Dale Pierce makes this comment when discussing make-work programs in his introduction to Modern Monetary Theory:
Whether the job-guarantee program makes fighter planes or wind turbines makes no economic difference – the workers employed by it will spend their wages on the same things other workers buy.
What he fails to consider is that wind turbines make an on-going contribution to GDP — from the electricity that they generate — while creating jobs at zero cost to the taxpayer to maintain the turbines. Fighter jets when built, on the other hand, make no further contribution to GDP growth and are a continual drain on the taxpayer’s purse for running and maintenance costs. While I support government or public/private infrastructure programs, we have to ensure that the investment is in productive assets that contribute to GDP and enhance future growth. Otherwise we may as well pay people to dig holes in the ground and then pay others to fill them in — at least the on-going maintenance costs would be low.
Read more at What is Modern Monetary Theory, or “MMT”? « naked capitalism.
Could not agree more, one of the greatest failings we have at the moment is this type of spending selection being politically instead of economically driven…