tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1740670447258719504.post4593428968759234142..comments2024-03-27T03:00:27.024-04:00Comments on Facts & other stubborn things: Steve Jobs and Obama on Job CreationEvanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12259004160963531720noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1740670447258719504.post-81206735005032351102011-10-08T15:08:27.059-04:002011-10-08T15:08:27.059-04:00Well, it wasn't the host of Econtalk that I wa...Well, it wasn't the host of Econtalk that I was referring to; it was the guest. Who undertook a form of measurement which the Obama administration has apparently failed to undertake and which the guest wishes they would. <br /><br />But all this ignores my larger point; namely that the government often has an incentive not to know how "effective" the programs they are spending money on are.Gary Gunnelshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14463810435943252898noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1740670447258719504.post-74218427441134931202011-10-08T06:48:07.298-04:002011-10-08T06:48:07.298-04:00Gary -
I try not to fault people for failing to do...Gary -<br />I try not to fault people for failing to do the impossible.<br /><br />They have tried some measurement and the host of EconTalk is one of the biggest critics of that effort.Daniel Kuehnhttp://www.factsandotherstubbornthings.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1740670447258719504.post-7111846201474499652011-10-07T15:53:20.129-04:002011-10-07T15:53:20.129-04:00Whether one "believes" in the stimulus o...Whether one "believes" in the stimulus or not, the main problem has been and continues to be the unwillingness of the government to do something useful re: measurement of what it actually accomplished via some method of direct measurement. There was a nice discussion of this on EconTalk recently. So as not to just pick on the stimulus, DHS has been apparently remiss in doing the same sort of thing regarding its spending - just how much "safety" are we getting for all the spending, in other words.Gary Gunnelshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14463810435943252898noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1740670447258719504.post-30769071780006012622011-10-07T13:41:10.114-04:002011-10-07T13:41:10.114-04:00I think the writer should consider an additional i...I think the writer should consider an additional issue as well.<br /><br />Apple has 49,400 employees. Apple has $18.4 billion in operating profits.<br /><br />So Apple earns $375,000 per worker. It has extraordinarily high productivity. Apple can easily afford to pay its employees in six figure incomes or close to six-figure incomes, because they reward the business in four-to-five times that salary.<br /><br />The New Republic started out as a revolutionary socialist publication. And socialist thought once had a high view of productivity. It was only through industrial productivity that both wages and standards of livings of workers could rise, and their ability to bargain against owners of capital and industry could be leveraged. A job is only a means to those things. It's not the end by itself.<br /><br />So even though there wasn't as much an increment to jobs in Apple as expected, there was a rise in productivity to the extent that the working person actually benefited all the samePrateek Sanjaynoreply@blogger.com