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A few things missed by this overly simplistic analysis: Alternative energy investment, to name one of many examples in Obama's economic plan, isn't "make work"

A few things missed by this overly simplistic analysis: Alternative energy investment, to name one of many examples in Obama's economic plan, isn't "make work". This sort of research is necessary if our society is going to survive the inevitable oil depletion problem, and will create wealth in the long-term. Improving our infrastructure, which is in desperate need of repair, isn't make work. No one that I am aware of is seriously proposing make-work. Bush's war and no-bid contracts to his buddies look a lot more like "make work" than anything Obama is proposing. Also, these problems are too complex to frame in terms of creation or destruction of wealth. Is wealth being destroyed as real estate prices revert to fairer values? Perhaps, but this is a good "destruction". Also, adding to the aggregate wealth while destroying jobs (without replacement; job "churn" would be a great thing if this society were better at training people up) and creating inequality is a very bad thing. Finally, the wealth of the wrong people (such as the uncouth trashy real-estate nouveaux who destroy culture everywhere they go) is a horrible thing and must be destroyed.

gravitycop 18y ago
Bush's war and no-bid contracts to his buddies look [...] like "make work" Were Bush or his action or policies mentioned in the article?
anamax 18y ago
> Alternative energy investment, to name one of many examples in Obama's economic plan, isn't "make work". This sort of research is necessary if our society is going to survive the inevitable oil depletion problem, and will create wealth in the long-term. Not so fast. Some alternative energy "investment" may end up being useful. A fraction of that will end up being worth more than it cost. However, the history of govt spending on "alternative energy" is filled with boondoggles that were worse than "make work". If you're going to argue that Obama's program will be different, you're going to have to do more than describe "features" of things that failed in the past.

gravitycop 18y ago

Bush's war and no-bid contracts to his buddies look [...] like "make work" Were Bush or his action or policies mentioned in the article?

anamax 18y ago

> Alternative energy investment, to name one of many examples in Obama's economic plan, isn't "make work". This sort of research is necessary if our society is going to survive the inevitable oil depletion problem, and will create wealth in the long-term. Not so fast. Some alternative energy "investment" may end up being useful. A fraction of that will end up being worth more than it cost. However, the history of govt spending on "alternative energy" is filled with boondoggles that were worse than "make work". If you're going to argue that Obama's program will be different, you're going to have to do more than describe "features" of things that failed in the past.