On Aug 5, 3:28*pm, wrote:
On Wed, 5 Aug 2009 07:14:34 -0700 (PDT)

MIG wrote:
No; bankers just take bets on other people's work. *RMT members do
actually do a job (even if you don't like the way they do it) and
create the wealth that the bankers take bets on.

I'm sorry , is that some kind of joke, RMT members creating wealth? Since
when? Their pay comes from a mix of taxation and money from the public. How
is that creating any wealth? At least traders and bankers can do deals to
bring in money from abroad into this country by various means.

That's a ridiculous fallacy.

Imagine a private school that makes a profit, because parents are
willing to pay for its excellent educational skills: is that creating
wealth? (clue: yes)

Now imagine the government nationalises said private school.

In the short term[*] it continues to do *exactly the same thing*, but
with the money paid out of taxation rather than in cash fees. In other
words, the school is providing exactly the same service to exactly the
same people. Has it magically stopped creating wealth? (clue: no).

The idea that only private sector jobs create wealth is an absurd
right-wing fallacy, which is obviously untrue to anyone who's thought
about it for more than 0.5 seconds.
[*] I'm even accepting, for argument's sake, the right-wing view that
the corrosive hand of the State will destroy all that's good and right
in the long term.

--
John Band
john at johnband dot org
www.johnband.org