Yep, I agree on the inflation/debt/war=bad idea part.
I also agree, at least in principle, with educational assistance; if done well, it creates far more economic value for the country in the future than it costs today.
Some types of health care (mostly preventative) are similarly cost-effective, but the problem there is that not all health care is that way, and I'm skeptical that a politician is going to have the will to draw a line between them. Many types of chronic and elderly care, for example, cost far more than the economic benefits they'll ever create. But what politician is going to tell the AARP that they're going to fund more preventative health care, but not chronic care for seniors, even if an objective assessment says that's the best plan for the country in the long-term?
And, "expanding the EITC"? That's insanely vague.
The original article didn't actually expand the acronym, but it's the Earned Income Tax Credit. If you want to provide direct cash assistance to the poor, the EITC is actually one of the better ways of doing it; it's effectively a negative income tax on the first X dollars of someone's income.
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I also agree, at least in principle, with educational assistance; if done well, it creates far more economic value for the country in the future than it costs today.
Some types of health care (mostly preventative) are similarly cost-effective, but the problem there is that not all health care is that way, and I'm skeptical that a politician is going to have the will to draw a line between them. Many types of chronic and elderly care, for example, cost far more than the economic benefits they'll ever create. But what politician is going to tell the AARP that they're going to fund more preventative health care, but not chronic care for seniors, even if an objective assessment says that's the best plan for the country in the long-term?
The original article didn't actually expand the acronym, but it's the Earned Income Tax Credit. If you want to provide direct cash assistance to the poor, the EITC is actually one of the better ways of doing it; it's effectively a negative income tax on the first X dollars of someone's income.