QOTD: Public investment

Not explicitly energy-related, but this from Ethan Pollack speaks to the fallacy of federal legislators in accounting for federal investment (via Ezra Klein):

Cutting a dollar from the deficit by not repairing a road keeps you from passing one dollar of debt on to a future generation. But you are passing on a crumbling road. If you look at that using an accounting perspective that includes assets and liabilities, then by making a cut in the budget by not repairing a road, you’re not necessarily saving that money.