One can't argue about the cost without factoring in return on investment. If the James Webb Telescope is half as successful as the Hubble Telescope, it has the potential to reshape our understanding of the universe. In addition, the technologies developed from our space exploration and research program have been beneficial to a very wide array of products that ended up improving our quality of life.

I think that we can all agree that there's government waste. But the space program typically provides a disproportionate benefit for the cost.