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This section appears to be extensive original research and synthesis. The only source in the section is an op-ed, and is thus not germane to the article. I've tagged the section, and will look for some sources. If none are found, the unsourced content should eventually be removed. aprock ( talk) 16:00, 21 January 2013 (UTC)
I'll add as well that it does not support the theory contained in the rest of the entry. E.g. "Public works often are genuinely new and additive to shared societal value, independent of any benefits of maintaining a pool of skilled glaziers or other workers." For a 'public works project,' if there was 'shared societal value,' entrepreneurs would attempt to obtain that value. Public works projects do have hidden costs: Only those who drive over a bridge obtain the benefits - but everyone in town pays the tax. The spirit of the article and what I think is Bastiat's point is that you are displacing the tax funds that the NON-users of the bridge would have spent/invested elsewhere. There is no example of public works having universal benefit (in consideration of the hidden effects), so it doesn't fit here.
Similarly the comment on 'Cash for Clunkers:' "Such programs may be viewed as imposing a net cost only if failing to account for the benefits of expending fewer units of fuel per mile, and the potential added value of decreased pollution." Only benefits folks with a clunker - people with new cars are providing the 'Cash!' If there is a true economic value (in absence of the cash provided by others), then rational individuals will decide in their interests. There has always been an active market in used cars and scrap cars where the true value of each decision is negotiated. Again, the 'hidden effects' of taking 'Cash' from folks who don't drive 'Clunkers' is harmful and is exactly the false reasoning that Bastiat was trying to elucidate.
If y'all like me to take a crack at a revision then let me know. DB — Preceding unsigned comment added by 206.177.43.73 ( talk) 20:28, 5 November 2013 (UTC)
"E.g. hiring people to do nothing or to break things and repair them is probably a bad idea." Keynes would disagree: "If the Treasury were to fill old bottles with banknotes, bury them at suitable depths in disused coalmines which are then filled up to the surface with town rubbish, and leave it to private enterprise on well-tried principles of laissez-faire to dig the notes up again (the right to do so being obtained, of course, by tendering for leases of the note-bearing territory), there need be no more unemployment and, with the help of the repercussions, the real income of the community, and its capital wealth also, would probably become a good deal greater than it actually is. It would, indeed, be more sensible to build houses and the like; but if there are political and practical difficulties in the way of this, the above would be better than nothing." Book 3, Chapter 10, Section 6 pg.129 The General Theory.. http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Talk:John_Maynard_Keynes#.22The_government_should_pay_people_to_dig_holes_in_the_ground_and_then_fill_them_up..22 — Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.88.145.93 ( talk) 20:22, 10 September 2014 (UTC)
"However, at the top end it is an economic benefit, especially if too much capital is trapped in high end savings and investment, because the funds used to replace the window will not change the victim's spending habits, but will simply be a minor reduction of his long term savings or investments, or that of his insurer." The writer ignores that replacing the window is an "investment" much like any of his other "investments" (that the writer seems to criticize). The difference is that something of value was destroyed before the new window "investment" could be made, so it is starting off in a hole in terms of return on investment, which is the main point of the article. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.66.149.221 ( talk) 21:05, 24 May 2014 (UTC)
I've removed significant original research, but the article is still an undersourced mess. aprock ( talk) 22:05, 15 December 2014 (UTC)
While reading this article I suddenly realized it was used in the movie, The Fifth Element, when the character Zorg explains how he benefits the economy through destruction. Would that addition (and others that without doubt exist) add value to the page? Specifically, watch this. JBH ( talk) 02:32, 28 November 2017 (UTC)
iconic
the Tramp & the Kid (1921)
'They support themselves in a minor scheme: the Kid throws stones to break windows so that the Tramp, working as a
glazier, can earn money repairing them.'
--
87.212.1.81 (
talk)
20:42, 31 March 2020 (UTC)