If our fragile economy takes one little misstep this project gets shelved.
The only reason our economy is so fragile is that we've thrown a 10-year party in the Middle East and don't have the money to pay for it. And by that I don't mean to imply this tragic war was a "party," but you get the point.
The only way to fix the economy and get back on track towards making real progress is for us to collectively man up and pay the piper. It's really very simple (in theory): Figure out how much the war cost, then raise the money through Savings Bonds, increased taxes, cost cutting - any and all means at our disposal - and pay this bill now.
As a nation, we are like a family that ran up $150,000 in credit card debt and can't seem to figure out why there's never any money left to pay for essentials, much less a vacation (to Mars or anywhere else).