An economics, investment, trading and policy blog with a focus on Modern Monetary Theory (MMT). We seek the truth, avoid the mainstream and are virulently anti-neoliberalism.
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Thursday, May 27, 2010
Does government spending create wealth?
Of course it does. Ask anyone who owns stock in a defense contractor. That's just one example.
This is such one sided thinking in this argument. So what if a defense contractor’s stock makes some money for 100,000 or a million investors while 200,000 million tax payers shove out thousands in taxes only to have government pay defense contractors. The loss of money between the calculating and analyzing taxes due, tax collection and enforcement, endless meetings about which contractors should win a bid and the watchdogs to see the money that gets paid equals the return value promised from contracts and all the other layers of BS.... I'm not sure this creates wealth.
But even nations with practically no military are broke too... so who really knows the answer to the question but your argument is by no means conclusive here.
After a little more think on topic, probably more are having money taken from them in taxes than the people who make gains in defense stocks.
But one thing is for sure. As we bomb other countries, destroy their infrastructure, destroy their businesses, it sure allows us to produce those items when others can't.
After WWII we had the lion’s share of just about everything (cars, TV, aircraft, food, etc.) because Germany, Japan, Russia, England, etc. hardly had any functioning businesses.
It's a damn shame this has become so counter-intuitive.
ReplyDeleteThis is such one sided thinking in this argument. So what if a defense contractor’s stock makes some money for 100,000 or a million investors while 200,000 million tax payers shove out thousands in taxes only to have government pay defense contractors. The loss of money between the calculating and analyzing taxes due, tax collection and enforcement, endless meetings about which contractors should win a bid and the watchdogs to see the money that gets paid equals the return value promised from contracts and all the other layers of BS.... I'm not sure this creates wealth.
ReplyDeleteBut even nations with practically no military are broke too... so who really knows the answer to the question but your argument is by no means conclusive here.
After a little more think on topic, probably more are having money taken from them in taxes than the people who make gains in defense stocks.
ReplyDeleteBut one thing is for sure. As we bomb other countries, destroy their infrastructure, destroy their businesses, it sure allows us to produce those items when others can't.
After WWII we had the lion’s share of just about everything (cars, TV, aircraft, food, etc.) because Germany, Japan, Russia, England, etc. hardly had any functioning businesses.