There is no shortage of money to build housing. There is an abundance of regulatory burdens in places that are desirable to live in.

Its not due to a lack of money that housing in SF is extremely expensive.

> US$700 billion could build a lot of infrastructure, housing, or manufacturing capacity.

I am now 100% convinced, that the US has power to build those things, but it will not, because it means lives of ordinary people will be elevated even more, this is not what brutal capitalism wants.

If it can make top 1% richer in 10 year span vs good for everyone in 20 years, it will go with former

What $700 billion can't do is cure cancers, Parkinsons, etc. We know because we've tried and that's barely a sliver of what it's cost so far, for middling results.

Whereas $700 billion in AI might actually do that.