[jonplackett]

Politicians always seem to be scared to front-load costs.

Happens with military/infrastructure spending all the time - get a cheap initial quote and then get screwed long-term.

And with covid. Govs didn't have the courage to lock down early and fast / close borders and cost themselves a lot of money in the short term.

[mrob]

This is rational behavior. Voters cannot distinguish proactive spending from embezzlement. Politicians need to allow the problem to occur to prove that the money is actually needed.

[jonplackett]

In the case of covid - it would have happened everywhere else. So they would just have looked incredible le smart.

But with IT stuff, yeah it’s tough to justify - but maybe after things like this happen it will be easier. Sometimes you need a Pearl harbour to get stuff done!