The share of Americans employed by the government steeply dropped in the decades leading up to 2000, and has remained essentially flat since. A bloating federal workforce is a myth.
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That chart is more a story of reduction in administrative support workforce due to computers and the internet. The question is how low can you go if you introduce more automation including AI supports. Definitely an interesting experiment. Risky...should be sandboxed to avoid breaking the country.
ha ha .. *rump will just invert the chart and say: " WOW the federal government is bloated, I need to cure cancer, build a wall, save the homeless, give away all my money and riches so I can go to heaven and destroy it"
Most of the growth in government workers is at the local level, mostly in red states. Housing bubble 2.0 has bloated property tax revenue allowing these government to hire more workers because, as we learned in 2008, housing prices only go up.
As America came out of the Korean War and then the Vietnam War, it would make sense this % would taper off, and with great advances in technology, the number of employees should not have risen as it did.
False. The population boom alone means more work, in addition to more complex systems in just about every area of life. That requires more workers just to maintain standards.
Speaking from experience. I have worked for several companies that increased sales 7-10 fold over 9-10 yr period. The number of employees did not increase at the same rate. This was in manufacturing and retail. So to say govt needs that kind of employee ramp up is to admit it is inefficient.
Not necessarily, especially when technology is often outdated, and work hours are rigidly adhered to. In private companies, technology is often updated regularly and staff are worked overtime. In federal work forces extra work is often pawned off to contractors, until budgets allow for more hires.
Evidenced by the lack of accountability to its shareholders: the American public. If you are okay with paying 10x the value of a service, you’re part of the problem.
Governments provide services, not products. And if you don’t think retail charges 10x the value of anything, I’m guessing you’ve never had popcorn at a movie theater…
It's an excuse when the real reason is taxes on the rich/corporations have been too low, but Republicans want to force a crisis to cut medicare, medicaid and social security. 91% of the budget is medicare/medicaid, social security, defense/VA, interest, and aid to states.
Thank you, Steve, for (as usual) giving context. I miss seeing you on MSNBC but I cannot go back after what Joe and Mika did. I know you cannot comment. #Context
Some but note the clusters, they only have census once every. 10 years. The government does not lay off anywhere near as much as the private sector. It is part of the macröeconomics of government.
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https://econofact.org/u-s-defense-spending-in-historical-and-international-context
Frederick Douglass
US Marshal
Like republicans being "fiscally responsible" for example...
https://www.salon.com/2018/02/12/thom-hartmann-how-the-gop-used-a-two-santa-clauses-tactic-to-con-america-for-nearly-40-years_partner/