[talk.politics.misc] Re to nrh: Libertarianism & selfishness

orb@whuts.UUCP (SEVENER) (09/11/86)

    From me (tim sevener): 
> >This is patent nonsense.
> 
> >[some stuff about government jobs]
> 
> >But to say the government provides no jobs is absolutely ridiculous!
> >             tim sevener  whuxn!orb
> 
> I never said it doesn't provide jobs; just that they must come at the
> expense of other jobs.  Do you think they are free?  Dammit Tim, where
> the hell do you think wealth/jobs come from?  Do you think they fall out
> of the sky?
> 
> 
> David Olson

So when the United States suffered a 33% unemployment rate during the
Great Depression, you are going to tell me that the WPA projects, the
Civilian Conservation Corps, and other such projects *cost jobs*???
What jobs?
If Pres. Roosevelt and the Congress had not provided money to put
these people to work, they would have still been *unemployed*.
 
I suggest you study some Keynes, Marx, Schumpeter, Veblen and
other economists as well as the history of the crisis in capitalism
that was the Great Depression to gain some insight on these matters.
I do not have time or the space here to go into a lengthy exposition
of Keynes macroeconomic theories, the problems of overproduction
caused by the incredible efficiency of the factory system, the
fact that only 50-70% of industrial capacity was being utilized
in different periods of the Great Depression.

For a different view of your fantastic "invisible hand" which magically
solves everything, I would suggest you read "The Visible Hand" by
Alfred Chandler which talks about the *real* aspects of social
organization which led to the enormous productivity of modern capitalism.
                      tim sevener  whuxn!orb