Science funding

One of the latest troubling news to come out of the so called global crisis is the 15% reduction in the science budget of Spain for 2010 (You can read more here in Spanish only). Now, everyone on the government side is trying to paint the picture that the cut will not affect current plans for hiring new scientists and projects. But somehow I suspect that a 15% pinch will be felt somewhere (unless this goes to curb 15% in unjustified costs). We cannot pretend that balancing a budget with money shortfalls is an easy task, but there must be something else that can take a bite. Someone estimated that the reduction amounts to 280 million euros per year, that amounts to 4% of the money destined to the military budget, three Ronaldos, or the pension of 6 rich bankers. Fewer bombs/goals/bankers anyone?