Productive Members of Society?

[downzero]

I don't follow your reasoning... A person who doesn't care about the thread, and is taking the entire discussion as an opportunity for flippant humor, somehow "proves" Austrian economics is irrelevant...



I realize some folks are giving you a hard time elsewhere on the board, but that's no reason to take it out on me. So once again, namaste.

Not at all. The assertion that adding numbers is too complicated a method to learn something about the economy is what I'm talking about. If someone told me that, I would, perhaps wrongly, assume that they didn't know anything else about economics.

It's kinda like if you were walking down the street and saw someone banging their head against a concrete wall, screaming that it hurt, and continuing to bang their head against the wall. You'd probably not expect anything meaningful to come from a person after watching them to that.

 

[Eddie]

Not at all. The assertion that adding numbers is too complicated a method to learn something about the economy is what I'm talking about. If someone told me that, I would, perhaps wrongly, assume that they didn't know anything else about economics.

It's kinda like if you were walking down the street and saw someone banging their head against a concrete wall, screaming that it hurt, and continuing to bang their head against the wall. You'd probably not expect anything meaningful to come from a person after watching them to that.

Oh heck no. I'd pull up a chair. This could only get better.

 

[downzero]

Oh heck no. I'd pull up a chair. This could only get better.

Well, maybe in their world, that'd make you a productive member of society. One never knows.

 

[Jack Ryan]

You forgot one additional key number, the total population of the USA: ~300 million, simple math tells us roughly 200 million are unemployed, either because they're children or retired or on some form of assistance. So every one of the 85 million is carrying 2.5 people on their backs.

Just because you hop out of the papoose and your feet hit the ground don't mean any one is on your back kid.

 

[Fletch]

Not at all. The assertion that adding numbers is too complicated a method to learn something about the economy is what I'm talking about.

I made no such assertion. It's not that I don't understand you, it's that I don't care.

You're playing straight man in this thread, whether you realize it or not. I'm just screwing around and trying to have some fun (which you are royally buzz killing, thank you very little) because I've had a long hard day trying to teach two junior programmers why it's important to adhere to style standards and why JavaScript is a dangerous language for not enforcing even a modicum of structure, so they shouldn't become complacent and assume that just because it can be done, it should be done. I can only give one rat's ass per day, and my boss beat you to it.

It's kinda like if you were walking down the street and saw someone banging their head against a concrete wall, screaming that it hurt, and continuing to bang their head against the wall. You'd probably not expect anything meaningful to come from a person after watching them to that.

See the thread I started about the autistic girl, and Mises' assertion that human beings act as a rationally chosen means to an end. Banging one's head, though painful, is not always irrational.

I keep trying to end this amicably, but you seem to be spoiling for a fight. Some day we may take the gloves off and hash out our economic differences, but today is not that day. You're doing a fine job in your various threads, I'd give you a big wet sloppy kiss if you were handy, but your school of economic thought vs. mine is just not what I'm looking for in a holy war right now.

 

[jsgolfman]

 

[360]

This should give you a rough example.

 

[BigMatt]

So according to that link, if my math is correct, there are approx. 111M taxpayers. If you subtract the numbers for government employees, we are at 90M.

This should give you a rough example.

I am not suggesting that government workers don't add meaningful goods and services, but they don't produce anything towards the GDP. I would be willing to say that postal workers add to the GDP because they aren't sponging our tax dollars - yet.

My definition of unemployed is anyone who doesn't have a job - anyone who isn't a taxpayer. I am not about to use the government's definition of the word unemployed. If I were to use that definition, that would lead you to assume that there were less than 30M unemployed and everyone else is slaving away. Next we are going to start talking about how many jobs the stimulus "saved"

This is factually false if data in your post are correct.

The suggestion that government workers do not add meaningful goods and services to our economy is preposterous and factually inaccurate.

The "unemployed" does not include anyone who is not in the work force, so stating that we have 200 million "unemployed" is also a statement that is ignorant of the proper definition of the word.

Wow, maybe economics is hard.....