We're in a jet going down at 8,000 feet per minute--someone needs to pull back on the stick

If you consider yourself reasonably well-informed about life here in the U.S., see how close you come to the answer to this question:

What percentage of Americans over 16 not only don't have a job but are no longer actively looking for one?

According to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics--which all evidence suggests lies atrociously but always so as to make the Obama administration look better--the figure is:  37.2%.  (Highlight the gap to see the answer.)

Next question:  How many people does that make who don't have a job and aren't even looking?

Answer:  a bit over 92,000,000.  (Again, highlight to see the answer.)

Question 3:  How does the government create jobs for these people?

Answer:  Government--as currently constituted--can't create a significant number of jobs.  There are already WAY too fucking many government employees right now, and we should be cutting that number, not increasing it.

The key to job creation is encouraging companies to hire more people, and more people to start businesses (whether incorporated or not).  But in the current political climate no one in their right mind would do either one, for many reasons.  For one thing the government demands that even a one-employee business fill out reams of bullshit paperwork monthly.  No one tells you how or what all the requirements are--the rules are buried in the middle of thousands of pages of bureaucratic bullshit that's almost impossible to decipher--but of course you're still expected to figure it out.

And the penalty for making an innocent mistake is usually huge.  Ask the owner of Gibson Guitars.

Hell, ask the poor baker in Colorado who declined--on religious grounds--to bake a cake for a wedding reception for two men who got married in another state.  Now, homosexual marriage is *not* legal in Colorado, but the state has formed a "human rights commission" that says they'll fine the baker $100 a day for not baking the gays a cake.

This is the kind of weird shit governments--at every level--do.  And keep in mind that gay marriage isn't even *legal* in Colorado.  Weird shit.  If you'd predicted five years ago that a state commission would fine a baker for refusing to bake a cake for two married homosexual men everyone would have said you were nuts.

But even if a miracle happened and government at all levels (post-Obozo, obviously) were to back way the fuck off the backs of businesspeople and entrepreneurs, there's one more problem:  How do you motivate people who have been living on welfare or the proceeds of theft or selling drugs or whatever to take a legitimate job?

Some of you may find this cynical (shocker!) but my guess is that ain't gonna happen.  I mean, we all love our free time, right?  And if you read enough posts on the Net you can find lots--LOTS--of people who are frankly happy to have all their time free, even if it means less money.  They get to just hang out with their friends all day long!  In fact many are so adamant about loving their idle lifestyle that they even say they'd be happy if their kids decided to live the same way, and don't intend to push their kids to get jobs or careers.

(I've stumbled on these stories by accident--don't know what kind of search phrase would find these.)

So if my prediction above is accurate--meaning 90 million people, more or less, stay on the dole, what does that mean for working, middle-class Americans?

Perhaps surprisingly, this part of the forecast is both easy and highly likely.  Consider the following:

  1. It's virtually certain that no politician will propose changing current systems and procedures enough to reduce the total of what are euphemistically called "transfer payments" by a measurable amount.  And even if a courageous pol were to propose an effective measure, it would never be adopted because all the others would be too afraid to vote for the proposed fixes.

  2. While I'm fine with letting the Democrats increase the minimum tax on "the rich," the numbers say that will have about as much effect as a family trying to remedy spending $3000 per month more than they make deciding to drop HBO.  (And make sure all the votes to raise the tax are Democrat.  We want 'em to own that just like they own Obamacare--not a single Republican vote.)

  3.  If we can't cut the number of jobless Americans roughly in half, the numbers say the federal deficit will continue to climb at near-Obama-like rates, even after the traitorous Muslim is no longer Resident.  Which means...

  4.  At some point the national debt will be so high that the feds won't be able to borrow enough to cover expenses.  By many accounts that's already happened--what do you think "Quantative Easing" was?

  5.  Think not being able to borrow will rein in federal spending?  Hahahahahaha!  Just crossed the border, did ya?  Hell no--they'll crank up the printing presses--again, Quantative Easing IV or whatever--which will quickly trigger hyperinflation.  Oh, it can be delayed for a decade or so if the feds sell federal assets--like federal lands, parks, buildings and so on.  But as long as "transfer payments" remain at or near current levels, nothing will help for long.  It's sorta like someone discovering an unused 20-gallon pump on the Titanic.

Okay, no one likes to hear "We're gonna crash!"  You'd much prefer to hear "Here's how we can prevent it."

Okay, here's how--and please note that I never said it was gonna be easy.  If you want comforting lies elect Hillary.

  1. We have to immediately start reducing transfer payments--just a little every year; perhaps two to four percent per year.  Whoever's president needs to frankly, humbly, openly appeal to churches and other charities to stay in contact with people in their immediate area and help the ones who are truly in need.

  2. Obamacare has to be repealed.  That alone won't save us but it will relieve the government of literally a couple of hundreds of billions of dollars of expenses per year, which gives us more time to pull out of the financial dive we're in.

  3. We need to *reduce* the length of unemployment benefits.  If you've been laid off you need to make "Plan B" immediately, and then execute it if you don't have a new job after six months.  Will that be hard?  You bet.  But it must be recognized that if you've been unemployed for a year or two, the chances of getting a job in your old field are virtually zero.  In that case you'd have to do something new when UE bennies ended in any event.  Extending UE benefits simply delays starting a family business mowing lawns or cleaning swimming pools. 

  4. Getting the government out of the VA health care business entirely--and selling off or closing VA hospitals--and giving impoverished or wounded veterans vouchers for private health care would almost certainly save billions per year.  Reason: the VA's budget for last year was $162 Billion, over a third of which was for medical care.  Say $55 Billion per year.  The latest numbers in congress say privatizing it would cost about $50 billion per year.

  5. End the mandatory addition of ethanol to gasoline.  It was a dumb idea from the outset, and only got worse with implementation.  If American farmers export the corn now used for fuel, we'll reduce our net trade imbalance with foreign countries.

  6. Cut *all* foreign aid--both cash and military hardware.  If a foreign country wants to buy U.S. hardware, fine, but no more giveaways.

This is a start.  And I realize powerful interests will fight tooth and nail to prevent each of these proposals from being enacted.

You'll know who in congress is serious about saving the country by what side they vote for.

If you have kids or grandchildren you should be mad as hell that government has put us in this fix, yet no one in government has any real desire to do what's necessary to pull us out of it.

Mad.  As.  Hell.