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My comments are all US-based: Alternatively we (govt) should be taking advantage of historically low interest rates to spend money on infrastructure maintenanc
by ergothus 8y ago
My comments are all US-based:
Alternatively we (govt) should be taking advantage of historically low interest rates to spend money on infrastructure maintenance that we KNOW needs to be fixed. This provides stimulus (or wealth transfer, depending on your perspective) through creating jobs and fixes a looming problem before it stops looming. We'll have to pay the price one way or another, and right now the price is at a discount.
I read a report claiming that the tax-cuts are in effect demonstrating short-term stimulus spending. Based on my anecdotal observations from trying to read/hear viewpoints from across the political spectrum, lower-income conservatives ARE seeing a difference in their paychecks, and they like it. So the not-fiscally-conservative conservatives are proving the point the fiscally-conservative conservatives don't believe in, at the risk of proving the fiscally-conservative conservatives right about the longer-term costs because of the methods chosen.
I do feel bad for those that are truly fiscally-conservative: They've not really had anyone to vote for in a long time.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- ghouse 8y agoUnfortunately, infrastructure maintenance doesn't get people (re)elected. Infrastructure expansion does. And infrastructure expansion increases the future burden of infrastructure maintenance. +1 on the lack of true fiscally conservative. The choice is between tax-and-spend and cut-tax-and-spend. Of those choices, the tax-and-spend is the fiscal conservative.
- tormeh 8y ago>right now the price is at a discount The price is generally at a discount in bad times, when there's a lot of people and companies looking for work. And it's not like the central banks around the world are going to increase interest rates in a downturn.
- spectrum1234 8y agoHow do other countries avoid this? I understand that modern governments generally do have this same problem, but how do they do slightly better than the US?