New column day

Here, on how a narrow focus on balancing budgets misses the more important story as to how our elected officials manage public money.

For further reading...
- Paul Krugman makes a similar point with reference to happiness economics, while highlighting the particular value of stimulus within a depressed U.S. economy.
- Ian Lovett reports on California's proliferation of "capital appreciation bonds" as a prime example of the dangerous buy now, pay later approach, while Douglas Hainks points out that Miami's new baseball stadium will escalate in cost from $91 million to $1.2 billion under a similar scheme.
- And sadly, the City of Regina's wastewater treatment plant looks like it may be added to the list of needless long-term liabilities added to our books in order to avoid an accurate accounting today.