Comment 73655

By jorvay (registered) | Posted February 02, 2012 at 11:27:55 in reply to Comment 73653

True Ryan, but the core of my argument (however rambling it might have been) is that over the life of a city, purchases that seem big to you and me start seeming a lot less significant and much more predictable. Sure when I bought my first car, I didn't have much in the way of a down payment and took on a good chunk of debt, but I knew that car would only last me so long before it wore out or I needed a more family-friendly vehicle, so I accelerated my payments and started saving a bit extra on the side. Now I've bought that second car and those savings (plus interest earned) have made it a less debt-building experience. By my next one, I hope to pay for it in cash. Of course we can't stop all infrastructure work in the city now and just save up until we can afford to fund it all with cash, but that shouldn't stop us from slowly and responsibly transitioning to cash-funding all capital costs over a few generations. An extra dollar spent now could save our children $1.50, and their children $2, and so on. Some might call this intergenerational unfairness in favour of the future, but I'd suggest that it's better than making things worse for future generations (taking on more debt) or keeping things "fair" by maintaining the status quo.

Permalink | Context

Events Calendar

There are no upcoming events right now.
Why not post one?

Recent Articles

Article Archives

Blog Archives

Site Tools

Feeds