Earlier quoted context omitted.
"He could pay them $0/hr by not giving them the jobs." I've always found that to be the absolute shittiest of rebuttals, given by those who have absolutely no point whatsoever. This person is not "giving" anyone a job; they are not being seeing a group of people and saying, "Hmmm, they look like they could use some work. I will create some and give it to them." No. This person needed some work done, and they were off…
If you ever run a company you'll know that job creators exist. I had a bunch of money. I could have kept it locked in a box somewhere. Instead I decided to pay a bunch of people to help make something cool. Yes, that's a transaction, but for my part, I didn't have to engage in it. (In fact some days I kind of regret it, given all the garbage one has to put up with when running a company.) I could have kept the money…
If "I have money, and I have a thing I am willing to exchange it for that requires someone else to do work" makes you a job creator, everyone who purchases anything in the economy is a job creator.