On Dec 18, 2008, at 7:24 AM, Jared Earle wrote: > On 18 Dec 2008, at 12:17, Chris Gehlker wrote: >> This is a belief often espoused by people from a military background >> and conservative politicians without any apparent sense of irony. > > > ... from a Military Background, ie. fed and clothed through taxes. The > irony is lost on some people. > > By Chuck's definition, the military does not actually "produce" > anything; They are parasitic to those that work and invest.
That is exactly true, nor Firemen or Police. Neither does any politician, city government and a whole host of other organizations. Don't misunderstand me. Just because something doesn't produce anything doesn't mean it isn't necessary. BUT before you can tax income, someone has to make something of value and sell to to someone else at a profit and the Government is only funded by taxing income. Beyond a point, people simply refuse to produce because it is not worth their effort and then what can the Government do? Short of slave labor ( a 100% tax rate so to speak) it really can't do much and that truth places an upper limit to the "good causes" that can be funded. People like Cohen think that in their fantasy world people will willingly work for no compensation toward an end goal set by by imaginary "benevolant leaders" that presumable will not act like the countless dictators before them. A lot of people have died proving that sort of thinking wrong. If everyone were government employee's where would their salaries come from? If everyone was retired, who would pay their social security benefits? (Exactly the problem France is facing) So yes, I stand by my statement that the Government doesn't produce anything. Some of it's functions are very necessary but even those we deem vital are ultimately funded by people not in the Government. =c= _______________________________________________ OSX-Nutters mailing list | [email protected] http://lists.tit-wank.com/mailman/listinfo/osx-nutters List hosted at http://cat5.org/
