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Empirically, how well do you feel the US government spends its budget currently? There's often an assumption in these discussions that if a billionaire isn't s
by karzeem 11y ago
Empirically, how well do you feel the US government spends its budget currently?
There's often an assumption in these discussions that if a billionaire isn't spending their money in a socially optimal way, the government will spend it better. But if you look at how governments actually spend their money, you'll find very little evidence to support that assumption.
- RobertoG 11y agoWe know at least an instance of how billionaires spend their money. Just 158 families dominate U.S. presidential campaign contributions: http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2015/10/158-families-dominate-campaign-contributions.html http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2015/10/158-families-do... Inequality is not only about money, it's also about influence.
- riffraff 11y agoFWIW: the government doesn't have to spend more if taxes on wealthy people get higher, you can just have lower taxes on the less wealthy (or increase the no-tax area at the bottom). Government expenditures stay the same but rich people pay more and poor people pay less.
- s0uthPaw88 11y agoGovernment run social welfare programs are actually pretty efficient since they have huge economies of scale [1]. [1]http://www.cbpp.org/research/romneys-charge-that-most-federal-low-income-spending-goes-for-overhead-and-bureaucrats-is?fa=view&id=3655&emailView=1 http://www.cbpp.org/research/romneys-charge-that-most-federa...
- karzeem 11y agoI'd actually worry more about how efficiently the money is being used after it's been disbursed, not about how much government administrative costs eat up. E.g. that chart says that ~96% of Medicare spending went to beneficiaries. That sounds good, but all it means is that 96% of the dollars were paid to hospitals/doctors/medical device manufacturers/etc. It says nothing about how efficiently those people are providing their services, i.e. how efficiently those 96% of Medicare dollars are being spent. A lot of those dollars get quickly chewed up by high prices (which I'd argue are themselves caused by the market distortions that these programs foster).
- wstrange 11y agoCapitalism does a fine job at some things, but there are areas where governments deliver better outcomes. Single payer health care is a good example. We should strive to avoid dogma and choose the best available solution.