Posted on 09/14/2015 8:06:11 AM PDT by KeyLargo
Monday, September 14, 2015 Government workers outnumber manufacturing workers in Illinois
By Michael Lucci / Illinois Policy Institute -
The top-producing states of the Midwest’s manufacturing powerhouse are Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin. But Illinois is the only one of the Great Lakes states where government workers dramatically outnumber manufacturing workers, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
As of June 2015, Illinois had only 574,000 factory workers, compared with nearly 750,000 state and local government workers. That means Illinois had only 3 manufacturing workers for every 4 state and local government workers.
http://illinoisreview.typepad.com/illinoisreview/2015/09/government-workers-outnumber-manufacturing-workers-in-illinois.html
And their pension fund is already in big trouble. Guess they figure the taxpayers in other states will be forced to help them once they go bankrupt.
Just curious, does anyone have an example of a government job that increases the “Gross National Capital”, ie, creating actual wealth?
These are a few examples but for the most part Government destroys wealth and does not create it.
This is why the entire state of Illinois may have to undergo a Chapter 9 bankruptcy to clean up that mess. Which is too bad because the Chicago area is arguably the biggest transportation hub in central USA besides Kansas City, MO and St. Louis, MO.
No. This is a good thing. If all workers become government workers, they all will have high pay, long vacations and great pensions!!! Just put all workers on the government payroll and the state’s problems will be solved!!
“Just curious, does anyone have an example of a government job that increases the “Gross National Capital”, ie, creating actual wealth?”
Most police organizations maintain revenue enhancement divisions. Their purpose is to seize property for sale. They use the drug laws. They also seize cash. In most venues this goes into their budget. In many cases the officers who seize a vehicle get to drive it once it is converted for police work. (My local sheriff has some awesome customized trucks on patrol.)
My county and city have “self-financed” EPA departments. They go around fining people. That’s how they make payroll. You might think it’s difficult to do. But they have made so many rules and regulations that the ordinary citizen is in violation of something at least 15 minutes each day.
The local planning and permitting office is also self-financing. A developer told me that he gets $3,000 worth of fines for every $50,000 in building costs, so he builds it into the estimates.
Where’s our FRiend when you need him?
Most police organizations maintain revenue enhancement divisions. Their purpose is to seize property for sale. They use the drug laws. They also seize cash. In most venues this goes into their budget. In many cases the officers who seize a vehicle get to drive it once it is converted for police work. (My local sheriff has some awesome customized trucks on patrol.)
My county and city have “self-financed” EPA departments. They go around fining people. That’s how they make payroll. You might think it’s difficult to do. But they have made so many rules and regulations that the ordinary citizen is in violation of something at least 15 minutes each day.
The local planning and permitting office is also self-financing. A developer told me that he gets $3,000 worth of fines for every $50,000 in building costs, so he builds it into the estimates.
These examples do not increase wealth or capitol. All they are essentially doing is collecting taxes or fees on few to pay for their own empire. You might as well say that organized crime increases national wealth or capitol by making business pay extortion fees. What you end-up with is a race to the bottom.
Of course you’re being facetious :).
All the examples you gave are what we know about gov’t.
They don’t create, they steal, kill and destroy.
Seems that’s been said about someone else... can’t place my finger on it.
“These examples do not increase wealth or capitol. All they are essentially doing is collecting taxes or fees on few to pay for their own empire. You might as well say that organized crime increases national wealth or capitol by making business pay extortion fees. What you end-up with is a race to the bottom.”
I’m well aware that they don’t contribute to GDP. But so many people are unaware that government is simply a criminal enterprise with badges and that they are using the law and regulation for extortion, I mention it at every opportunity.
BTW, California includes the illegal pot industry in their GDP calculation.
When Illinois goes bankrupt, it should cease to exist as a state and revert to territorial status. Then, once it has resolved the fiscal issues, it can reapply for admission to the United States as a state or as multiple states.
The question was: why is Illinois broke?
Sorry, this is a red herring. Illinois is actually well below the national average on the government employee to manufacturing employee ratio. According to the figures in the article, this ratio for Illinois was about 1.3 in June 2015 (746,700/574,200). According to BLS data accessed on the St. Louis FED’s website, the comparable ratio of state and local government employees to manufacturing employees for the U.S. as a whole in August 2015 (latest available data) was 1.495 (18,435,000/12,329,000). By the way, manufacturing employment in the U.S. peaked at 19,553,000 in June, 1979 and has declined by a third since then, even as the U.S. population as a whole has grown substantially. If you are looking for a culprit to blame for the rise of government employment relative to manufacturing, you should focus on globalization, outsourcing and the rise of China, India, Brazil, Mexico and other countries with wages that are low relative to ours, and the impact that has had on manufacturing employment here. This is a private sector story, not a government story.
I agree. I believe that Illinois has the lowest number of state employees of all 50 states.
Yes, considering that this is your first post to FR since joining on the date of this thread, you are likely just another public employee union troll. 
We all know about outsourcing. If manufacturing jobs are leaving how does one afford the government. People are also leaving Illinois in great numbers but the government there is growing. Whatever the cause is there is only one conclusion: Not enough revenue to support the government.
In short, I think Illinois may have to consider the equivalent of a Chapter 9 bankruptcy to get itself back to solvency again. Which is too bad because Illinois has a lot to recommend for it, especially being the largest transportation hub in the USA.
Like most states and entities Illinois is hoping for a federal bailout. The state as has been on a crash course to Chapter 9 for decades. Once their bond rating is regulated as junk and they no longer can obtain loans then it will file. Illinois will not change their spending or reduce the size of government until it is forced by a Judge.
And the sad part is that Illinois may be unwilling to do that, either. Detroit had to file for Chapter 9 bankruptcy, and guess what—with the pension costs now much lower thanks to the Chapter 9 financial reorganization, Detroit has actually begun its long-needed turnaround—a turnaround that will accelerate once the long-overdue Gordon “Gordie” Howe International Trade Crossing bridge opens in 2020.
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