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Profit is not a dirty word. I don't think that's an argument anyone is making. Profit is not _sufficient_ motivation to make a lot of infrastructure happen, and
by Arn_Thor 3y ago
Profit is not a dirty word. I don't think that's an argument anyone is making. Profit is not _sufficient_ motivation to make a lot of infrastructure happen, and until that's recognized we'll be building too little, too late. I think most actually would agree with the rest of your points--I certainly do.
- samatman 3y agoIf it isn't profitable overall, it shouldn't be built. Whether or not it should be profitable at the point-of-sale is a different question. But public goods which don't contribute to the common wealth are parasitic makework enriching the few at the expense of the many.
- Arn_Thor 3y agoYou're baking in a lot of assumptions in the statement "profitable overall". I take it that you mean "benefits society in a way that more than makes up for its cost" but a private company doesn't care, they naturally want immediate or (relatively) short-term profits. A country's first trans-national railway is naturally almost always a net benefit, to take an example, but it's too expensive for the private sector to build alone and almost certainly wouldn't be properly profitable for decades until the infrastructure grows around it. Some infrastructure or public service building also facilitates something else indirectly, or over a long enough time that it wouldn't feature into any direct calculus. The same goes for services. And how does one quantify this "profitable overall" requirement? This is why big projects are often ultimately a political choice, lambasted by businesses and economists, which often (but not always) are greatly appreciated in hindsight. That shouldn't be carte blanche for people to go out and spend tax money, but it illustrates a certain dilemma.