Thanks for the link to the mobile version, MUCH better! I am not very familiar with the funding system in the states (I assume that you are mostly from the US?), but I had a discussion with another scientist friend about the article (long train ride). He thinks that basic research (a category that includes antibiotics research) should be government funded, all if it, without going for how "cool" a subject is, but how necessary it is. The "hot topics" should also be government funded but in the same way it is done now. Take interesting ideas, make a contest, fund the most promising/interesting. In Germany at least, funding for microbiology project is very bad (unless you work on EHEC for example) while funding for stem cell project is way too strong (in my opinion)