Decent November jobs report

[MathmanMathman]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

What is true about most government jobs is that there is no attempt to make a profit for the employer, whereas many (but not all) private sector jobs are for for-profit employers. But that just means more of the wealth being produced by government jobs is being given to the consumers of the related goods and services, as opposed to be divided up between those consumers and the employer.

If that were true, Communism would have been an outrageous success.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by MathmanMathman

If that were true, Communism would have been an outrageous success.

If it were true government employees create no wealth at all, "Communist" countries would collapse within a week, not last decades. Sidenote: there are no true communist countries, just socialist countries: socialism is when the government controls the means of production, and in true communism there is no state but rather direct collective control of the means of production (trying to imagine how that could possibly work is why there are no true communist countries). But anyway, the same point applies to socialist countries: if government employees couldn't create wealth, no socialist country would have lasted for more than a handful of days.

Stepping back, the fact is that governments are more efficient at organizing certain economic activities than private companies, and private companies are more efficient at organizing other economic activities than governments. So a country with a decent "mixed economy" (like the United States, the countries of Western Europe, Japan and South Korea, or so on), meaning a country which divides the organization of economic activities between governments and private companies based on some reasonable sense of what they are respectively best at, will likely become more prosperous than otherwise similar rivals which are purely socialist.

Hence over decades Western Europe became more prosperous than Eastern Europe and we "won" the Cold War. Similarly, over decades South Korea has become more prosperous than North Korea, and so on. But again, that isn't because government employees create no wealth at all, it is because private companies are more efficient than governments for organizing certain economic activities, so if you have no private companies at all in the mix you will gradually fall further and further behind.

[jay5835]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

Is anybody else as incredulous as I am to see BrianTH STILL doesn't have even one reputation badge yet? Astonishing. You're by far one of the most informative "regulars" on City-Data, let alone just the Pittsburgh sub-forum. I'd rep you for keeping us updated about our local economy all the time, but it says I have to "spread it around". Grrrrrr.

How many reputation dots equal one reputation badge?

[bradjl2009]

Originally Posted by Blackbeauty212

Pittsburgh's biggest employers looking to fill more than 5,600 positions

Hopefully things are looking just as bright locally in 2013 when I will be starting my career.

[greg42]

Originally Posted by jay5835

How many reputation dots equal one reputation badge?

I think it's 1800. I did the math after SCR's turned over recently.

[jay5835]

Originally Posted by greg42

I think it's 1800. I did the math after SCR's turned over recently.

What does the difference among the colors (dark green, Prell green, yellow) represent?

[greg42]

Originally Posted by jay5835

What does the difference among the colors (dark green, Prell green, yellow) represent?

I think it's just supposed to represent a meter counting up, changing color as it gets higher. BTW, 1800 is the number of points, obviously, not dots.