Anarchists Arrested for Trying to Bomb Cleveland-area Bridge

[dialectical fetishist]

Blowing up the bridges and then rebuilding them all would be excellent economic policy, however.

The broken window theory of economic development is bunk.

Well, obviously it isn't, but your objection is beside the point since the bridges are already 'broken' by wear and tear.

If you destroy a window, then you're giving work to the person to replace it, but it means the owner of said broken window is out of pocket, which could have been used to buy something else and thus stimulate the economy elsewhere.

[© Tweed the Younger]

not that I think parables are useful to explain real-world, but I'll engage.  are we not assuming that the fact the window was being broken had no effect on economic activity?  just because the money could have been spent on hookers if the window remained whole, doesn't mean I would not have sat on my ass and let the money rot under my mattress?  but surely if a bridge is blown up something would be done about it.

[TJ in Wisco]

We have enough infrastructure problems to fix around here without blowing up bridges to create new ones.

[opebo]

If you destroy a window, then you're giving work to the person to replace it, but it means the owner of said broken window is out of pocket, which could have been used to buy something else and thus stimulate the economy elsewhere.

You're not talking about the proposal at hand at all.  The bridges aren't owned by anyone who has a limited 'budget', but by the State.

Anyway, why not just produce windows and throw them into the ocean?

[True Federalist]

If you destroy a window, then you're giving work to the person to replace it, but it means the owner of said broken window is out of pocket, which could have been used to buy something else and thus stimulate the economy elsewhere.

You're not talking about the proposal at hand at all.  The bridges aren't owned by anyone who has a limited 'budget', but by the State.

Rather than building replacement bridges, wouldn't it advance the goals of the State more for them to use their printed money to hire and arm some more jack-booted thugs to go out and arrest people and put them in prison until bridges stop being blown up?  Your proposal leaves us with fewer bridges and more police, which is hardly a desirable combination.