We've Become a Nation of Takers, Not Makers

After reading this opinion piece, you may understand better whats happening to the country as a whole.

We've Become a Nation of Takers, Not Makers More Americans work for the government than in manufacturing, farming, fishing, forestry, mining and utilities combined.

WSJ

Every state in America today except for two—Indiana and Wisconsin—has more government workers on the payroll than people manufacturing industrial goods. Consider California, which has the highest budget deficit in the history of the states. The not-so Golden State now has an incredible 2.4 million government employees—twice as many as people at work in manufacturing. New Jersey has just under two-and-a-half as many government employees as manufacturers. Florida's ratio is more than 3 to 1. So is New York's. Even Michigan, at one time the auto capital of the world, and Pennsylvania, once the steel capital, have more government bureaucrats than people making things. The leaders in government hiring are Wyoming and New Mexico, which have hired more than six government workers for every manufacturing worker. Now it is certainly true that many states have not typically been home to traditional manufacturing operations. Iowa and Nebraska are farm states, for example. But in those states, there are at least five times more government workers than farmers. West Virginia is the mining capital of the world, yet it has at least three times more government workers than miners. New York is the financial capital of the world—at least for now. That sector employs roughly 670,000 New Yorkers. That's less than half of the state's 1.48 million government employees.

reply to post by TriForce


Yes! Exactly, we've strayed away from the thing that made us so great. China is the producer right now and their rise to power is imminent. We became great after world war 1 because our production was boosted so much. And the same goes for world war 2 we were such a stronger nation after the war for the same reason. We need to raise tariffs and get business back to America! Back from # holes like Mexico where they've moved. We use to be a nation of hard working innovative producers, now we're a nation of fat whiny ignorant consumers!




Great post

You know, its kind of funny how trends change, when I was in High School, its was considered an insult to tell someone they were going to end up in a Civil Servant job.
Anyone seen the movie Beetlejuice, those that suicided were damned to work as Civil Servants the rest of their undead life but now...

When 23-year-olds aren't willing to take career risks, we have a real problem on our hands. Sadly, we could end up with a generation of Americans who want to work at the Department of Motor Vehicles.

Manufacturing is not difficult work. A lot of it anyway. Ever worked on an assembly line?

The problem is we still have a lot of uneducated people. When jobs moved overseas this displaced our low educated workers. The only jobs they seem to have left are minimum wage service-oriented jobs. The factory jobs we had 50-100 years ago have went to other countries.

The solution to this problem is to invest massively in education so that our uneducated workers are no longer displaced. But we're too busy spending money on wars and blaming people.

Last I looked at least 50% of people who try for 4 year degrees fail.

Lowering college standards to get them through college isn't accomplishing this. They have to find some way to: a) give grants to poor students so they can afford b) tutor or assist slow learning students. Bottom line, we need an educational system that's a much higher priority than the one we currently have. For one reason or another our leaders haven't caught on yet.

There was a time not too long ago when we decided to pay for every students education through highschool. We now need to update this policy and pay for every students education up to at least the 2nd year of college. The world we live in is not the same one it was back then. We have to change. If we do not then we will continue to lag behind like this and have displaced workers.

The reality is that we cannot afford our military as it's. It receives too much money. We're already well ahead of the rest of the world. We're nearly 50% of global military spending. China isn't even 7%, and it's in 2nd place!!!! We have to tax the very rich more than we do now. If you look at history the upper end were taxed more than they're now. We have to help our weakest members of society more than we're or we will have a level of inequality that's embarrassing.

I don't want our country to be a laughing stock. A joke. A big military junta. If we don't change, our military and top earners could be the only things we have left that we can point to.

Originally posted by TriForce
We've Become a Nation of Takers, Not Makers ,

Did I miss something?

This was true to make us a nation when we took this land.

reply to post by zroth


Well, yea thats true but i believe the point of the article was meant to reflect that the US has become bloated with Govt workers, which has overtaken the private jobs that were not sent overseas and it keeps creating more.
For example, Obamacare would create X amount of jobs but most of them would be positions in the IRS that would seek out and punish those that did not buy the mandatory health care.
Im not just picking on Obama though, since it was Bush that created the nightmare that is the DHS.

reply to post by TriForce


This is true.

The entire global system of civilization is failing across the board.

The masses need to unite to bring balance back assuming we have not passed the tipping point already.

reply to post by jonnywhite


The more you invest in education, the more it seems you create people who are too lazy to think critically and just turn college into high school part 2. Don't you seem to spend a lot for very few returns internationally? Maybe if the culture of America held academia in higher regard than athletics it would work.

reply to post by 547000

Maybe if the culture of America held academia in higher regard than athletics it would work.

Oh but dont you realize that in "Macho" America, the jocks get the chicks and the nerds get "swirlies"

In todays culture, a "six pack" ab and fake boobs sell more than a 140 IQ does.

Despite the climate - go and give your neighbour something and tell them to pass it on.

No matter where you are.

Don't over complicate matters, it's not tough to share.

Personally, I'm not sure more education is the key here. Most anything that the government "gives away" will just add to the problem. Traditionally, at least in the past, the uneducated (meaning, no college) went into manufacturing or service while the educated went into managment or engineering, etc.
The problem we have now is everyone thinks they deserve 30 dollars an hour for breathing. Look what is happening recently around the country. Over compensated union workers are being forced to get less, or more normal, compensation for their work. In New Jersey, Govenor Christie is doing the same thing to government employees. You can't pay a guy 29 dollars per hour, plus all of the other compensation (pension, health care, etc.) to put a bolt in a hole or drive a forklift or some other unskilled job, while China pays these same positions a dollar a day.
We need to lower the minimum wage, cut taxes on business, bring union and government compensations down, do away with more and more unneccesary government positions and start treating China's imports here the way they treat our imports over there. Tariffs!

reply to post by zroth


Zroth

Man, cut right to the heart of it didn't you. When Europeans first landed on this continent it was seen as a gold mine. Literally. Much of the investment for those expeditions came from the wealth with hopes of finding gold and other precious metals. Sounds like takers and not makers to me.

However they did see a need to allow for escapees from their type of civilization to come over here and colonize. The religious zealots, the criminals and others with not enough education to fit into the comfortable life Europeans cities. And certainly our American ancestors we like to remember, those hard working farmers and toilers who just wanted to be allowed the freedom to forge their own destinies.

European countries were glad to see most of these people go. Keep em out of trouble back home." Let them go over there and they will erect colonies from which we can find more gold." They will trap and they will fish and they will do all numbers of things to survive and we, back here in Europe will benefit from the imports sent back from our colonies.

The founding of colonies on the North American continent was a land grab by the more wealthy European countries. And when we say European countries, we need to understand that as European Royal Families wearing the cloak of nations.

However the wealth in natural resources of this continent were underestimated and the bounty of the land and the strength of those who wanted for forge their own destines was also.
The Lewis and Clarke Expedition. What a bunch of guys. Their feat is just to stunning to think about much. My brain shuts down imagining me trying something like that. But one truth from that expedition was that most of the natives that they encountered on the way west were gone by the time they came back again. They carried germs with them which wiped out the major portion of people that were here already.

This allowed for free land for the taking.

Even before our revolution and formation into a nation, there were takers and makers. Some wanted to just make, to allow for everyone to live their lives and work their work and live in a loosely confederated assembly of states and colonies. There were others though who saw the abundance of resources and open country and wanted to forge an empire which THEY could control rather than being controlled by Europe. They looked west and foresaw not only the conquering of what is now the US but also the conquering of the Mexico Territory and beyond that, gaining control of the whole of the Pacific Rim and Pacific Ocean.

So the makers and the takers joined together and threw off the yoke of European power.
Then the takers started in on the makers and had them start making for them.

Those who could, ran away. They moved westward. In wagons, on horseback and on foot. The makers. The takers always followed and found ways of taking over what the makers had made.

The takers hid themselves behind a curtain of respectability. They became tycoons and captains of industry. They donated to museums and music halls as philanthropists to demonstrate what good citizens they were ,all the while taking what the makers were making and dribbling small amounts back to society with their names on all the buildings.

As industrialization and mass production and technological development progressed, the takers began finding that they didn't need the makers so much anymore. So they began to lay them off. Then the takers began to move overseas to put other groups of makers to work who would work for less money, so that they could not only keep taking and taking but taking more and more.

Now article linked in the OP was written by Stephan Moore, a senior economist at the Wall Street Journal.
Moore is a fellow at the Heritage Foundation and a fellow of the Cato Institute. Both groups are Libertarian or right wing think tanks. Moore himself is strong supporter of supply side economics.

The Wall St Journal is now owned by one Rupert Murdoch. He is a TAKER. If you don't know who Murdoch is I can only ask, "just where have you been".
]
This is a puff piece. Written and couched in such terms as to give only one side of an emotional argument. It is not an unbiased viewpoint or a neutral and objective observation. It was designed to work upon the patriotic emotions of Americans who long for the good old days. It's hopes are to enlist our support for the right wing agenda in this country so that the takers can continue taking from the makers.

Now I am not a writer or historian and I know my observations above are of my own bias and perspective. What I also know is that my bias and perspective is based on my understanding of why I have been a maker my whole life and have had so much of what I have made taken from me. Not just taxes friends. There is so much more that has been taken from the makers in our country by the takers who are now going overseas that there is just no time to continue with it here.

reply to post by TerryMcGuire



Unfortunately you have to cut to the chase because of the layers of programming people have these days.

Anything other than the truth leads to debates riddled with misinformation and emotion.

We are all human. That is the cornerstone I wish all people would build from.

Well its not like its our fault! our leaders have sold us out and outsourced, killing off millions of job, so platic garbage can be re shipped back to us, sold at full retail as opposed to a well contructed quality brand, aka MADE in america. anything made in america would have costed more..but ide rather support here. many jobs have been elimated to the same countrys outsurced too be CEO's and governement, and with less wages and salarys, were forced to have to buy this contaminated garbage.
its really sad, when in america...we cant or dont even make plastic spoons or forks anymore* thats when you know its bad* we are a nation of takers right now..and its right up our arses, government and corporations

Originally posted by ziggy1706
Well its not like its our fault! our leaders have sold us out and outsourced, killing off millions of job, so platic garbage can be re shipped back to us, sold at full retail as opposed to a well contructed quality brand, aka MADE in america. anything made in america would have costed more..but ide rather support here. many jobs have been elimated to the same countrys outsurced too be CEO's and governement, and with less wages and salarys, were forced to have to buy this contaminated garbage.
its really sad, when in america...we cant or dont even make plastic spoons or forks anymore* thats when you know its bad* we are a nation of takers right now..and its right up our arses, government and corporations

As much as id like to blame the Govt for this, i cant. It was the corporations that sold us out, they sent the jobs overseas for cheaper wages and less oversight. So, what it really comes down to is greed.
I mean come on, that poor executive may only get a 1 million dollar bonus, vs 4 million if they didnt cut costs somewhere.

If obama really cared for us, as the people and nation..in my opinion* he would have reformed congress and governemnt, and made it so jobs and factorys would be built here..at least papers executivley signed. thats how i see it. he hasnt. kinda like what theodore roosevelt did during the depression. made jobs for highways, damns, buildings..all american workers. yeah many were immigrants, but legal ones, making them one of us*

reply to post by ziggy1706


The corporations in the US have some of the highest paid lobbyists in the country.Lobbyists are high dollar salesmen that never take no for an answer and literally hound politicians like a paparazzi hounds a celeb.

I mean seriously, look at the facts.. A Supreme Court Ruling actually gave Corporations the power of Eminent Domain, they completely bastardized the law to accommodate the business sector.