We Waste Money on Lots of Useless Stuff, So Why Not ...
I was thinking re: a national ID card solely dedicated to limiting voter fraud: we waste money on … you get the idea.
But even if we do engage in massive pump-priming spending, I should hope we’ll remain at least somewhat discerning. What is the bang-for-the-buck of high-speed inter-city rail versus large amounts spent on dedicated bus lanes or a Second Avenue Subway line, etc.? We can’t spend money on everything. Surely we should look to the infrastructure spending, etc., that will deliver the best returns. I mean, is that crazy? This is the trouble with being a Hamiltonian: you’re standing on really unstable ground.
Bricolage, Reihan.
I’ve been working campus GOTV and in Colorado you can bring one of a whole set of things, birthcert, passport, photo id issued by DMV, military id, student id, etc.
Why not just use what we have?
Creating a whole bureaucy with the attendant forgery industry and the attendent policing of the bureaucracy and the policing of the forgery industry…..
sheesh.
— matoko_chan · Nov 2, 09:40 PM · #
One virtue of conservatism should be parsimony, I think.
;)
— matoko_chan · Nov 2, 09:42 PM · #
The problem from my angle is that one thing that is absolutely certain about our political system as it currently stands is that no one, absolutely no one, would be so foolish as to advocate curtailing military spending in any way, shape or form. So we have this massively bloated military budget that is politically radioactive. And it’s hard for me to particularly get bent out of shape about spending as a general vice, when the amount of money we spend on the military is so absurdly enormous. I mean there’s the fact that, for instance, we could easily defeat the combined navies of every other country in the world, or that our Air Force of 10 years ago would handily defeat the Air Force of any other nation on earth, etc etc. And then there’s the fact that the political animus against even the suggestion of reining in defense spending means that a toilet seat cover that sells for $25 in Home Depot costs the US Military $400. (I’m not kidding, you can look this stuff up.)
So when I think about us building, say, another stealth bomber that we unequivocally, absolutely do not need, and think about how many school districts have budgets that are small fractions of what it costs to buy that bomber— it’s tough to care about being profligate in our spending.
— Freddie · Nov 2, 10:30 PM · #
yup, props to Freddie.
But why can’t we be parsimonious in all spending?
Isn’t that conservative?
— matoko_chan · Nov 2, 10:46 PM · #
Stimulus bang for the buck: http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/29/bang-for-your-stimulus-buck/#more-289
They don’t list voter id cards.
— beamish · Nov 3, 03:03 AM · #
another stealth bomber that we unequivocally, absolutely do not need, and think about how many school districts have budgets that are small fractions of what it costs to buy that bomber
Then for the sake of our kids’ education, let’s build more stealth bombers.
— The Reticulator · Nov 3, 03:44 AM · #
This is why the infrastructure needs to be funded by a National Infrastructure Reinvestment Bank, which would be more objective in allocating funding than the current earmark/highway fund system.
The bigger question is: do the Democrats, and Americans, want to make lower cost, but perhaps less needed, investments to get rail and public transit systems in New England and the Upper Midwest built, or do they spend more money, at potentially greater reward, to build systems in Colorado, the Mid-Atlantic, the Southwest, that will shape population growth in these growing states?
— Martin Johnson · Nov 3, 04:03 AM · #
Then for the sake of our kids’ education, let’s build more stealth bombers.
I’m afraid I’m not sharp enough to understand this joke.
— Freddie · Nov 3, 05:15 AM · #
“I’m afraid I’m not sharp enough to understand this joke.”
Not a joke. I can’t think of much that’s more harmful to our children’s education than federal spending on it. If bombers compete for funds with the Department of Education, then let’s build bombers.
— The Reticulator · Nov 3, 05:45 AM · #
This is why the infrastructure needs to be funded by a National Infrastructure Reinvestment Bank, which would be more objective in allocating funding than the current earmark/highway fund system
You mean you want it to be independent of politics like the Federal Reserve Board is? Or like Fannie and Freddie are independent of politics?
— The Reticulator · Nov 3, 05:46 AM · #
I can’t think of much that’s more harmful to our children’s education than federal spending on it.
Then you’re probably not sufficiently familiar with your local school board.
— Consumatopia · Nov 3, 03:01 PM · #
One added benefit of a National ID Card would be the complete elimination of voter-registration drives. Get your ID (or turn 18), pick a party (perhaps be listed as “Independent” until you decide otherwise), and you can go vote. How many hours of labor do Americans devote to these drives every election year? How many people don’t get to vote because they filled the form out incorrectly, the form was entered incorrectly by the registrar, or a last-minute move makes it impossible to cast a ballot? How many bureaucrats are employed in this unnecessary task? I have no idea, but these registration drives cost something.
— Decline and Fall · Nov 3, 07:56 PM · #
Shorter Freddie: next time we go to war, I hope its closer. I don’t want to ever be in a position where the American military has a peer.
— Bfinlay · Nov 3, 08:36 PM · #
Shorter Freddie: next time we go to war, I hope its closer.
Yes, that’s an accurate rendering of what I said, right? Man, you really showed me!
I’m not asking for American peers. I am asking us to acknowledge the fact that even absent resorting to our nuclear arsenal, we are so far ahead of every nation on earth militarily that we could reduce our military expenditures and still be without peer. By a wide, wide margin. But hey, why actually confront my argument, right?
— Freddie · Nov 3, 10:30 PM · #