Factual Personalized Checks On The Measurement of Government
According to the Brookings Institute, the normal number of government jobs that includes all Federal civil servants, contractor jobs, grantee jobs, uniformed military personnel and postal jobs is 11,028,000 jobs. When one checks and takes into the account the masses who mostly are not counted: the unemployed, those retired on social security, those on welfare public assistance, state and local workers, police, teachers, firemen, road departments and the legislature payroll, those figures become alarmingly large!
Most experts agree that reducing taxes, regulations and cutting the size of government creates more jobs. Studies show that cutting total government spending below 25% triggers economic growth. Common sense further dictates that the only sensible way for homeowners or business in trouble to bail themselves out is to cut back on expenses and become even more useful.
Government size has mushroomed over the last fifty years. Not only the size but the scope of executive branch involvement has shifted significantly with the Woodrow Wilson presidency and every follow up president. Most ingenuously point to FDR as the tax and spend president, but they all have been guilty since Wilson.
The history of government spending and size shows that in 1900, the federal government used up less than 5% of total output (GDP). By the year 1950 the burden was raised to 15% and in 1999 it was about 19%. The mushroom has not stopped growing and many feel it is out of control. The personalized checks that taxpayers make out to finance State and Federal government attest to the fact.
The scope and size of government swell to its present state creates a fascist type republic in that decisions become regulated and individual freedom dissipates. The ordinary citizen taxpayer becomes a slave paying for big government and is left with a reduced paycheck.
Heavily unionized, job secure government workers gets to retire after only 20 years service. They are eligible for pension checks, annuity checks and other lavish perks. Their counterpart non-government worker generally has to work 45 years before they are eligible for retirement and social security benefits. They have no job security. Many private sector jobs are much more dangerous than those faced by police, fireman and the military, yet they have to put in their 45 sweat before eligibility rolls around.
Unemployment numbers tell a story that is not what is seems. For instance, March 2009 unemployment reached 13.2 million but when looking at how government arrives at that figure, you find it is actually much larger. Those no longer receive unemployment benefits or are no longer looking for work for more than a year so a unemployment figure reaching the 20% range. This is known as the unofficial U-6 data.
It is easy to lose track of the total picture. The size and scope of government includes everyone getting a paycheck from federal, state and local government. You need to count all the numbers.
“The marvel of all history is the patience with which men and women submit to burdens unnecessarily laid upon them by their governments.” - William Borah, U.S. senator. Thomas Paine, the revolutionary thinker said: “It is time to dismiss that inattention which has so long been the encouraging cause of stretching taxation to excess.” When will citizens be free to vote for the size of government? Article presented by Personalized Checks