Raise the Hammer

Ryan, >> It's easy to attack the idea that only government schemes can produce wealth. The problem is that no one, from what I can tell, is making that argument.

Almost every piece written on this site involves government and how taxpayer dollars will be spent to help this city come back to life. However, if allowing politicians to make spending decisions is the way to increase the city's quality of life, why hasn't it worked already? Why is it that people would rather live in Burlington, which has much less in the way of government services, than live in Hamilton?

One reason I can see, is that when people and businesses are allowed to keep more of the money they earn, they end up spending more in the community that actually produces value. Whereas in Burlington, people might fix up their house more often, which leads to a nicer neighborhood, the residents of Hamilton aren't given that option. Instead, we get a "grand scheme" that only a few people utilize and that most of us end up hating.

Just because government spending is big and visible, does not mean it adds as much value to the city as does a million little projects. Every time an individual can spend his/her own money, it adds life and vitality to the city's economy in a way that government spending can't. Individuals know what makes them happy and they spend money in order to maximize their happiness. When government spends money, it makes political compromises. As a result, no one person ends up truly happy, and most people are less than satisfied. In aggregate, every dollar spent by government, delivers much less happiness than a dollar spent by an individual. This has to be the case, because politicians can never spend other people's money as well as they could themselves, it isn't possible.

Therefore, if you want the city to cover the basics, such as sewage, arterial roads, water, that's fine, but then start dropping the tax rate and let individuals direct all the other spending decisions. That way, the total utility from spending in the city would start to increase and this would lead to a much better place to live.