Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Broke Teacher Fallacy

If I had any hair I would have pulled it all out listening to WRJN's Don Rosen this morning. Before I tuned in, apparently a public employee explained his or her financial burdens caused by Governor Walker's controversial bill limiting union bargaining power. Said employee now paid X number of dollars more for benefits than before the passage of the Walker bill. According to Mr Rosen this "lost" money would not be spent at local businesses etc....., harming them and also lowering the take for government, meaning fewer services etc....

I had to call into the show, but before I got through another caller made a valiant effort to educate Mr Rosen, to no avail. I likewise was unsuccessful.

Mr Rosen commits a common mistake. He was only able to grasp the consequences of the money not in the hands of the public employee. He was unable to consider the additional money not confiscated by government that remained in the hands of taxpayers.

I believe there is even a name for this mistake. I think it is called the broken window fallacy. If someone were to throw a brick threw my window, I would no doubt spend money having my window replaced. This would be good for window makers and installers. The window installer would go to the restaurant perhaps after getting paid and this would be good for the restaurant etc....

What Don Rosen apparently fails to realize is that the money spent for my window otherwise could have gone for other purchases, helping other businesses etc... Likewise he fails to realize that the money not spent by taxpayers for the public employee is money that might be spent in restaurants etc...

It isn't exactly a wash. It is better for people to spend their own money as they are more likely to spend it wisely compared to those spending other people's money.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

But those public servants DO know how to spend that money better than we do. I've seen the reports - they have more education than we do, Masters and PhDs from some of the most rigorous programs in the world ("rigorous" is code for "they had websites"). Yes, trust people with mail-order education PhDs over shlubs like us.

You better watch out or one of those abused public servants will come and break your windows -

Anonymous said...

Don Rosen is a joke.

Anonymous said...

I would point out to Mr. Rosen the higher a business' property taxes, the less money is available for that business to advertise on WRJN. What a loss THAT would be!

And for crying out loud, why must we subject ourselves to incessant whining teachers? They showed up to disrupt the informational program held at Gateway last night for those parents looking for a free market alternative to the current educational product. Only a (math?) teacher could argue a $6,400 voucher costs the taxpayers more than (understated, I believe) $9,800 RUSD per pupil cost, per Rep. Vos.

Praytell Mr. Rosen, is that $3,400 savings to taxpayers "lost" money, too? I think not.