text: Borthlas: Who generates wealth?
  Posted by John Dixon at 13:58
  Spot on. Do all those public sector bashers realise how many contractors in the private sector rely on local councils, health boards etc for work?
  They will be the ones hit hardest by these cuts.
  23 June 2010 at 05:45
  Spot on. The analogy I used was that a bus driver for Arriva (private but mostly on public subsidy) wasn't "creating" any more wealth than a bus driver for Cardiff Bus (public). In UK terms, this received wisdom has a lot to do with the fact that governments have privatised many parts of the public sector which had the potential to be wealth creating - leaving only public services which can then be portrayed as a drain on the wealth created by the private sector.
  In reality, you have to ask how much wealth was really created by the private sector in the last 20 years and how much of it was smoke and mirrors. Governments at both ends of the M4 need to concentrate on getting us actually producing something of use to others, be they ipods or ideas. The public sector (especially universities and government laboratories) have a role to play - slashing and burning is a big mistake
  One other point is that wealth creation is not possible if there aren't any roads, if the workforce can't read or write, or if the workers aren't healthy or fall ill at work. What if somebody breaks into the vehicles parked outside your business? You're going to call the public sector police.