Norway Killer gets 21-Years

[kandrathe]

Also, the money spend, is mainly manpower I guess so it is not like it is thrown away.

It is, and it isn't thrown away. What is produced by the labor? In this case, it is justice. I'd say that for the peaceful operation of a society that justice is valuable. I think there is a limit to how much we should pay for that justice, however.

But, you can't just claim that all labor spending is not wasted resource. Yes, the employed will spend their earnings on stuff. But, where did the resources come from in the first place?

For example, let's say we had a mad ruler who wanted to build a humongous butter sculpture of himself, and due to the nature of butter began building it in the cool days of autumn. By edict, he recruited all the best artists in the land and spent the nations treasury to build it. Of course, by summer everything is wasted, and the nation is bankrupt. While this is an extreme of waste, it is very appropriate for much of our government projects done for the selfish short term interests of the rulers.

Yes, those sculptors were employed all winter, but what might they have done had they worked on more useful endeavors?



This is why I focus on ROI for government work. It is never the case that ALL spending is good spending.