Having growing up poor, my parents were always on the lookout for bargains after they moved to the Big City of Fort Wayne. I was the contrarian of the family. Whenever they said they needed to go right and and buy something because it was, say, marked down from $100 to $80, so they could "save $20!" I told they should just stay home and save $80. I still see things that way, as in:
The bulk of the interior renovation needed to make Renaissance Square a new seat of local government is likely to cost much less than expected.
The engineering estimate for the work was $6,453,000. When the city's Board of Public Works on Wednesday opened bids, several undercut that estimate by more than $2 million. The apparent low bidder, CCI Commercial Construction, bid $4,279,000. That's about 34 percent under estimate.
[. . .]
City officials declined to comment Wednesday on how saving more than $2 million on the interior renovation would affect the project.
Wow, they'll "save" more than $2 million on the interior renovation. If they hadn't bought the building in the first place, they would have saved $14 million.
Comments
Leo:
I simply can find no fault with your command of logic.
Works for me, too.
When I go into Kroger, make a purchase and they hand me the receipt, they normally always say "You saved $X." For many years I would always reply "Had I not bought anything, I would have saved $Y." My wife after years of doing this finally got me to stop.
My father always told me "It is not how much you make, but how you spend it."
This is how the U.S. Federal/State/Local Governments are saving themselves by spending more.
I am glad I am not alone.
No William. When you would go to Kroger, and saved money buy not buying anything (as opposed to buying groceries on sale and saving a tad) you would starve to death.
It's the law of unintended consequences.
AJ