I already gave really good examples. Repaving roads that are still viable through regular maintenance.
There are plenty of examples and most have to do with encouraging the replacement of goods that normally would still be considered useful. For instance all the cars that were crushed for cash, with the only requirement being they were still fully functional.
[EDIT] Keep in mind, inflation, a tax on all wealth, was being used to destroy wealth, in the interest in spurring further economic growth. It just so works out that industries and corporations closely aligned with politicians were the economic winners. Shocking, right?
Besides the pure cost savings of public services, I'd love to know about the second-order economics effects: the growth of the tax base, the founding of more small businesses and the increase in economic activity due to people (rightly or wrongly) feeling safer on the streets. One can imagine startups run by former homeless who have a unique perspective due to their experiences, or who have discovered inexpensive solutions to problems, or who simply would be the type to start a company if they hadn't hit some bad luck at some point.
Economically healthy means there are jobs with healthy wages, etc. Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Boston would be healthier than say Detroit, Cleveland, or Bakersfield.
Productive means the money causes things to actually happen like new product development, entrepreneurship, research, health care, etc., vs. just sitting in a bank. Productive also means it benefits people doing real things vs. just collecting rent and sitting around.
Look at Silicon Valley and imagine how much more angel capital there might be if real estate were not so inflated. When someone buys a $1.5M starter home, that's $1M not available for other investments.
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