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Huh? Aren't government employees paid in the same currency as employees in the private sector? Don't those employees spend that currency largely in the private
by rwl 15y ago
Huh? Aren't government employees paid in the same currency as employees in the private sector? Don't those employees spend that currency largely in the private sector? If those people wouldn't otherwise be employed, how are their jobs not "helping the economy"?
- mhb 15y agoYou are propounding the Broken Window Fallacy. To discover the flaw in your reasoning see: http://bastiat.org/en/twisatwins.html http://bastiat.org/en/twisatwins.html
- rwl 15y agoIt looks to me like this is only a fallacy on the assumption that government employees are like glaziers fixing broken windows: absorbing value that, but for a loss, could otherwise be put to another use. It is that assumption that I meant to question, though I see I did not express the point adequately.
- yummyfajitas 15y agoIf you wish to question such an assumption, you need to show that government employees produce something of value, not that they consume something of value.
- drewrv 15y agoI think the people at the DMV produce something of value. They limit who's allowed to drive making the roads safer. That is extraordinarily valuable.