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> And the government can just declare "property rights are lovely but we're suspending them in this emergency, here are some IOU for after we raise taxes to cov

> And the government can just declare "property rights are lovely but we're suspending them in this emergency, here are some IOU for after we raise taxes to cover this". Which would have a largely equivalent effect in real terms to money In no way this has the same effect. The uber wealthy have an even easier time of hiding their property in this case, and the mid wealthy react much worse (violently) to private property forfeits than to the usage of printing press (which as you say most of us don't even understand). > Most governments struggle to deliver a balanced budget when they try. All the people who know how to make good financial decisions are in private industry making them. This is very old bullshit, and thinking like this leads to parties trying to be cool by hiring people from industry with the consequent terrible results ( this trope is so old its even parodied on yes minister).

roenxi 6y ago
> The uber wealthy have an even easier time of hiding their property in this case, and the mid wealthy react much worse (violently) to private property forfeits than to the usage of printing press The uber-wealthy are the major beneficiaries of money printing, they are going to come out of the stimulus ahead. And people probably wouldn't be violent, it would be about as difficult as collecting taxes - ie, not that bad. > This is very old bullshit, and thinking like this leads to parties trying to be cool by hiring people from industry with the consequent terrible results ( this trope is so old its even parodied on yes minister). Being unable to identify that the person who they hired is, effectively, scamming them is a clear sign that they are financially incompetent. It isn't hard for someone with a good grasp of accounting to figure out if someone else is bettering or worsening a financial position. Particularly for government work which is neither novel nor commercially risky.
- Klinky 6y ago
  Private industry is certainly not immune from incompetence or accounting scandals. Wirecard just happened, and history has many other examples. Corruption exists in both private and public sectors.
  - eadmund 6y ago
    > Private industry is certainly not immune from incompetence or accounting scandals. Wirecard just happened, and history has many other examples. Corruption exists in both private and public sectors. This is getting way off-topic, but there is one key advantage to private industry: there are typically competitors. A bad CEO can ruin one firm, but a bad politician can ruin a country. Also typically, a bad CEO may not use armed men to force his employees to do things; a bad politician may.
    - Klinky 6y ago
      Lehman Brothers didn't ruin the country? At least there were competitors that could take up the slack, oh wait they all made the same mistakes and basically ruined the entire world. A CEO can outsource labor and materials procurement to countries where armed men are coercing employees/slaves. It's quite likely a company is outsourcing human rights violations. They can also put out marketing campaigns during pandemics worshipping "heroes" while putting their employees in harms way for no extra pay. There has also been a rash of hostile environments involving sexual harassment and racist behavior. Coercion doesn't always require a gun in your face.

roenxi 6y ago

> The uber wealthy have an even easier time of hiding their property in this case, and the mid wealthy react much worse (violently) to private property forfeits than to the usage of printing press The uber-wealthy are the major beneficiaries of money printing, they are going to come out of the stimulus ahead. And people probably wouldn't be violent, it would be about as difficult as collecting taxes - ie, not that bad. > This is very old bullshit, and thinking like this leads to parties trying to be cool by hiring people from industry with the consequent terrible results ( this trope is so old its even parodied on yes minister). Being unable to identify that the person who they hired is, effectively, scamming them is a clear sign that they are financially incompetent. It isn't hard for someone with a good grasp of accounting to figure out if someone else is bettering or worsening a financial position. Particularly for government work which is neither novel nor commercially risky.

Klinky 6y ago
Private industry is certainly not immune from incompetence or accounting scandals. Wirecard just happened, and history has many other examples. Corruption exists in both private and public sectors.
- eadmund 6y ago
  > Private industry is certainly not immune from incompetence or accounting scandals. Wirecard just happened, and history has many other examples. Corruption exists in both private and public sectors. This is getting way off-topic, but there is one key advantage to private industry: there are typically competitors. A bad CEO can ruin one firm, but a bad politician can ruin a country. Also typically, a bad CEO may not use armed men to force his employees to do things; a bad politician may.
  - Klinky 6y ago
    Lehman Brothers didn't ruin the country? At least there were competitors that could take up the slack, oh wait they all made the same mistakes and basically ruined the entire world. A CEO can outsource labor and materials procurement to countries where armed men are coercing employees/slaves. It's quite likely a company is outsourcing human rights violations. They can also put out marketing campaigns during pandemics worshipping "heroes" while putting their employees in harms way for no extra pay. There has also been a rash of hostile environments involving sexual harassment and racist behavior. Coercion doesn't always require a gun in your face.