4 ms·

There was a phenomenon that emerged (or maybe it didn't, maybe this speaks more about my age) in the Blair years in the UK, where there would be loud, repeated

There was a phenomenon that emerged (or maybe it didn't, maybe this speaks more about my age) in the Blair years in the UK, where there would be loud, repeated announcements of massive amounts of cash for various projects. How did they afford such investments? Oh they didn't. They simply repeatedly announced the same spending. 0 money, lots of good headlines. I think this peaked a few years back, where it turned out the promised number of "new" nurses in the NHS actually included the number of nurses who they had expected to quit but thought would no longer quit. This headline sounds very much like that.

est31 5y ago
Often, especially common in politics, these sums are also "up to" caps on programs that folks can apply to with proposals. Often the bars are so high that nobody can pass them, or applying is extremely complicated, so only a fraction is actually paid out in the end. But it makes good headlines. E.g. the German federal government subsidizing last mile internet infrastructure construction. The program runs since 2015 and contains 11 billion EUR. Of which only 570 million have been paid out. https://netzpolitik.org/2020/immer-noch-bleiben-viele-foerdermittel-liegen/ https://netzpolitik.org/2020/immer-noch-bleiben-viele-foerde...
tootahe45 5y ago
This is exactly what my prime minister (New Zealand) has been doing, and she previously worked for the Tony Blair campaign. Seems to be working quite well for her.