>Notice the predicate "if"... It is a hypothetical. If the developer was struggling with C# - for whatever reason - and the same job could be done in VB and the developer did not have issues in grasping VB, I would be hard pressed to fashion a reason as to why he had to go with C#.

I understand exactly what you said. I coudl also say "If VB.NET was written by monkeys with typewriters, it would not be as elegant as C#" True statement as well because of the hypothetical "if", but hardly relevant.

Until you can show why we should entertain your hypothetical situation, you have no argument.

>The more effort you have to expend, the more resources you have to consume. It is a fairly elementary concept.

Can you show me figures showing how much effort each language requires to learn? More importantly, where the difference in the langauges makes the "effort" expended in the learning process of each sigfnicantly different? I don't think you can.

FWIW, if anything, I think I could find a study proving that developers pick up on C# faster than VB.NET due to its roots in industry standards.

I think your reasoning behind these two points is extremely flawed, and these are the premise you use to conlcude that consultants are trying to keep customers in the dark and subordinate Microsoft, a rather tasteless accusation. Personally, I would proabably apologize at this point.... but thats just me...