Comment 56455

By A Smith (anonymous) | Posted January 15, 2011 at 01:28:20

Undustrial >> The GDP is only a measure of general spending, not public or economic good

Tell that to people who lose their jobs when the economy shrinks. I agree there is more to life than money, I get it. But allowing government to take over large areas of the economy in the name of public good is idiocy.

Public good can't be measured and thus is far less reliable a metric than unemployment, wage level, or disposable income. In other words, when things we CAN measure are high, people can afford to pay more in taxes to build the things we talk describe as public goods. Without strong GDP growth, tax revenue slows and less public goods can be purchased.

>> How does one measure "partnerships" such as the stadium which amount to publicly financed private developments?

This is government distorting the marketplace. By taking money from taxpayers and building a stadium for Bob Young, it lowers the resources available to real businesses that compete for consumer dollars. The net effect is to limit the growth of innovative, profitable businesses, while rewarding ones that would otherwise go bankrupt, or have to move to a different location.

>> I'll agree in full that there's a crisis of bureaucratic and administrative overhead at work here, but it certainly isn't limited to the public sector.

The difference is that wasteful private companies don't waste tax dollars and eventually are limited in their access to capital. Not so with City Hall, they can keep spending and wasting money no matter who gets in power. Since society only has so much resources to re-invest in new ideas, does it really make sense to waste any money?

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