How The Government Is Swallowing The Economy: U.S. News

usnews.com:

You know about the bailouts, the stimulus plan, cash for clunkers, and moola for mansions. But for all the anxiety they've caused, those government giveaways are just a tiny part of a mushrooming problem.

Read the whole story: usnews.com

Comments

[totaldisbelief]

So a new perminent underclass of unemployed will be "at large" and they'll have to be "policed" to keep a lid on them. Eventually half the jobs will be "watching" the other half without jobs.

[oath of fealty]

Stock market surging while main street keeps getting squeezed

good articles: http://financeopinionss.blogspot.com

It looks like 9-8% unemployment is the new normal since the govt. wants ppl to be unemployed. Otherwise we would have REAL shovel ready projects and green jobs instead of the BS we have now.

[KDog76A]

any sort of comment on the contents of the article?

[Sigger]

We have to reverse the redistribution of wealth program that Reagan put in place. Taxes for start up companies and low income individuals should be minimal. Taxes for the super rich corporations and individuals should be progressively higher, maybe even back to the rates from 1936 to 1964.

The entire business landscape is now being taken over by big business at an ever-increasing rate, and they will lay employees off, in a minute, for the sake of their bottom line. We're down to a few major oil companies, consolidating cell phone companies, Home Depot and Lowes, and on and on. When we get down to one company owning everything, then maybe someone in Congress will finally figure it out.

Small business has vested ownership, and like farmers and other entrepreneurs, and will work to keep their business and livelihood alive to the very end. I hope success for every small business and wish that they all could become millionaires. If our government helped these people and eliminated the tax breaks and loopholes for the rich, it would go a long way towards reducing the trend line towards 67%.

[ResearchtheFacts]

Must be getting tired. That's hind sight.

[ResearchtheFacts]

And the military spending is a huge factor. Perhaps two wars was not a good idea Bush. Especially when one was directed at the wrong country to began with. But hind site is 20/20.

[KDog76A]

yawn,

read the article, this is a lame post

[sarabono]

This is beyond not good. This would be a disaster for the USA Where is the true growth and innovation going to come from to support this massive administrative overhead?

[ResearchtheFacts]

You are imagining things. What massive administration? Half of the normally allotted job positions have not even been filled yet. Young Timmy is working with a skelton staff at the treasury which one would think would be mission critical about now and and some of the positions that are currently filled people are leaving. Whatever are you talking about?

[KDog76A]

what, there's no massive administration when two out of three people are employed or paid by the government?

[Democratt]

Stock market surging, middle America burning . Welcome to Amerika..land of jobless recoveries and v shaped recoveries for wall street.

hat tip to: http://financeopinionss.blogspot.com

the system needs to be overhauled cuz nothing seems to change .

[KDog76A]

READ THE ARTICLE

[Peleador]

During the first 50 years or more of the country, I'd bet no more than 5% of the population relied on the government for a living. Certainly not more than 10%.

Imagine how hoffied Jefferson and Madison would be.

We need to stop looking at job numbers and start looking at what creates wealth.

A carpenter creates or maintains wealth. An auto maker. A car repair guy. A builder. A furniture maker.

A banker helps people who make wealth. An educator.

Merchants and truck drivers help move wealth.

But accountants? Nope. Lawyers? Nope. Government bureaucrats? Nope. A DEA agent busting a pot smoker? Nope. If anything, these people slow down wealth creation or even punish it. And they get paid money to do it. Nothing, that is. Total waste of human productivity.

That's why we need to start focusing on production. The biggest problem we have is that when building a chair, we employ a furniture maker AND an accountant AND a bureaucrat AND a lawyer. Then we can't afford all of that, so we just get it built in China. Four jobs lost. OR, we get rid of the accountant and bureaucrat and lawyer and just pay someone to build the chair. One job saved. A little simplistic, but it's basically what's happening. It's not the base cost of building the chair that is the main problem, it's the total cost including all the government created BS.

[Chernynkaya]

This is the difference between the moderates (the realists), the idealists (the prophets) and the Right:

" In 1950, the starting point for Shilling's analysis, just 29 percent of the nation depended on government for its income. By 1980, that had risen to 61 percent—higher than it is today—thanks to DEMOGRAPHIC FACTORS and the needs of a changing nation. The military got larger and defense spending grew as America took up its role as a superpower. Baby boomer kids required many more schoolteachers. The number of Americans receiving payouts from Social Security, enacted in 1935, increased 10-fold. Food stamps and other safety-net programs of the 1960s and '70s began to reach millions of Americans."

We grew. The government grew in response. But I suppose the Bachman Party would demand fewer teachers, fewer soldiers, deth panels for seniors and zero safety nets. As I said before, they are unrealistic knuckle draggers that "WANT MY COUNTRY BAAAAACK!" Ain't gonna happen-- unless they want a 19th century rural economy. ~snort~

[Booblius]

I was going to post on this, but your post is much better than mine, so I'll just say, "Yeah, what she said".

[KDog76A]

read about corn subsidies, most of our carbon emissions are the result of supporting industrial farming. Its also why we are fat and unhealthy. IF we don't go back to a rural economy, we ultimately destroy the environment.

but hey its interesting you call people knuckle draggers, but if it came to having to grow gather or hunt for your own food, you'd starve to death.

Omnivore's Dilemma = great book

[sposton]

And whose fault is this? It is the very failure of capitalism that will now be blamed on the "government". Do you think that people working in the private sector of the military-industrial complex are private sector jobs? Our private jobs have moved to China and elsewhere and all we have left are jobs that are indirectly or directly connected to government. We are like the former Soviet Union in more way than we care to admit. In fact Bush had less then zero private sector net job creation record; all increases in jobs during his eight years were government related. It is not a problem of government alone but a problem of government in service of corporatocracy. And this inconvenient truth is always conveniently swept under the carpet in all kleptocratic propaganda pieces.

[Chernynkaya]

Wonderful post. Wish I could fan you again.

[roberto8ag]

"And whose fault is this?"


The Congress should follow the constitution.... I'm not sure, but I think that the US Constitution prohibits all these take overs and interventions in the economy.... again not sure.

[sposton]

Keep in mind that all these "takeovers" are the end result of a failure of our style of capitalism.

[TAOofMAO]

This is NOT the Hope and Change I voted for. I feel hoodwinked.

[TradeLosses]

Lets all pray that the health care bill doesn't get stonewalled in the Senate...

good articles; http://financeopinions.blogspot.com

This is just one step in a staircase of much needed reforms after 8 years of destruction.

[vippy]

Aha, so that is our future where they are taking us - now it makes sense! There goes the jobless recovery, now we know its meaning! Vote 3rd party only, do not let them do this to us.

[World Citizen]

"Government swallowing the economy...to spend money to create jobs."

It should also spend money on its public school systems in addition to creating jobs.

As an american living in France since2000, I noticed that there's hardly any effects of the recession here. It wouldn't hurt to take a look at some of the reasons why the French economy has fared better than other countries.

1) Its known that a big ratio (heard-it'­s-more-tha­n-60%) of the labor force here in France work for the government. They are called fonctionnaires. These jobs are famous for their lack of mental challenge. Nevertheless, they provide employment stability which helps the french retain their spending power.

2) school system here is low-cost, almost free. Unlike the U.S., french do not have to get student loans that would result into large-debts even before they start working.

3) most french are over-educated / trained. Your desire to work will not get you the job. You will need to be trained first. When a person here in france loses his job, he is able to obtain retraining. Employers here also pay a lot of social charges for their employees.

4) French government also has a special fund for small/start-up companies. Currently, this arm of the french-government is authorized to guarantee 50-to-80% of the funding needed by companies that are asking banks for credit.

The government here is BIG. Somehow it has worked for them.

[Disdain]

Interesting. I wonder if all of these rioters that took the streets because of the bad economy know this.

[World Citizen]

Rioting or going on strike here in France is a past-time. It would not be France without it. Good times or bad, these are part of life here in France.

Some french companies also took advantage of the timing to dismiss some employees. Those dismissed then earn unemployment which is almost at the same level as the salary they lost. They also get retrained. The unemployment you receive depends on how much you earned and how long you worked.

For some that want to take a longer rest, they can earn a minimum monthly amount which is called RSA. This is approximately 450 euros per month and could be a life-long subsidy. Indeed, this country errs more toward not motivating their unemployed not to work.

But you have to applaud all these social subsidies now. With all the social charges that everybody pays here in France, somehow this has prop their economy during this debacle.

[loki]

Well there will soon be no place left to work for. The Ivy Greed capitalist are constantly on the move for the cheapest labor, so they move all the jobs offshore. The ones they cant move, they import cheap labor here.