alt text
A cartoon depicts a chasm with a rope bridge, once connecting both sides, cut and hanging from the side of the cliff, sabotaged by a suit standing on the well forested right side beside a spool of rope and holding a saw. The left side of the chasm is a wasteland of sawn tree stumps. There’s a sign that reads “Please return saw and rope when done”. An empty box sits beneath the sign. The suit calls out to a person in the wasteland on the left side of the chasm “BUILD YOUR OWN DAMN BRIDGE LIKE I DID!” The person in the wasteland replies “WITH WHAT?! “
Caption: Capitalism at its finest
h/t to @dgar@aus.social
That’s the most efficient use of capital though. Everyone building their own bridge is stupid.
No the most efficient use is the government building the bridge because they can do it most cost efficiently when they already have to build 1000 bridges.
It also works for health care. Socialism works.
But that takes capital away from the government who could be spending it on healthcare…
Opportunity cost
They can do both.
Magic money tree eh?
They certainly seems to have one for military and police.
Every country does. Every country doesn’t need to be building bridges constantly though, there’s only so many rivers. It’s inefficient.
Better to contract that out via competitive tenders to specialist bridge builders.
Infrastructure needs to be constantly maintained and rebuilt. Do you think once someone builds a bridge, it’s fine and no one ever needs to replace it? Or that a river needs a new crossing somewhere else?
No, that’d be a stupid thing to think.
People who maintain bridges are not the same as those who build them though.
If your bridges constantly need rebuilding, you’re not building very good bridges.