Quote:
Originally Posted by DrPhil
Can you think of any examples?
Some consider the stimulus plan an incentive for some and disincentive for others.
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Well, generally, I suppose I mainly think about taxes as creating incentives in certain areas on both the individual and business level. They can also create disincentives.
At the strongest level, I suppose we criminalize as our strongest disincentive. Is that what you are asking me?
What I wonder about with the stimulus bill in the areas that actually target what I'd consider to be directly related to the economic crisis it that by helping people and industries in the short term, we're rewarding what we want to see least, like mortgage non-payment or abandonment or irresponsible financial risk taking in business in the long term. OR to counteract this fear will see an new era of over-regulation that will hamper growth or home ownership.
ETA: let me add local school funding as an area in the sloppy areas of the stimulus. In metro Atlanta, several of the school systems pretty routinely conduct themselves in a financially wasteful way. What this funding teaches them is that if something really hurts their revenue stream they can expect the federal government to ride to the rescue, with apparently little accountability for the money they receive. Might it have been better instead to make them bear the cost for their foolish decision making coupled with the economic downturn? Perhaps. I feel like I should qualify this for anyone who thinks that the funding flows through to actually affect instruction for the kids by noting that isn't how it seems to go down. The systems with the highest spending per pupil often have the absolutely most crappy classroom conditions. The dysfunction in management prevents the money from getting to the classroom. The leadership of these systems could have made cuts to bring their costs under reasonable control, but now they don't have to.
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