tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8807685073027188764.post562790145593936017..comments2024-03-14T08:38:46.219-07:00Comments on Biophilia: Who's got the biggest piggy bank?Burkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08135758421220520531noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8807685073027188764.post-38724647075461287792011-07-22T13:40:13.362-07:002011-07-22T13:40:13.362-07:00Thanks, Steven. One can make a principled case aga...Thanks, Steven. One can make a principled case against "excess" government spending, if the government were somehow objectively holding back the progress of private enterprise. But it isn't. Quite the opposite- in so many areas, like research, schools, roads, military spending, agricultural extension, and on and on, the government is in a productive partnership with private enterprise. <br /><br />The main thing that government activities hold back are many forms of private corruption (via regulation) and harms to the public good (pollution, poverty, etc.). <br /><br />This is all particularly true of the financial sector, which relies entirely on the services of government for basic support, like the currency, not to mention bailouts after unpleasant free-market blowups. <br /><br />I guess what you mean by collectivism is any responsibility to their fellow-citizens other than haranguing them to get moral and get rich and get god, as if that would miraculously produce spending/jobs in the current environment. Perhaps saying it more often would help!Burkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11158223475895530397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8807685073027188764.post-72865794421252910182011-07-16T11:28:47.854-07:002011-07-16T11:28:47.854-07:00Hear hear!
One hears the non-stop litany of "...Hear hear!<br /><br />One hears the non-stop litany of "the government is over-spending!" - which of course makes little economic sense.<br /><br />What they really mean is that they are politically opposed to too much collectivism, but they are disguising it as an economic argument.Steven Starkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07677314285938844360noreply@blogger.com