Thread by @Noahpinion

1/Today's @bopinion post is about debt and green investment.

There is no reason to fear deficit spending for this kind of investment.

bloomberg.com/opinion/articl…

2/John Kerry recently declared that we would do “so much economic investment made by people up and down the economic food chain that no future president can reverse it.”

That's going to require a lot of borrowing. But that's OK!

bloomberg.com/opinion/articl…

3/First of all, the actual amount Biden wants to spend -- $170 billion a year -- is very modest compared with the amount of government investment we did in the 50s and 60s.

4/Also, deficits to fund investment are TEMPORARY. This isn't like some new permanent entitlement program. There's no way it's going to scare anyone away from U.S. Treasuries.

5/But most importantly, green investment gives us ACTUAL PRODUCTIVE STUFF.

6/Often, this investment takes the place of investments we would make anyway.

7/And these investments are really good bets! Look how cheap this stuff is getting!

Green investment is going to earn a big return.

8/Also, thanks to learning curves, installing more green technology will push the price down even more, which will lead to even bigger returns on our investment! A virtuous cycle!

rameznaam.com/2020/05/14/sol…

9/These returns won't all flow to the government in the form of increased tax revenues. Instead, much of it will accrue to society at large, in the form of CHEAPER ENERGY!

noahpinion.substack.com/p/why-im-so-ex…

10/If we view all of society as the "shareholders" of the government, then there is every economic reason to take out a bunch of debt to fund massive green investments right now.

Even WITHOUT the benefit of helping save the planet.

(end)

bloomberg.com/opinion/articl…