DKO,
  My apologies.  I do love the scientific method and didn't mean it can't work very well.  It sure can and my impression is that it used to.  I would suppose that the Bell Laboratories setup was an excellent example.  I'd offer the Manhattan Project as another where it was all government money, but had a specific purpose and from all indications I've read, the efforts got the job done.  Applied science must've gotten the answers right because it did, indeed, go bang.
  More recently I've become much more skeptical.  Grant money is the big prize and grants don't seem to go in the direction of research or studies that don't conform to the popular notions of what's correct. Maybe it's just me.
 Meanwhile, I notice the EPA has fully embraced the science that says coal burning is killing us and has successfully developed science based rules that has decimated the industry, including most recently, Peabody.  You are correct I don't believe that result is based upon science--it's politics pure and simple.
Take care. Stetts