It seems pretty clear to me that without government support (National Science Foundation (NSF) grants are funded to a large extent by taxes, are they not?), our hobby would be without ANY of the large observatories, since the Market (aside from amateurs wanting to look and take pretty pictures) doesn't have any commercial incentive to fund astronomical or cosmological research. Am I wrong? Likewise, would colleges even offer degrees in Astronomy if government funding of science education were to go away?