[SideQuark]

That's not a reason. That's an anecdote, a post selected and cherry picked example. Is this truly how you'd allocate resources?

A more correct way to use reason is to look at all possible things that have been proposed that cost $500m, and see how those turn out in general. Then possibly weight using expert knowledge about this particular problem and the possible benefits. Then consider what the opportunity cost is, i.e., what you give up by spending $500m here instead of something else.

Trite armchair rebuttals are not convincing.