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The cost of action and the cost of inaction - Finance Watch
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These rules, which the vast majority of economists agree are meaningless, reflect the conditions in place 35 years ago when the Maastricht Treaty was negotiated. This snapshot of the state of public finances in the early 1990s became a sacred cow, and EU law decided that the world would never change again! Public action is now constrained by a self-imposed straitjacket; remember that the debt of the United States amounts to 124% of its GDP and Japan’s to 260%. This is likely to cost the EU dearly. “It should be dynamic and economic in nature, it should take into account how the world is changing and, above all, it should be based on a comparison between the cost of action and the cost of inaction.” While the cost of action to prepare for the future is undeniably high, it is crucial not to consider this alone, as doing so risks leading to poor decision-making.