We've Become a Nation of Takers, Not Makers. More people work for government than most industries.

Wall Street Journal ^ | 04/01/2011 | Stephen Moore

[SeekAndFind]

If you want to understand better why so many states—from New York to Wisconsin to California—are teetering on the brink of bankruptcy, consider this depressing statistic: Today in America there are nearly twice as many people working for the government (22.5 million) than in all of manufacturing (11.5 million). This is an almost exact reversal of the situation in 1960, when there were 15 million workers in manufacturing and 8.7 million collecting a paycheck from the government.

It gets worse. More Americans work for the government than work in construction, farming, fishing, forestry, manufacturing, mining and utilities combined. We have moved decisively from a nation of makers to a nation of takers. Nearly half of the $2.2 trillion cost of state and local governments is the $1 trillion-a-year tab for pay and benefits of state and local employees. Is it any wonder that so many states and cities cannot pay their bills?

Every state in America today except for two—Indiana and Wisconsin—has more government workers on the payroll than people manufacturing industrial goods. Consider California, which has the highest budget deficit in the history of the states. The not-so Golden State now has an incredible 2.4 million government employees—twice as many as people at work in manufacturing. New Jersey has just under two-and-a-half as many government employees as manufacturers. Florida's ratio is more than 3 to 1. So is New York's.

Even Michigan, at one time the auto capital of the world, and Pennsylvania, once the steel capital, have more government bureaucrats than people making things. The leaders in government hiring are Wyoming and New Mexico, which have hired more than six government workers for every manufacturing worker.

[FreeReign]

Now there are some manufacturing sectors that for strategic reasons should not have been allowed to decline — steel and semiconductor devices come readily to mind — but to preserve them would have meant (and to revive them would mean) modernizing them and thereby making them less labor-intensive (i.e. fewer jobs).

Bush imposed tariffs of up to 30 percent on imported steel after 9/11, and he caught holy heck from numerous people on this board for doing it.

[RobbyS]

The aim of Obama and his ilk is to eliminate the ability of states to keep taxes low.

[RayChuang88]

One more reason why we need unprecedented reform of our income tax system--if not outright phasing out of it in favor of a national consumption tax. Once we overhaul national taxation to make it business-friendly, expect an economic boom in a matter of months as American companies bring back jobs, factories and even corporate headquarters to the USA and foreign companies expand operations in the USA.

[tcrlaf]

And this doesn’t even include those living on government largess, like welfare, or Social Security.

Democrats have literally killed the Goose that laid the Golden Egg.

[fabian]

Yes, we will have a revolution for sure because this is theft, pure and simple. They may not see it as that, but it clearly is.

[tcrlaf]

“What conditions fostered the departure of the U.S. Manufacturing Base to third world countries, and who were the parties responsible for the destruction of U.S. Manufacturing?”

The answers to that question are pretty simple, but not ones that many people, especially in the Big Media want to hear:

Over-Taxation
Over-Unionization
Over-Regulation
Suffocating Enviro Laws
UNLIMITED CIVIL LIABILITY (This is a biggy, folks)
and,
the Standardized Shipping Container.

YOU’LL NOTE THAT WAGES ARE NOT ON THIS LIST.....

Four of these five can be laid SQUARELY at the feet of the Democratic Party (with some Republican help over the years).

The fifth allows you to get around the other four, because goods no longer have to be handled numerous times at diffent points in the logistics chain. We can now produce goods in central China, and have them on the shelves of your local Walmart in 4 weeks, sometimes less, with the goods never touched by a human from factory to store.

Wages are not on the list because, as the CEO’s of Intel and Emerson Electric have told us, automation has made wages a non-issue, especially when compared to the costs of regulatory compliance alone.

We now live in an economic world where it is CHEAPER to ship American Wheat to a port, load it on a ship, send it to China to be processed in to Wheat Glutten, loaded on another ship and sent back to America to be used in Dog Food, than it is to process it here.

We screwed ourselves, folks. Now the butcher’s bill for 40+ years of Democrat-vote buying is due, in full.

[tcrlaf]

“Understand, too, that the government jobs produce zero....”

And yet, I’ve got very educated liberals who tell me that is a lie, because THEY get a government check, “See, I get wealth produced by the government!!”.

You can’t get it through their thick skulls that their money ALWAYS comes from the wealth creation of someone else. They just stare at you blankly, then spew some propaganda line from Move-On, or call you a “FOX NEWS DRONE!!”

[EGPWS]

For every one government job saved, a private job is not created.For every one government job created, a private job is destroyed.

Nowadays with the benefits and all it destroys 2 private jobs for 1 government job after taxes.

[traviskicks]

fyi

[shield]

True Americans are builders...the left couldn’t stand that we are truly an exceptional people and country...so the take down started slowly then the more haters of America in government accelerated the take down...moving manufacturing to countries like China...telling stupid Americans [not] it’d be good for America...the list goes on and is rather long...so today we are seeing the outcome...hand outs is not the American way and well over 50% are mad as hell...it will not be easy but we will take back this country from the evildoers...once and for all...

[Tigerized]

>> Who is John Galt? <<

You don’t know how long I’ve been waiting for the moment when someone takes a difficult project like “Atlas Shrugged” and do a admirable job for the screen!

I can hardly wait. Better than Christmas morning...

[HKMk23]

...who were the parties responsible for the destruction of U.S. Manufacturing?

Folks want to blame corporations for it a fair amount of the time, but every time I get into the dialog, and burrow down to the bedrock, I find the same two culprits: corporate taxation and government regulation.

EVERY time.

As much as there are people out there — and it always kinda seems to be the SAME people, oddly — who try to blame "greedy evil corporations," the actual facts always point back to Uncle Sam and his satellite cronies in the 50 states.

When Japan eliminates their corporate tax, which they were already talking about doing BEFORE they got hit with the big earthquake and tsunami, the United States will have the most overbearing corporate tax and regulation environment in the known universe; ALL of that — ever single letter — imposed by government; local, state, and federal.

With that as background, I think the more intelligent question is not "Who's responsible for the destruction of U. S. Manufacturing," it's "How have American companies managed to keep any manufacturing jobs here in this country?"

[central_va]

None of the traitorous companies that moved to China were losing money.. They did this to make an even greater profit, a couple of more pennies on the dollar. I can't begrudge them except when we need a manufacturing base, like during a real shooting war which will inevitable come, don't come crying to me. Also, don't expect any hero worship from me for the Benedict Arnold capitalists, the new slavers.

Don't piss down my back and tell me its raining. There are plenty of right to work states in the South where manufacturing can be done profitably.

[Tigerized]

>>...”pie slicers” not “pie makers”<<

It starts early. I’m thinking back to my early days at a LA Public School in the San Fernando Valley circa 1960. In the 2nd grade, we were introduced to basic hand tools in cute little tool boxes (small saw, hand drill, hammer, square, etc.) and actually learned basic woodworking and how not to lose fingers in the process. I loved it.

Later in high school, we had wood shop, metal shop, electronics, auto shop, and more. All these classes taught us useful skills. (Perhaps the most valuable was the touch typing class I took in 1968 as a high school sophomore, who knew we’d become so dependent on computers?)

Compare this to what’s offered in public schools today, and therein lies the rub for now and our future.

[mo]

If ya don’t dig it, plant it, or build it..ya haven’t got it for long!!

[The_Reader_David]

I might have been one of those giving Bush heck for that: I don’t think tariffs are a good way to defend strategic industries — they impoverish the consumer. If there is a compelling strategic interest in maintaining capacity in an industry, it would be better to subsidize the industry, and improvements to the industry, rather than forcing the citizenry and other industries to pay higher prices across the board. This maintains the advantages of free trade, while not allowing domestic capacity in a strategic area decline.

[unkus]

Fewer farmers to feed the pigs...

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Very good!

[unkus]

That’s very astute.

[apoliticalone]

“As a good friend once observed, “Wealth is created on the shop floor.”

She’s right.”

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I agree totally except that Wall St has some how hijacked the process. Instead of wealth being created from enterprise they get paid much more than those doing productive work by simply making deals and skimming off the proceeds. Taking a cut is the way the mob works.

The capital of the USA has been hijacked by the special club of banksters instead of being used to build our nation. We just bailed them out so they can get rich again too. As far as I’m concerned the banksters have had a deleterious effect and much to with the decline of the USA. They aren’t capitalists either. Capitalists lose money when they invest it wrongly. Wall Street was recharged on taxpayers dole.

[apoliticalone]

I can’t stand that arrogant bxxxxd. Sorry. His beliefs (as well as Wall St) of a world without sovereignty is a big part of the problem.