[ExI] More on Health Costs

[BillK]

On 5/28/09, Lee Corbin wrote:
<snip>
>  What matters is not the number of jobs, but how
>  much wealth is produced by jobs. Paying people
>  to do nothing or to just fool around destroys
>  wealth.
>
>  Artificially low interest rates will always create malinvestment,
>  as should be obvious to everyone. That it isn't obvious to
>  everyone causes my paranoid circuits to fire, and wonder just
>  how much in the grip of financial elites are all of our habits
>  and prejudices, and even our whole economy.
>
>  It's those who are nearest the new, hot money who prosper,
>  (the big players and insiders of your footnote), and it's
>  everyone else whose money depreciates in value.
>


Actually, I'm getting the feeling that this class of economic
reasoning is rapidly becoming very old-fashioned.

In first world countries, to a greater and greater extent, we don't
really *produce* anything. Production is China's job. In the West, we
all have 'make-work' jobs. Call it intelligence work if you like.
Really, it's just playing with computers.

All the 'investments' in the West don't *produce* anything. They are
just schemes to move money around (and transfer wealth to the
financial wizards).

So getting all moralistic about 'production jobs' is now looking a bit silly.

BillK