Re: Oh Josh!!!!!

On Sat, 18 Aug 2007 14:09:12 -0700, Pies de Arcilla
<dearcilla@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On Aug 13, 8:37 am, Josh Hill <userepl...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Sun, 12 Aug 2007 15:31:10 -0700, Pies de Arcilla

<dearci...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Aug 11, 2:24 pm, "Very Busy Guy" <sireg...@xxxxxxx> wrote:
(forgive the top posting)

The IRS is collecting revenues HAND over FIST, and that should make
liberal democrats happy.

Government spending is the problem, not taxation. When the government
taxes someone, it's only redistributing wealth. When the government
spends money on something, it's destroying wealth.

That's incorrect, Pies. Government spending is at essence no different
from any other kind of spending. For example, when the government
builds a needed highway, it's making a capital investment. So too when
it educates a child. And beyond that, if government were to, say, stop
funding the military, and the country was invaded, wealth wouldn't do
much good.

Regarding government "investments", see Orwell and his comments about
political language. It's an abuse of the word "investment" to speak of
government "investment". That's because a real investor tries to make
a profit, but the government does not. An investor who is not
concerned with making a profit tends to destroy wealth.

The fallacy in your argument is your assumption that the government
itself is the entity to which the profits must accrue. When the
government builds a highway, the highway benefits the economy by
facilitating the transportation of workers and goods. That makes the
workers more productive and the companies more profitable. Similarly,
when the government educates a child, that child will, on average,
earn more over the course of his working life than he would if he
hadn't been educated.

Try this simple thought experiment. Pretend that the government hadn't
built the interstate highway system, and had passed on the savings to
us. Pretend that there were no public schools, that no tax money had
gone to them. What would be the effect on our national wealth?

--
Josh

"Your manuscript is both good and original. But the part that is
good is not original, and the part that is original is not good."
-- Samuel Johnson
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: OT: Karl Rove steps down
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    (rec.arts.theatre.musicals)
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