Creative Financing

4Sep/0917

On the 8th Day, The Bureaucracy Killed the Host

Yesterday I received this email from monster.com - I was immediately struck by how obnoxious it was to me.

The idea that civil servants are in all ways protected from the ebbs and flows of the economy - completely separated from the harsh realities of the marketplace - is a source of not just a little animosity by yours truly.

recession-proof

In terms of the massive make-work stimulus bill, Wisconsin for her part gets 2 years of additional teachers and 2 years of additional cops on the street paid for with federal tax dollars (subsequent years to be paid with state tax confiscations). It is not lost on me that the teachers union stands to gain. It is not lost on me that the police union stands to gain. But in what way do additional teachers and officers stimulate the economy? The short answer is that they don't. They neither create jobs or wealth. And in doing neither, the increasing numbers of both do nothing for the state and federal coffers - except of course decrease them.

The shovel-ready projects are also hand-outs to unions, whereby only union workers benefit. Sure there is arguably some stimulus that may occur in terms of bolstering those who feed at the government trough - materials come to mind. But here too, there is no real wealth created. No long-lasting investment being made whereby one could point to an actual return on investment.

The auto industry is said to have been bailed out. But let's be clear: the government put forth the notion that too many jobs were at risk to allow the manufacturers to fail. However, the only jobs that have been 'saved' are line jobs - union jobs. Professionals have lost their jobs. And with the retail auto dealership closings, retail professionals have also lost jobs. And continue to lose jobs as each dealership is closed.

Something is terribly wrong with the common presumption that any job is a good job. It is simply not the case. Some are worthy of existing - some are not. Some are attractive and some are not. But mostly this is not about jobs, per se. Rather, the Government's objectives are two-fold only: the Executive Branch is busy paying back the unions - at the literal expense of all of us. And the Executive Branch in collaboration with the Legislative is also involved in the fleecing of America, both for political payback and personal gain. Somewhere, lost to those who cling to the philosophy that Big Government can do little wrong is the fact that the Government does not create wealth. The Government creates nothing. And without creating wealth, the propping up of jobs for the sake of employing people only exacerbates the first problem: namely no wealth in the private sector - the only sector that actually creates anything - and the only sector which, ironically, contributes to the "common good" in many ways beyond, yet including, tax revenue from flagrant acts of creation... services, products, wealth, sales tax revenue, increasing living standards, options, competition, opportunity, etc.

And here is the rub: a government and its benefactors - the bureaucrats, affiliated unions, etc - can only flourish - not just survive - when it still represents a small portion of the workforce. There is a point at which the government's sheer size makes it unwieldy and exceedingly harmful to the host it is bleeding dry. And like a parasite, there is a fine line between living off of and killing the host. We have, in my estimation, surpassed that point some years ago. the only thing you can count on when it comes to bureaucracies is that they never, ever die. Even when the host is clamoring for breath, they cannot stop their impulse to grow ever bigger - always taking more - always feeding - never sleeping.

So back to the email from monster. It is obnoxious to me. It reminds me that in this nation, one is better served, fiscally-speaking, to feed at the trough - and not just when hungry, but as a matter of course. And not just to sustain oneself, but to gorge oneself... to fatten oneself without consideration of where the money comes from, who is creating it, who is going without.

It's enough to make an entrepreneur put away his hard work and pick up a postal route. Or become a union teacher. Or a union assembler. Or become a DMV bureaucrat. Or run a publicly funded day care. Because no one is tending the cash register. And the drinks are on the house. And you wouldn't believe the fringe benefits and job security you get for doing next to nothing. Creating nothing. Contributing nothing. Advancing nothing but the self. At the expense of your neighbor. Like a rabid raccoon that just won't f*cking die already.

It's enough to wonder what exactly I was thinking. Idiot me had visions of investing in myself, taking risks, creating wealth, employing people (creating opportunity for others in the form of jobs), contributing to the tax-base, improving the overall living standards in my neck of the woods - all while offering valuable and needed products and services. Living and dying on my ability to offer the best possible for the price the market would sustain.

Who knew I was just a glutton for punishment? My recommendation to my kids is to get a government job - one where you can't be fired - won't be expected to perform - one that provides luxurious bennies unheard of in the private sector. One with a path to retirement!

snuff-a-bureacrat2

Oh to dream of the customer care I could get away with not providing. And you can even complain while you do it - about stress, understaffing, the scum you have to 'serve,' etc. But no worries the gravy train always comes on time. No one working for the government has been known to go without a paycheck. Ever.