Matt Bai notes:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/10/02/democrats-arent-spending-too-much-money-are-they-spending-it-well/
Underlying the Democratic spending proposal seems to be an unshakeable article of faith on the left: The more money government spends, the more problems it solves. This despite a half-century’s worth of evidence, at least, that not all public spending improves people’s lives…
This, to me, is the moderate critique that makes sense — not that the reconciliation bill is too expensive but that it’s too diffuse and haphazard. Or, to put it another way, that it fails to do the one thing that is always at the core of good governance: make hard choices.
And here’s what happens, inevitably, when lawmakers fail to set priorities and throw as much money out the door as they can: They end up making mistakes that further erode public trust in government. Which makes it all that much harder to come back and ask for more desperately needed investments down the road.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/10/02/democrats-arent-spending-too-much-money-are-they-spending-it-well/
Underlying the Democratic spending proposal seems to be an unshakeable article of faith on the left: The more money government spends, the more problems it solves. This despite a half-century’s worth of evidence, at least, that not all public spending improves people’s lives…
This, to me, is the moderate critique that makes sense — not that the reconciliation bill is too expensive but that it’s too diffuse and haphazard. Or, to put it another way, that it fails to do the one thing that is always at the core of good governance: make hard choices.
And here’s what happens, inevitably, when lawmakers fail to set priorities and throw as much money out the door as they can: They end up making mistakes that further erode public trust in government. Which makes it all that much harder to come back and ask for more desperately needed investments down the road.