Maybe government’s just not very good at spending money?

We put this forward just as an idea you understand. A thought to chew over:

The Rapid Charging Fund, a £950m project to line Britain’s motorways with superfast chargers, would help drive Britain into the electric car era, subsidising the installation of stations and giving motorists the confidence to make the switch to EVs.

….

But almost five years after the Rapid Charging Fund was announced, not a penny of the £950m fund has been deployed and not a single charger has been built with its backing. The support fund, once trumpeted as a pillar of Britain’s electrification, remains in limbo after a series of reviews and consultations.

It is possible - you know, perhaps? - that it’s not British government at fault, it’s some deeper problem? For, over The Pond:

As President Joe Biden’s term comes to an end, social media users are falsely claiming that his administration spent billions of dollars on the construction of just a handful of electric vehicle charging stations. Multiple high-profile figures, including sitting members of Congress, have promoted the claims.

In detail:

CLAIM: The Biden administration spent $7.5 billion to build eight electric vehicle charging stations.

The defence - and do note, this is the defence against the claim:

The $7.5 billion figure refers to the total amount allocated through the 2021 law to build a network of charging stations across the U.S., not the amount that has already been spent. There are currently 214 operational chargers in 12 states that have been funded through the law…

Hmm.

The justification for government building the chargers is that we’re in a chicken and egg situation. Folk won’t buy those EVs that require charging stations until there are charging stations. Therefore government must pump prime the charging network.

Government attempts to pump prime and doesn’t. Therefore our conclusion must be that government isn’t very good at spending money.

No, no, that’s not the thought, the point to chew over. That’s a proof but it’s a proof in a very limited sense. It’s a proof that it is government itself - not the British, nor the US - which is bad at building EV chargers.

The thought, the wider point that requires that greater mastication. If government is this bad at something really relatively simple then how bad is it with the other £1.2 trillion (or, $6.8 trillion) it spends each year? And given how bad it appears to be from the limited proof we have shouldn’t we be slashing away at that micturation up the wall of the nation’s wealth?

Initial consideration says yes, yes we should. And here’s the thing - we don’t think that conclusion changes upon further consideration.

Tim Worstall