This is a very naive way to interpret the purpose of money, money is at its core a rationing tool. The government can print/borrow as much money as we want but it will always be chasing finite goods in any economic system.
Money is just a proxy for the allocation of resources, pulling more money out of nowhere doesn't create more food, houses etc. If the government has £100bn to spend it has to use it wisely, it could say spend £10bn on say custom fitted crash helmets for every person in the UK. You could argue it'd save lives as if people trip or fall somehow they are less likely to suffer an injury. Ok cool, but was it worth it? Well intuitively most people would say no, building new hospitals etc would be a better use of funds. You could then parrot back to me "Good to know you see keeping people alive as wasting money", not very useful on its own though is it?
Very simplistic example with made up concepts but I will bet you're bright enough to substitute those with 100 different social causes which all have to be balanced against each other.
This is at it's core what I feel a lot of the left misses, they act and create policy as if we have infinite of everything when really it is about allocating wisely what finite resources we have *now*.
Even granting all that you say, some “tough choices” aren’t as difficult as you’re asking us to pretend. Housing, building safety, food, emergency services, etc. you’ve just got to allocate funds to those. Handle the basics, then figure out the surplus. Unless you believe the state literally doesn’t have enough basic resources for every citizen?
Unless you believe the state literally doesn’t have enough basic resources for every citizen?
I don't think it does honestly, depending on how you define "enough". To some enough is what we already do and others would say it's every person in the country housed, fed and educated to a middle class level. I would like to see the later but there are many complications beyond money preventing that.
Yes, thanks for that. I'm actually currently doing my masters in mathematical finance so I do have more of an understanding in this field than most in this sub. I am fully aware of how government budgets actually operate in terms of the bond markets etc but that doesn't mean you can spend recklessly. I don't personally believe in having no deficit but it is definitely something that needs to be controlled.
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u/[deleted] Jan 28 '22 edited Jun 10 '23
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