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johnsmith1840yesterday at 9:26 PM1 replyview on HN

I guess I'm ignorant but why do we continue overspending worldwide?

Like do these groups all have heavy metrics about how budget is growing so we actually know anything is in balance here?

I guess I've never seen proper studies around:

"We project tax revenue will grow X amount with this level of confidence therefore we know we can consistently be within Y range of debt growth forever safely"

Or are we all just hoping we all die before someone has to comes in and cuts services spending in half?


Replies

xienzeyesterday at 10:10 PM

> I guess I'm ignorant but why do we continue overspending worldwide?

Social programs are popular with voters (well, the ones who benefit from them without paying sticker price), no one ever wants to take a step backwards in lifestyle (especially government employees), and there’s an unwavering belief that any amount of spending is “fine”, all we need are those damned rich people to pay their fair share.