If you think Private Industry is short-sighted, look at politicians

Coyote Blog » Blog Archive » San Francisco: Progressive Paradise or Bankrupt Banana Republic?

I always laugh when folks tell me that government intervention is needed because private industry is too short term oriented. But no one is more short term oriented than politicians looking to the next election or closing this year’s budget hole. In particular, capital maintenance is always ignored until infrastructure is literally falling apart. We see it in parks, transit systems, roads, schools, etc. It is the same phenomenon that causes third world state-run oil companies to have their production fall off – instead of reinvesting their profits into upgrades and maintenace of their fields and infrastructure (as those short-term focused American oil companies do) they transfer the money into social giveaways that cement their political power.