Quote Originally Posted by Beskar View Post
Or don't tie in the government system to the stockmarket, so governments cannot be toppled due to outside economic interests.
That would be fine... Except that the party with the most to loose there would be Labour as the concept of "fiscal surplus" is heretical, and they have done sterling work in creating the massive deficit we have.

A system of bonds on infrastructure might have been an idea: money is raised from the Market to purchase something, let's say a power plant for convenience. The ROI is calculated to be 20 years. After that the state has the powerplant to use for the rest of its life. The investors get a profit with a rock-solid backing. The state ends up with more infrastructure which then generates revenue. Same could be done with ports, airports and probably loads of other things.

As Vladimir says, the main reason for massive deficits is political cowardice. In the USA, roads are supposed to be repaired based on a petrol tax. The tax has not increased since 1993 and hence the system is almost bust. If politicians lived up to the name (men of the city i.e. there to help, not help themselves) this would be a non-issue - more money is required therefore the tax on petrol needs to increase if this is to remain the method of funding the system; infrastructure would be planned, not built based upon which Senator manages to get money thrown in their direction for voting the "right" way on one project or other.

Debt allows all major decisions to be put off until a comfortable point in the future. It reminds me of Homer Simpson purchasing a car and the dealer going over the terms of finance - low monthly cost with a MFP massive final payment at the end. "But that's a long way off, right?" was Homer's only question.

The Markets have a perversely positive effect (albeit too rarely) in forcing austerity through Parliaments who would rather Panem et Circundas for a few more years. After all, who else is going to manage to enforce fiscal responsibility? Certainly not the voters!