America’s already done it:
The implications of this are actually terrifying. What are those nearly 92 million people doing with their time, other than sitting around depressed?. Many, of course, are on some version of welfare. Some are panhandling. We see the homeless on the streets of all our big cities. Others are moving into a shadow economy, much of it illegal (drugs, prostitution), not paying taxes on whatever they earn. It’s truly a sad situation. No wonder so many states are moving toward legalizing grass. Everyone wants to zone out.
This is rapidly approaching a a pre-revolutionary condition, but not for a revolution many of us would want to undergo. To avoid it, a massive change must occur at the federal level. But Barack Obama, mired in a dead ideology, doesn’t seem prepared to do anything but prolong the situation with highly conventional liberal solutions that have failed for decades, maybe even centuries.
And yet there is so much he could do. The most obvious, many of us know, is to unshackle the energy industry. He should dismantle much of the bureaucracy as well. There’s a lot more, of course. But the point now is to realize that when you have nearly 92 million people deserting the labor force in a country of 317 million (many of who are children too young to work), you have a catastrophic problem on your hands.
Even if he’s capable of realizing that, he’s ideologically incapable of changing.
[Update a few minutes later]
This is a recovery only in the narrow, technical sense of growth in GDP. But it’s not growing anywhere near fast enough to provide jobs for those who want and need them. It’s the worst economy since the Great Depression, brought on by similar foolish policies.
[Late-morning update]
December probably wasn’t a one-off:
The smiley-face crowd’s next line of defense is that December was a one-off — some are even blaming inclement weather, which is pretty pathetic, given that those who predicted seasonally adjusted job additions of almost 200,000 already knew what the month’s weather was like — and that the generally upward trajectory seen during most of 2013 will resume. There are many reasons to question that optimism.
I think a lot of wishful thinkers are underestimating the destructive effects of uncertainty in health insurance on hiring.
We don’t need to wonder so much where those people are going. Googling around, I see the following statistics. 63 million people are on Social Security, due to age, disability, or other (eg, survivor benefits, early retirement). I see somewhere around 12 million full-time college students (and apparently about a third of those work on the side). About 2.2 million people were in prison at the end of 2011 and there’s that black market employing people off the books. I gather that there’s somewhere around half a million or more homeless.
Some of those could be considered “going Galt” and some not. But it is a lot of people conveniently taken off the books.
A lot of people on SS are still working.
If you’re under 65 and drawing SS, your income is limited to about $14,500 a year before they start reducing your SS payout. After 65, The income limits either go away or increase substantially.
A lot of the homeless work too.
2012: Average monthly net growth in health care workers, 27,000.
2013: Average monthly net growth in health care workers, 17,000.
2013/12 Monthly -drop- of 6,000 in health care workers. That’s a swing of 23,000. Or 33,000 if you figure all of 2013 was figuring some of that in.
Fewer providers, increased consumption, and price fixing. What could go wrong.
No one likes the government to micromanage their every action at work. According to Obama, one of the most regulated industries in America was the wild wild west with no government involvement before Obamacare.
“According to Obama, one of the most regulated industries in America was the wild wild west with no government involvement before Obamacare.”
Yeah I mean…if you can’t lop off a limb or two to make the Mercedes payment, what’s the point?
I’m pretty sure everyone is just off looking at the massive amount of behind-the-scenes Star Wars photos that Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca) posted on his Twitter feed. It will take days to view them all.
More people moving into shadow economies – and not paying taxes – is something to be celebrated. Always be worried if someone you’re talking to thinks people not paying taxes is somehow a bad thing, they’re probably a lefty.
dn-guy: “Why don’t all these people move to North Korea if they want to go Galt.”
Except going Galt is not about living off government programs like SS, its about going off and living independent of society.
As a side note, I wonder how many are making their living in virtual worlds like WoW? Gold farming could be quite profitable if done systematically 🙂
Going Galt isn’t about living separately from society, it’s about living separately from moochers, thus allowing them to destroy themselves.
This really shouldn’t be too hard to understand.. it’s the central thesis of the whole damn book. Instead of holding the burden of the world on their shoulders, Galt encouraged the productive members of society to shrug.
“Gold farming could be quite profitable if done systematically”
Not really. The hours you would have to put in are insane even with addons to help automate things. Plus, you have more overhead with a one bedroom apartment than your competition who uses slave labor in China. Then you have to take some rather elaborate measures to avoid any unwanted scrutiny from Blizzard. You could always move to China and open your own “farm” but really your effort would yield better returns and work less with a regular job in the states.
The thing people do these days is to run a blog, publish a guide, and stream gold making sessions for the M&S.
Gee… the drop in workforce participation was a major issue with the Dems back in the first Bush administration… you remember, back when the Dems were calling <6% unemployment a national crime and proof of a war on the middle class?
Odd how fast things change, isn't it?
Everything is different when they’re in charge. Under Bush, dissent was the highest form of patriotism. Under Obama, dissent is racist.