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Comment by Gravityloss | Hacker News Reader

There's is some government spending that has to be done anyway, but can be shifted in time so it's done when there's a recession. Things like bridge rebuilding or warships.

Of course, if you're in recession for 8 years, you start running out of such things.

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Funny thing is, there's plenty of rebuilding we could be doing, which would be quite stimulative, but it's politically unpopular because it would involve some tax and spend upfront, which would put a bit of a pinch on people in the middle and upper classes. Ironically, those same people stand to benefit from the lower classes having more discretionary income.

What are you suggesting here? Forgoing the building of civilian infrastructure and military assets until a recession is what?

Also, if you have data supporting your hypothesis, I would be very interested to see it.

But if something is worth doing, it's worth doing now.

If you had an idea for a great startup, you wouldn't wait for a few years. You'd do it as soon as it was ready.

Not necessarily. Hypothetical of two alternatives:

1. Do a small renovation to a bridge and it will stay usable for five more years, or

2. Do something more comprehensive (teardown + rebuild), after which you don't have to do anything for 20 years

If there's a temporary high in building costs, it makes sense to do 1. If there's a temporary low, it makes sense to do 2.

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