baba@garth.UUCP (Baba ROM DOS) (09/11/86)
In article <1178@drutx.UUCP> dlo@drutx.UUCP (OlsonDL) writes: >Government is not the one that creates jobs, because it cannot create >wealth. To give to one person, it must take from another; to "create" >one job, it must destroy another. This slogan turns up from time to time, but it just doesn't wash. Most of the institutions of the modern state arose in Mesopotamia, arguably because the irrigation systems that allowed people to thrive there required organization on a larger scale than the village or tribe. Today, we have dams, built and operated by the state, that provide water and electricity to many areas of the American West. Water and power are sold to utilities to be sold to consumers. Is this not wealth? Baba