WHAT WE ARE BECOMING? – AT 11:47 P.M. ET:  Steve Moore of The Wall Street Journal has written a fine, provocative piece on what America is becoming economically.  It is disturbing, and important, one of the best short pieces I've read recently:

If you want to understand better why so many states—from New York to Wisconsin to California—are teetering on the brink of bankruptcy, consider this depressing statistic: Today in America there are nearly twice as many people working for the government (22.5 million) than in all of manufacturing (11.5 million). This is an almost exact reversal of the situation in 1960, when there were 15 million workers in manufacturing and 8.7 million collecting a paycheck from the government.

It gets worse. More Americans work for the government than work in construction, farming, fishing, forestry, manufacturing, mining and utilities combined. We have moved decisively from a nation of makers to a nation of takers. Nearly half of the $2.2 trillion cost of state and local governments is the $1 trillion-a-year tab for pay and benefits of state and local employees. Is it any wonder that so many states and cities cannot pay their bills?

And...

Don't expect a reversal of this trend anytime soon. Surveys of college graduates are finding that more and more of our top minds want to work for the government. Why? Because in recent years only government agencies have been hiring, and because the offer of near lifetime security is highly valued in these times of economic turbulence. 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.

And...

One way that private companies spur productivity is by firing underperforming employees and rewarding excellence. In government employment, tenure for teachers and near lifetime employment for other civil servants shields workers from this basic system of reward and punishment. It is a system that breeds mediocrity, which is what we've gotten.

Finally...

President Obama says we have to retool our economy to "win the future." The only way to do that is to grow the economy that makes things, not the sector that takes things.

COMMENT:  Of course, Moore is correct.  Look, we do need public employees, and many do a fine job.  But bloated government agencies, at any governmental level, rarely do a fine job.  And please remember that many who work in these agencies have a vested interest in problems not being solved.  If you work in a welfare agency, you don't want reductions in welfare rolls.  That reduction can put you out of business.  If you work in a mediocre school, you don't want parents having school choice.  That could close your school.

But I think it's going to be awfully hard to get this country back to the point of "making things."  The "service economy" is easier and cleaner, and fits in with the mentality of today's educational system.  Manufacturing is outsourced to low-pay nations.

This country won (along with our allies) World War II in large measure because of production.  We made things, and made them at an astounding rate.  We still make a small number of products, and we grow most of our own food.  But some American flags are made in China.  And Boeing's production of airliners is being stalled by a shortage of parts from quake-ravaged Japan...a country Boeing warplanes helped defeat not many decades ago.

April 1, 2011