Comparing Budgets: NASA v. United States v. Consumers v. Google Lunar X PRIZE

A great discussion is happening over at Universe Today which centers around a graph of United States budget expenditures compared to the proposed NASA budget (USD $18.7 billion). The graph drives the point home, but I thought I'd rearrange it, and add a few of the other consumer spending trends mentioned in that article, just for clarity (I never pass up the opportunity to make an awesome graph). And finally, for good measure, I've thrown in the expected budget of a Google Lunar X PRIZE team in their mission to land on the Moon.

How's that for perspective?

(All data taken from the graph/article at Universe Today, which in turn pulls data from a number of sources. See link above.)