredictable spin‑offs (e.g., adaptive optics, detectors, CMB’s accidental discovery).
  • You can’t know which lines of inquiry pay off; cutting them closes off unknown future benefits.

CMB-S4’s Scientific and Community Impact

• A detailed insider account describes CMB-S4 as the “endgame” Stage‑4 cosmic microwave background project, central to testing inflation models at energies unreachable on Earth.
• Its DOE status distorted related ecosystem decisions:
  • NASA declined participation in Japan’s LiteBIRD partly due to perceived overlap with CMB-S4.
  • Access to a major DOE supercomputing facility tightened because resources were being reserved for CMB-S4.
• With the abrupt US withdrawal, those tradeoffs now look like a dead end:
  • The CMB community loses its flagship project and years of coordinated planning.
  • Particle physics also loses a rare, complementary probe of ultra‑high‑energy physics.
• Commenters express frustration that a project vetted and prioritized through rigorous community and agency processes was terminated suddenly and without a clear scientific or fiscal rationale.

Politics, Populism, and Anti‑Elite Sentiment

• Several see the cut less as fiscal policy and more as populist, anti‑“elite” signaling targeting universities, scientists, and “blue” institutions.
• There is talk of rising Christian nationalism, carceral expansion, and defense spending being prioritized while education and research are defunded.
• Satirical “presidential” monologues about ending cosmic inflation reflect both ongoing ridicule of political figures and a sense of exhaustion: some find the satire itself now “too depressing.”