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Strategies & Market Trends : The Residential Real Estate Crash Index
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To: gpowell who wrote (13834)9/23/2003 1:25:34 AM
From: Ali ChenRead Replies (1) of 306849
 
"How does a dollar kept by you rather than transferred to the federal government constitute a destruction in wealth?"

Sorry to butt in, but it is very simple:
a dollar kept by you will be likely spent on a tip in
a junk restaurant, or for an extra bag of donuts you
do not need anyway. Many dollars collected together in
government programs allow the country to run advanced
research and develop new technologies, and fund academic
research which generates new ideas and helps to better
educate our children.

"Generally, and for reasons for more complex than I will present here, far more wealth is created in the long run when individuals are free to pursue their own interests as opposed to any form of centralized economic decision making.

This is a fact conceded by every economist in the world."

I think you omit al least half of the equation here. To
"pursue heir own interests", "free individuals" must
operate in certain "free" environment. What do you think
creates this environment and maintains its relative
stability? The social "deadweight" you are referring to
is an inseparable part of any society, and the society has
to deal with it, which comes at some cost.

"So when someone utters something like “We could give your money back to you, but you might not spend it right”, realize you are talking to either an ignoramus or someone who takes you for an ignoramus."

It sounds like it's only you who know exactly where to
spend your money most effectively ;-) I bet, a statistical
taxpayer would rather vote for a sixpack and a bag of
popcorn rather than voluntarily give away his extra dollar
for a bioengineering or space research he has no clue about
and never heard of. Like the DARPA project.

Sorry to be such an ignoramus.

- Ali
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