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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: SilentZ who wrote (748508)	10/21/2013 11:16:46 PM
From: TopCat	2 Recommendations Recommended By Bonefish MichaelSkyy Respond to of 1573313

"I haven't seen anyone advocate paying for busy work." Hell, half of government is busy work. Maybe more.

To: SilentZ who wrote (748508)	10/22/2013 12:28:04 AM
From: bentway	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 1573313

"Keynes did say that it can be stimulative to pay one guy to dig a hole, and then another one to fill it." I actually HAD both of those jobs. A friend and I took a HS summer job at a restaurant remodeling. The boss had us dig a hole, and move the dirt to a pile. When we'd dug the hole to spec, we asked him what he wanted us to do, and he told us to fill the hole back in! We inquired as to the point, and he said he'd had us dig the hole to see if we worked hard, said that we did, that he didn't really need us until now (a week later), after we refilled the hole. We looked at each other, and quit on the spot!

To: SilentZ who wrote (748508)	10/22/2013 9:15:37 AM
From: combjelly	Respond to of 1573313

This illustrates a problem. The fact of the matter is this would be stimulative. But many people recoil at the morality of it. I have heard arguments that the minimum wage should not be raised because those who hold those sort of jobs don't work very hard and don't deserve any more money. I find the idea really strange. But I see an economy in terms that are more like a very complex machine. I don't really see God as being a factor.

To: SilentZ who wrote (748508)	10/22/2013 2:41:45 PM
From: Tenchusatsu	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 1573313

Z, I'd be much less into Keynesian-style spending if we didn't actually have needs -- but we do have plenty of infrastructure needs, and a lot of people to help. Yes, Keynes did say that it can be stimulative to pay one guy to dig a hole, and then another one to fill it. But that's pure theory. I haven't seen anyone advocate paying for busy work. a) Road Walker himself said "Wasteful spending is stimulus": Message 25800081 Though he was probably trolling with that post, it's hard to see him arguing against any wasteful spending as long as it's his side doing the "stimulating." b) Meeting the needs of infrastructure has always been a baseline government function. That does not change based on the vicissitudes of the economy. c) Liberals have always tried to avoid the broken window fallacy by making sure the money goes toward a project that someone somewhere would find "useful." But if that project were useful enough, it would have taken priority over all the other items in the budget. Elevating it artificially just to "make work" means that something else just had their funds taken away. That includes borrowing, which is essentially taking funds from future generations, and printing money, which is essentially devaluing savings. Tenchusatsu

To: SilentZ who wrote (748508)	10/23/2013 8:33:13 AM
From: steve harris	4 Recommendations Recommended By fred woodall Jorj X Mckie Tenchusatsu TideGlider Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1573313

but we do have plenty of infrastructure needs Have you ever considered what the fed and state govts do with the 40c a gallon they confiscate on fuel? It aint on infrastructure, the roads are falling apart around here. Have you ever considered what the fed and state govt do with social security payroll taxes? It aint on social security, it's bankrupt. Have you ever considered just what Bloomberg does with your tax money? It aint helping NYC, it remains a dump. Just like Detroit and all the other failed bastions of liberalism/socialism..... Try to be the least bit cynical Jason, not continuing to play the game like they have you doing.