This is what my professor claimed the other day and I laughed. He acted as if no private sector ever existed in the history of man. I didn't even bother contesting him on that one.
This topic should be a continuing thread on all the stupid statements people have somehow gathered the energy to mutter.
"You know what guys? I think the government should create a trillion dollars and distribute it to all the poor people of the world! Then there would be no poor people! Hurray!"
"The Olympics are paid almost entirely by the Olympic Committee"
"Government intervention to protect the environment works, look at the Ozone Layer and Acid Rain!"
"If there were no rich people, poor people wouldn't be around either"
"If it weren't for government funding and intervention, there would be no fuel efficient cars!"
My Buddy: "If there were no rich people, poor people wouldn't be around either"
Actually, we'ed all be equally poor. :p
LvMIenthusiast: This is what my professor claimed the other day and I laughed. He acted as if no private sector ever existed in the history of man. I didn't even bother contesting him on that one. This topic should be a continuing thread on all the stupid statements people have somehow gathered the energy to mutter.
Did he have...like...an argument to go along with this? I mean, even if it is, and I know it will be, a bad one? A nationalization of anything only works if there is enough tax money in the pool. Take, for instance, public schools. Districts run out of money and try to pass a millage. It doesn't pass, so more money can't be heisted from the taxpayer to keep the school afloat. There is no other option but to start laying off teachers and closing schools, unless you want to divert funds from some other public service. There is no way to say, "Hmm...we are losing money. Perhaps if we do X we can raise some funds." You always have to go back to the taxpayer. And that's putting aside the bureaucrats needed to run a nationalized system. Bureaucrats are paid with taxpayer money, and are a net loss on the wealth of a nation. The bureaucrat produces nothing. Since he produces nothing, there is no way to determine the bureaucrat's market wage rate. Therefore, no matter how much he is being paid, it is too much.
The only "nationalized" gold mine in South Africa is bleeding money like a stuck pig. Only government could screw up something like that so epically.