ian@utcsstat.UUCP (Ian F. Darwin) (08/10/84)
Stephen argues that job transfer schemes actually create more jobs than
would happen if the money were left in private hands.
I disagree, for the reasons I stated. For example, the cost of creating
one job in the post office (worst case) vs the cost of creating one job
in a small, hungry competitive business should be compared. I don't
have such figures on hand, but I suspect the popular opinion of the
post office is correct here.
But job transfer schemes are merely the tip of an iceberg. Governments
(in particular Canada's) have a vested interest in buying your votes
with your own money. The biggest single way they do this is by
pretending to be your benefactor while robbing you blind. When this
`big lie' is carried far enough, almost all the population comes to
believe it. To help people believe it, of course, money talks. So they
have to put everyone on the payroll. Such things as job transfer
programs, grants for home improvements (`free $500 towards insulating
your house'), for buying the intellectuals over to the idea that wealth
comes from the goverment (Canada Council, NSERC, &c), and a myriad of other
`giveaways' are all part and parcel of the government's plan to suck
everyone in by giving each of us a vested interest in the continuation
of the schemes. But just remember who the money is coming from, and who
is squeezing a percentage off as they take it out of your left pocket
and put it back into your right (or vice versa, depending on which side
has power at any given moment).
--
Ian Darwin, Toronto
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