Forest fires are raging across the West, but efforts to prevent forest fires — by removing dead trees and flammable underbrush — have been cut back because of budget cuts.
We have millions of unemployed workers who could do this work, but we're allowing ourselves to be hamstrung by a money fetish.
The government creates money — the Fed has been doing it massively ever since the collapse of the financial industry in 2008 — but even with no sign of inflation, we (the People, the Government) are not allowed to spend that money.
Money can be loaned to banks — where it may end up in speculation on the stock market — but we can't spend it to prevent forest fires (or for any of the hundreds of other unmet needs we face). This is crazy.
— Rick Wicks
Anchorage