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Old 08-08-2011, 12:37 PM  
sperbonzo
I'd rather be on my boat.
 
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Join Date: May 2003
Location: Miami, FL
Posts: 9,743
Quote:
Originally Posted by u-Bob View Post
Yeah, there's no shortage of economic fallacies.

When the earthquake hit Japan, those Keynesians said that that was actually a good thing because now there would be a demand for workers to build new houses. In other words: they claimed that the eartquake was actually good for the economy. and and at the same time.
You could hear Bastiat, Say, Mises, Rothbard, Menger etc role over in their graves.

All this talk about jobs for example is just absurd. Jobs are a means to an end, not an end in itself.

People don't get a job just to have a job.

People get a job to earn money. Money they can use to buy a house, buy food, buy clothes, buy products and services they personally value, to save money for a rainy day etc. People work to acquire wealth.

Government intervention actually destroys wealth and prevents people from getting productive jobs.

When the government taxes a business owner and gives the money (minus a handling fee that goes to the government) to unemployed people, they reduce his capital and reduce his ability to improve his business, they reduce his ability to hire people, they reduce his ability to adapt to changing customer preferences, they increase the chance that he will go bankrupt.

When the government passes minimum wage laws they actually prevent people from hiring people without experience.

When the government uses money (taxes) it took from productive companies and uses it to subsidize or bailout failing businesses, it actually destroys wealth and creates a lot of waste.

When the government requires licenses for just about anything it actually prevents people from taking initiative and becoming their own boss.

When the government prevents employers from easily firing employees when things get though, they actually cost the company money and they make employers more reluctant to hire new workers when things get better.


In a pure free market people can only make money if they produce products or services other people actually want. In a pure free market, irresponsible behavior gets punished, not rewarded. In a pure free market those who come up with new products or services that better serve the needs and wants of the public make more money. In a pure free market, those that sell crappy products lose clients.
Hear! Hear!


+1


QFT





The thing that's funny is that this is not just a "school of thought". It is the way that human interactions actually work in a free society. When you interfere with it, through the use of force (government), things invariably do not go as well. The problem is that the people who get into positions of power always want more. Their motivation is more about power than money, (although the two often go together), and so they always seek to expand that power, to the detriment of the proper smooth functioning of the free interactions and co-operation of human beings.




It's a shame, really.


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Last edited by sperbonzo; 08-08-2011 at 12:41 PM..
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