That is an absurd amount of money to pay for xxx (X-post from OOT)

[pvn]

From El Diablo's OOT post here:

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I personally don't care enough about watches and cars to spend a ton of money on them. On the other hand, I spend a ton of money on restaurants, alcohol, and concerts. This could be completely reversed for someone else. So, it's pretty useless for either of us to comment on the amount spent by each other on these items, since our perceived utility of money spent on these things is just totally different for personal preference reasons.

[/ QUOTE ]

Now, any time something is funded by taxation, what is happening is that some people are commenting on the amount spent on something by other people. Oh, and in this case they back their comments up with guns.

[Propertarian]

Right, which is why government spending should focus on things with positive externalities, curbing things with negative externalities, public goods, redistribution, economic security, natural monopolies, correcting mistakes made via lack of perfect information in the market, preventing collusion/monopoly, i.e. correcting market failures and creating markets where they are incomplete.

Amazingly, in democracies world wide, it is. Tax money isn't normally spent buying people who would prefer an XBOX an IPOD.

In other words, your post is a big, fat strawman fallacy.

[hmkpoker]

[ QUOTE ]

Right, which is why government spending should focus on things with positive externalities, curbing things with negative externalities, public goods, redistribution, economic security, natural monopolies, correcting mistakes made via lack of perfect information in the market, preventing collusion/monopoly

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...all of which are also subjective in value, but in the absence of and ability to gauge their value through voluntary trade, are simply taken for granted at face value as "valuable" because the great central thinktank says so. And because we have no choice either way.

[pvn]

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Right, which is why government spending should focus on things that I like, curbing things that I don't like

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Standard.

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correcting mistakes made via lack of perfect information in the market

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Does government have perfect information? If not, how will government spending correct mistakes made via the lack of perfect information?

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preventing collusion/monopoly

[/ QUOTE ]

By being the monopolist,

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Tax money isn't normally spent buying people who would prefer an XBOX an IPOD.

[/ QUOTE ]

True. It's normally spent buying people (e.g.) a big fat boondogle on the other side of the world when they'd really want an iPod.

[hmkpoker]

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True. It's normally spent buying people (e.g.) a big fat boondogle on the other side of the world when they'd really want an iPod.

[/ QUOTE ]

The $300+ billion spent on the war could have bought every man, woman and child in America an iPod AND an XBox.

[Propertarian]

[ QUOTE ]

Does government have perfect information? If not, how will government spending correct mistakes made via the lack of perfect information?


[/ QUOTE ] Ummm...health regulations, safety codes, product labeling, licenscing etc. The government doesn't need to have perfect information to ensure that market participants have better information/are protected from wrong information

[Propertarian]

Democracy?

If most voters don't think these things are valuable, why do they vote for politicans who provide them?

[WordWhiz]

[ QUOTE ]
Democracy?

If most voters don't think these things are valuable, why do they vote for politicans who provide them?

[/ QUOTE ]

Because democracy itself is a peculiar type of market failure.

[Propertarian]

I'm certainly not in favor of how the war is being run, but I'm pretty sure the majority of Americans supported starting the war and that the majority of people in Iraq are glad to see Hussein gone.

[Propertarian]

Who did what with the what now?