Desperately Seeking (JOBS &) Authenticity in Politics

 

I'm just reading Stephen Moore in the WSJ: We've Become a Nation of Takers, Not Makers.  Here's the takeaway: 

More Americans work for the government than in manufacturing, farming, fishing, forestry, mining and utilities combined.

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 worse:

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.

 

The only cheer-me-up of which I'm aware is the Trump interview with O'Reilly.  The Donald's best line, which had me and The Husband howling, was something to the effect of 'could he (Trump) be any worse' than Obama?

I don't know if this covers the entire segment from last night, but you can watch a lot of it HERE.  No doubt there will be other sites as well; let me know what you find.

Let me know too if you agree with Trump -- especially about China and OPEC.  I found him to be a breath of fresh air.  What a relief to know what someone really thinks! I may not always agree, but knowing exactly where someone stands is essential for trust. This is the same appeal that Chris Christie has.  I'm guessing that the pseudo-president who now occupies the Oval Office office has more than just one or two of us starving for something... AUTHENTIC, GENUINE, REAL, VERITABLE

[These words] ... share the sense of actuality and lack of falsehood or misrepresentation.

AUTHENTIC carries a connotation of authoritative certification that an object is what it is claimed to be...

GENUINE refers to those having the characteristics or source claimed or implied...

REAL, the most general of these terms, refers to innate or actual - as opposed to ostensible - nature or character.

VERITABLE, derived from the Latin word for truth, suggests the general truthfulness but not necessarily the literal or strict correspondence with reality of that which it describes; it is often used metaphorically: a veritable wizard of finance.

 

At this point, I'd vote for Trump in a nanosecond.  We'll need to know more, of course, as we don't want to elect a totally unscrutinized came-out-of-nowhere sketchy character with messianic and abandonment "issues," a big smile and politically correct skin tones... EVER AGAIN.

Comments

[Mannie Sherberg]

Yael -- you're right. What a joy it is to hear somebody who talks without using modifiers and qualifiers and nuances and subtleties and refinements and subordinate clauses piled upon subordinate clauses and all the other dreck that typifies our political language these days. Trump doesn't vacillate, equivocate, waffle, shuffle, backtrack, shilly-shally, or talk out of both sides of his mouth at the same time. In his O'Reilly interview, he made more substantive points in a few minutes than most professional politicians make in a week. Would he make a good president? I have absolutely no idea. But I'm sure of this: Our country desperately needs straight talk from its leaders -- and a cessation of the gobbledygook and obfuscation and sheer mendacity that characterize the current administration. This guy Trump is downright tonic.

[Walt Gottesman]

Trump had praise for Hillary's candidacy, said he liked both her husband and Obama, and said that G.W. Bush was "the worst president in American history," in a pre-2008 presidential election interview by Wolf Blitzer on the video linked here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-IFobhsXPd0 Could he be questioning Obama now in order to once again boost Hillary's chance for the nomination in 2012? Don't know, but I agree with Yael that he should not be left unscrutinized. His final words in the interview are: "The last thing we need is a lazy president." Ironic, no?

[Zoe@ etf trend trading]

Interesting article. And troubling news. The US Economy and job market just don't seem to be looking up these days. Sooner than we thought, we'll be #2 or #3 behind other countries. ETF Trend Trading