Let’s go ahead and get this out of the way: nothing will ever be “adequately funded”. In any case, someone somewhere will have an idea of what else they can do with a dollar or two. The fact that they have to give up something because they have limited resources means that, in their eyes, the problem is simply that the world “doesn’t have enough funding” for whatever initiative we think is important.
There is a hidden social danger here: therefore, it is easy to think that social problems do not exist because we are dealing with inevitable trade-offs but because bad people out there have wrong values and are hindering the march of justice, prosperity, and equality. for possible vennal reasons.
You have heard that work often increases to fill the allotted time. It’s the same with budgeting and spending: the project grows to fill the resources allocated to it, and it’s easy to say from there, “if only we had more resources.”
We see this in public policy all the time. Bad roads? They need more money. Low schools? More support. Getting sick? Funding again. There are a few problems, however. Roads and schools can always get better. People didn’t know always have a better life. Blaming the problems on insufficient funding forcefully refuses to acknowledge that trade-offs exist and are inevitable. When someone says “I don’t have enough money,” they mean, “I could do more of what I think is important if I had more money.”
There are three problems. First, people can always do something with extra money, even if they insure against a future disaster by adding it to a rainy day fund. Second, funds for one thing cannot be used for another, and since we don’t have infinite resources, we have to make tough decisions about when to say “yes” and when to say “no.” Third, even if a cause is well-funded—or at least well-funded enough—to win a particular battle, it often doesn’t dissolve. on to another crusade because we look hard to find the chaff among the slow-growing piles of wheat.
A colleague used to say, “the older I get, the better I get.” It’s easy and tempting to think that there was once a golden age when we did things right. There are several things wrong with this way of thinking. First, it is false to think that we have changed things like education. Inflation-adjusted spending on K-12 education was 280% higher in 2020 than in 1960.. The idea that education is “funded” is simply false. Second, the golden age can be deceptive because of the incentives of politicians. If you’re spending money on future generations and know you’ll be gone by the time the bill comes, it’s easy to overspend on public services and delay wonderful things like maintenance. By the time the bill comes, you’ve advanced in your career, and some schmuck is stuck with the bill.
We should not blame the problems on “not getting enough funding.” Nothing it will only ever be “adequately” funded if we can think of something else to do with the next dollar–and people will always be able to think of something else to do with the next dollar.
Art Carden is Professor of Economics & Medical Properties Trust Fellow at Samford University.
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