Unsustainable Statistics

Here are some interesting numbers..

Total state, local, federal employees: 20m (2008)

Federal contractors:  14.6m (2006)

People on welfare:  100m (2009, does not include SS & medicare)

Total number of jobs in the us:  155m (2012)

Population of the US:  312m (2010)

These are the most current statistics i could find.  Now let's analyze them.

Half of the 312M population works, supporting the other half.. children, elderly, spouses, & other dependents.  Of the 155M jobs in the us, 36M are govt.. either working directly for, or contracting.  They are paid by the taxpayers.  That leaves 119M people working.  There are 100M people getting some kind of govt assistance.. food stamps, housing, adc, etc.  Some of these are probably working, but a great number are not.  But if you total both govt paid workers & welfare recipients, the number totals a staggering 136M.  You only have 119M working to support them, in addition to their own children, elderly, & other dependents.

This is unsustainable.  The dependent class has grown astronomically.  But the burden has not really been felt, as the govt has used borrowed money to support them.  If the taxpayers had been taxed for the actual expenditures, there would have been a revolution.  Taxpayers would not have submitted to paying for this much dependency.  But by borrowing the money & trading free handouts for votes, the politicians insulated themselves from the taxpayer's wrath.  But the reality is the taxpayers are still on the hook for the spending.  The growth of govt has far exceeded the abilities of the american taxpayers to fund.  Borrowing the money to spend is not a solution.  That only postpones the inevitable.  The other problem that the govt is not facing, is the continued growth of the dependent class.  Govt workers & welfare recipients are growing at a much faster rate than the economy.  It is already beyond what is financially feasible.  Continuing down this path will be disastrous  both for the workers & the dependents, when the inevitable crash occurs.

An analogy would be a family.  Say you have 10 people in your family, as i do.  There are 4 total households, with currently 6 people working to support them.  In my situation, all are in the private sector, & none get govt assistance.  Now let's have 3 of those workers quit & expect money from the other 3 for their support.  It can't be done.  The only way you can support these 4 households with only 3 working is to borrow money.  So the households live off of credit cards & 2nd mortgages for a while, & borrow from friends & extended family.  But unless you shut down some of the households, it cannot be sustained.

As a nation, we are running $1T/yr over income.  The debt is $16T & growing.  There are too many dependents living off of the working people.  We cannot have this level of spending, both in govt & welfare.  Social security & medicare are not even factored in these numbers, & their mismanagement makes things worse.  You cannot hide from the numbers.  A currency collapse is in our future if spending is not cut back drastically.

The problem is not a lack of compassion, but a lack of money to fund the compassion.  It is also unrealistic expectations from the working people, to fund exorbitant levels of govt & an entitlement culture.  If we do not stop the madness, the whole system will collapse.. the currency & the whole financial structure will fold.  If we truly are compassionate, we will not allow the govt to bankrupt us & spend us into economic collapse.  Govt workers & dependents will be the hardest hit if the currency folds.

It is folly & madness to think that the rich can be taxed enough to support all of this spending.  We are $1 Trillion over each year.  1,000 million is a billion.  1,000 Billion is a Trillion.  There is not enough revenue to support these kinds of spending levels, & the govt knows it.  That is why they just borrow.. obligating future generations to pay for their irresponsible pandering for votes.  But all it will do is wreck the nation.


Summary:
Total working people:        155M
Total govt workers:           35M
Total welfare dependents:  100M
Net annual deficit:             $1T
Sustainable:                       No
Economic collapse:           Yes