At 23:53 5-8-01 -0400, John Giorgis wrote:
> >"Listen up, guys, I got great news. I did something today that will benefit
> >the economy." The kids cheer, because dad did something great. The wife, a
> >bit suspicious given your blind faith in capitalist economic theory, asks
> >"What did you do, honey?"
> >
> >To which you cheerfully and proudly answer "I quit my job because I came
> >across this guy who said he'd do my job for $300 per month less! Isn't it
> >great! This will boost the economy, increase the GDP and create more jobs!".
> >
> >Do you really expect that your family will join in the cheering? If your
> >wife is anything of a sensible person, she won't cheer but ask you how the
> >hell you think you're going to feed your children and pay the bills.
> >
> >Chances are she'll send you back to your (now former) boss to BEG him to get
> >your job back.
> >
> >And I think you'll be sleeping in the garage for the next few days...
>
>Now Jeroen, I will explain to my children that I should not begrudge
>another person their right to seek employment, nor the right of the
>taxpayers to seek the most value for their money.
And you really believe they will understand?
Lessee, we forwarded ten years into the future; you're married, and have
four children. At the current moment in time (August 2001) however, you're
still single. If you would fall in love with a woman today, marry her
tomorrow, and get her pregnant by the end of the week, your oldest kid will
be nine or ten years old when you quit your job. If you get your wife
pregnant every time at the first possible moment after one of your children
is born, the youngest one will be six years old. Do you really believe that
children in that age group (6-10) can grasp economic theory? Maybe if they
are real geniuses, but otherwise they will miss most (if not all) of it.
Your children will probably be younger, since it's not very likely that
you'll fall in love today and get married tomorrow, and happen to have a
baby factory for a wife.
>I will then proceed to market my services to the highest bidder. If I
>cannot market my services for even the legal minimum wage, then I will seek
>out charity until I can find a bidder for my services.
And the minimum wage for you would be -- how much?
>I'd expect the same reaction from my family if I told them that I was
>leaving my job to work for $300/month less at the <insert charity of your
>choice.>
Er, that's something quite different. In my example, you became unemployed
and lost a significant part of your income (depending on how much you'll
get in Unemployment Benefits). That's quite different from *changing* jobs
and accepting $300 less in salary.
> >> Because the economy has gained $300 a month in efficiency, that will
> >> now be spent on something and someone else.
> >
> >How many new jobs do you think you can create from $300 per month?
>
>There are 2.3 million federal employees. $300 a month starts adding up
>awfully fast.
True, but are you (or the US government) planning on having every federal
employee replaced with someone who'll do the job for $300 a month less?
Jeroen
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