Posted on 01/27/2010 9:24:26 AM PST by Poundstone
As the economy shudders and shakes and civilian companies teeter on a tightrope of uncertainty, there is one sector standing strong and quietly growing: the federal government.
The feds are the single largest employer in the country with more than 1.8 million civilian employees on the payroll. Salaries and benefits afforded to government workers are competitive with civilian careers, opportunities to advance are as good or better than in the private sector, and best of all, the government never goes out of business.
(Excerpt) Read more at fastcompany.com ...
It's actually amazing the number of people on this forum that are on the gubmint "welfare" payroll in one form or another...
It is in this water that the frog will be boiled. And I too work for the government in my state.
The feds are the single largest employer in the country with more than 1.8 million civilian employees on the payroll
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I’ve read where there are now over 20 plus million people at all levels of government, living of the taxes confiscated from private sector working Americans....
I have noticed a number of Freepers (Libertarian leaning, I think) who are eager to see the federal budget slashed -- and who seem to think that defense spending is the first place we should look.
Not me. I would like to see the budget slashed deeply, and perhaps -- down the road -- we might see lower defense spending. But we've got to hit the social programs first. They are unconstitutional and they need to be defunded. Defense is consitutionally mandated and it NOT the place the start cutting back government.
With that said, it is private property rights which assure the creation of the wealth of a nation. Government does not create wealth. It uses it up, whether it's spending for defense, for common uses (highways, bridges, etc.), or the employees who provide these vital services.
America's Founders understood the moral philosopher, Adam Smith's, "Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations," and they knew that protection of private property rights was essential to innovation, prosperity, and creation of real wealth to benefit all citizens. Their Constitution was intended to severely limit government's power to usurp the rights of the people and hold it to a limited role.
Tired of having the fruits of their labors confiscated by an overpowering British government, America's Founders declared themselves free and independent.
Most American schoolchildren can recite their claim that ". all men are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights ... to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." Less familiar, however, are these lines from their Declaration of Independence:
"He ( King George III ) has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance .... He has combined with others to subject us, ... imposing taxes on us without our consent."
What, then, did the Founders consider to be the real cornerstone of man's liberty and happiness? On what basic premise did they devise their Constitution? Let them speak for themselves:
| John Adams |
"The moment the idea is admitted into society that property is not as sacred as the laws of God ... anarchy and tyranny commence. PROPERTY MUST BE SECURED OR LIBERTY CANNOT EXIST"
|
| James Madison |
"Government is instituted to protect property of every sort .... This being the end of government, that is NOT a just government,... nor is property secure under it, where the property which a man has ... is violated by arbitrary seizures of one class of citizens for the service of the rest." |
Their guiding principle was that people come together to form governments in order to SECURE their rights to property - not to create an entity which wilt, itself, "take from the mouths of labor the bread it has earned." What was wrong for individual citizens to do to one another, they believed, was equally wrong for government to do to them.
The right to own property and to keep the rewards of individual labor opened the floodgates of progress for the benefit of the entire human race. Millions have fled other countries to participate in the Miracle of America.
Footnote: Our Ageless Constitution, W. David Stedman & La Vaughn G. Lewis, Editors (Asheboro, NC, W. David Stedman Associates, 1987) Part III: ISBN 0-937047-01-5 Here.
Stop with that...You know as well as I, no one is talking about our troops or the military...
We're talking about the tens of millions, at all levels of government, that produce "nothing" that are in reality, worse than the welfare parasites.
Government employee tax parasites are choking off the private sector,with their lottery style tax paid government retirements, and their tax paid lucrative government benefit packages....
All provided on the backs of the tax payers, that are now on their knees.
Looks to me like it’s about 1.7 million too many civilians on the gubmint payroll. It’s long past time for the socialist gubmint pigs to do a massive “downsizing of about 95%....starting RIGHT NOW!!!
Where does that money come from? What is the government producing and selling except BS. That makes BS very expensive.
Hard to believe, Americans continue to voluntarily fund this massive, bloated ever expanding government entity that is hell bent on destroying the middle class, freedom, and our sovereignty.
“I hope everybody remembers that the federal government also has a Department of Defense. That side of the house is the one that the Constitution mandates. They are also the ones who are spending a lot of time with the soldiers in those nasty places that most federal employees will never see.”
Not only DOD. I’m a State Department career employee and I spent last year in Afghanistan. We have personnel deployed all over Afghanistan, not just in Kabul, but in RCs, PRTs and BCTs also.
Throw in the millions of tax parasites that are on the local government payrolls, including cities, counties, and states, and your looking at *20 plus million*government employees clinging onto the tax payers backs.
You can blame all this on the government at all levels, and their tens of millions of government employees sucking on the government teet.
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American middle class dream is slipping away
January 27, 2010
New York, Jan 27 The American middle class dream is fast getting out of reach for more and more people as tough economic times take toll on their incomes and quality of life...
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2438613/posts
You probably missed it...But if ya look around, you’ll find government at all levels, has been subverted, undermined and compromised by those wanting total, complete control and authority to regulate and tax everything you do.
Didn't miss it at all. I find it heartening that there are Conservatives working IN government, because it sure as h*ll won't be the Liberal government employees who will work to fix it.
Oh I see, the conservatives in government are fixing things?
Can you list some improvements in regards to the reduction of the size and scope, and spending of government over the past 10 years?
Thank you.
I find it heartening that there are Conservatives working IN government, because it sure as h*ll won't be the Liberal government employees who will work to fix it.
Then you stated this:
One of the biggest tragedies in modern US history, imho, is that Conservatives have been turned off to working in the government and in academia.
Which is it?
Sure, I'll do it again, just for the record.
I find it heartening that there are Conservatives working IN government, because it sure as h*ll won't be the Liberal government employees who will work to fix it.
One of the biggest tragedies in modern US history, imho, is that Conservatives have been turned off to working in the government and in academia.
First, you clearly suggest how heartening it is that conservatives are working IN government....
Then, in your next comment, you say it's a big tragedy that conservatives have been turned off from working in government.
Your comments are inconsistent at best.
One of the biggest tragedies in modern US history, imho, is that Conservatives have been turned off to working in the government
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Are you suggesting your comments above are not inconsistent?
Tell me, how is it possible that conservatives are working in government, yet it's a tragedy that conservatives are turned off from working in government?
If you could be specific.
One of the biggest tragedies in modern US history, imho, is that Conservatives have been turned off to working in the government
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Are you suggesting your comments above are not inconsistent?
Tell me, how is it possible that conservatives are working in government, yet it's a tragedy that conservatives are turned off from working in government?
If you could be specific.
Because there aren't enough
Oh, I see...
So when Bush and the Republicans held power for 8 years, having Republicans in the majority during much of his administration, can you point out what he did to secure our borders, point out where government domestic spending was dramatically reduced, point out when and how he downsized the size and scope of government?
Thank you.
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