It may surprise the average American to know that in 1980 there were 2.9 million Federal Employees. Today 45 years later the Federal Work Force consists of 3 million employees. During this time the U.S. population has grown from 226 million citizens to 334 million. Our Gross Domestic Product has grown from 2.8 trillion to 27 trillion. When we look at Business Productivity during this same time period it grew from about an output of 48 per hour in 1980 to 105 per hour in 2023.
One can make the argument that the Federal Work Force has absorbed the explosive growth in GDP and population by significant improvements in productivity. As a graduate level student of statistics that is a significant conclusion jump.
It appears that there is a huge discrepancy between the delusion of a bloated Federal Work Force and the actual size and growth of that work force over the last 45 years.
GOVERNMENT IS THE PROBLEM?
What has happened is that citizen confidence in the Federal Government has dropped from 77% to less than 25%. That would mean that the Federal Government’s ultimate customer, the average citizen, has felt whether rightly or wrongly a significant drop in the Government’s ability to service their needs. That either reflects the government’s effectiveness or the result of a 45-year program by certain elements of the political establishment to demonize governance.
Ronald Reagan said it plainly, “The government is not the solution the government is the problem.” And yet there are 67 million citizens whose health care is financed by Medicare, 91.7 million on Medicaid, 67 million on Social Security, 44 million on Obamacare. There are 296 million automobiles that utilize the 2900-mile Federal Turnpike System. Wal-Mart, Home Depot, and a surfeit of other consumer brands would not exist today without this Federally Funded subsidy. The Internet was the result of a Federal Initiative called ARAPNET established in the 1950’s. Today the internet has a 97.1% usage rate. Amazon, Facebook, Google do not exist without it.
T AS IN TRILLION
The Federal investment in our economy is partially responsible for an explosion in GDP. In the last 45 our economy has grown by 25 Trillion dollars. (that is Trillion with a T). An increase of 1,000%. Population growth in that same period is only 47%.
We could go on. The benefits of Federal Research Facilities such as NIH and the FDA are difficult to quantify. I can say with a high degree of confidence that the health and average life span of every citizen has been enhanced by these institutions. And yet the catch phrase “I’m from the Federal Government and I am here to help you” still evokes guffaws.
SENSIBLE GOVERNANCE?
So today we have the richest man in the world arbitrarily slashing Federal Programs. An immigrant who is now a naturalized citizen. He has born into extreme wealth. He has never had to rely on the government but happily does business with it to the tune of millions. There will be fewer employees serving our veterans, overseeing our nuclear assets, processing the payments that average citizens rely on. He is trying to run a government as if it were a corporation where a reduction in cost benefits the shareholders. It is not how governance works. Citizens aren’t shareholders. Reduced costs mean reduced services not increased profits. So I am going to make a radical statement.
Sensible Governance Helps Citizens Lead Better Lives.
I believe we are about to find out the hard way how true that statement is. . .