You seem very misinformed.
[People who need a job do not relate to moonbases and other federal boondoggles.]
A moonbase as a goal is not about having a moonbase. It is about a goal that enthuses people about math and science again. Do you have any idea how many technologies we take for granted today originated in the first moon program ? And Newt did not even propose NASA be funded to do open-ended research, but just dangling carrots out in the form of X-prizes for winners of competitions that meet the requirement for each stage. A $100M prize can spur billions of dollars of research by private companies.
[Now, if he called for replacing the entire welfare bureaucracy with a single streamlined agency ...
If he did that, he would literally be able to walk into the White House.]
Funny, Newt has spoken often of consolidating the 70+ federal welfare programs into a single program, and eliminating the double-dipping. He rightly takes credit for the first welfare reform, but plans a second more radical reform that collapses all the various programs into one.
enthusing people about math and science is not a federal case IMO