Number of Public vs Government Workers

“The worst thing in this world, next to anarchy, is government” - Henry Ward Beecher

Part of preparedness is being aware of the risks and potential for problems. That includes looking at the economy, long-term trends, and the recovery from our current recession/depression. The graph below comes from Fabius Maximus in a posting titled America passes a milestone. It shows that the employees working for the government now exceeds the employees working in the manufacturing sector. This is NOT healthy for the county. With rare exceptions (NASA, military equipment, interstate roads) the government does not increase the Gross National Product – it does not create products, just laws and regulations.


Bottom LineSome government is certainly needed like Police, Fire, Military, and “simple” Food & Drug regulation. But do we really want 22 million government workers (7% of the US population) putting restrictions and restraints on companies and people? See my posting, Waiting to Be Rescued, about government bureaucracies.

"Within the political process, … government agencies are more often concerned with pleasing other political actors and finding ways to expand their budgets and power. This often makes them less sensitive to the direct needs of the people who rely on them to get specific tasks accomplished."