re: #452 engineer dog

we’re never going to have realistic discussions about the budget until we stop thinking about money as a solid that disappears after you spend it, and start realizing that it is like a liquid, that flows from one place to another

economic activity, and therefore people producing and being able to consume the things they need, increases with the velocity of money, not the amount

government programs of any kind, social security, medicare, the military, anything, and, conversely, taxes, simply increase the velocity of money and channel it into places that we as a people consider worthwhile. if “gummint spending” is 25% of gdp, that merely means that 25% of gdp was channeled through the government this year

the money didn’t disappear - if we paid it out to seniors, doctors or hospitals, or military contractors, it’s still here

You really don’t have a clue what you’re talking about do you ?

You can increase the velocity of money, or the amount of economic activity by paying people to dig holes in the ground and then paying some other people to fill the holes in.

The point is that government spending diverts money from productive uses to almost entirely unproductive uses. Exhibit ‘A’ might be paying Michelle Obama three hundred grand a year for a completely pointless non-job, although in fairness to your “money is like a liquid” argument, it no doubt created plenty of work for Chinese handbag manufacturers.