Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site Cascade.ARPA Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!cbosgd!ihnp4!zehntel!dual!amdcad!decwrl!CSL-Vax!Cascade!marks From: marks@Cascade.ARPA Newsgroups: net.politics Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: The WSJ on Reaganomics Message-ID: <1640@Cascade.ARPA> Date: Sat, 1-Dec-84 00:55:34 EST Article-I.D.: Cascade.1640 Posted: Sat Dec 1 00:55:34 1984 Date-Received: Tue, 4-Dec-84 04:38:51 EST References: <652@loral.UUCP> <1208@dciem.UUCP> <123@talcott.UUCP> <369@whuxl.UUCP> <144@talcott.UUCP> Organization: Stanford University Lines: 26 > There are three factors that increase the cost of labor: > > 1) The "labor tax" which we call income tax. > 2) Unions > 3) Government employment > > The first two increase the unemployment rate, while the third decreases it. > I think that the first two factors outweigh the third. > --- > Greg Kuperberg > harvard!talcott!gjk It's not clear that (3) above decreases unemployment, either. Government employees are hired and paid using taxpayers' dollars, dollars that might conceivably have gone to hire someone from the private sector. Money is taken from potential employers, run through the bureaucratic meat-grinder, and then is used to hire government employees with automatic cost-of-living allowances and generous pensions. The amount of employment created in the public sector is probably offset by the amount of unemployment created in the private sector. ---------- Stuart Marks, Computer Systems Lab, Stanford University {ucbvax,decvax}!decwrl!glacier!marks, marks@su-cascade.ARPA "You can't fight in here; this is the War Room!" -- President Muffley