You joke, I think, but I do think a solid welfare state delivers benefits that a mainstream economist would recognise. I fancy the long-term prospects if a country with a safety net higher than one without, all other things being equal. I see more inherent value in the public sector than the private.

Unfortunately the private sector has dominated the zeitgeist for decades; a kind of meta-regulatory-capture, if you will.

I can't trust that there will be a state pension waiting for me. So I'm in the private sector. Got some bonds in my mix, at least.

Reduced crime is the most obvious. People will eat. Wether they have to steal it or get it via a social safety net is up to society.

Those tend to invest in armaments and instruments of torture though