Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Public Confidence in the Economy is High-In the Public Sector

Rasmussen has a fascinating poll on two different perspectives as to how the US economy is going: "Government employees are much more bullish about the economy than those who work in the private sector. That’s a big change from the beginning of the year when those on the public payroll were a bit more pessimistic than private sector worker."

As well it should-with the government Leviathan in the process of ripping its bodice in an unseemly display of out of control growth. But the short term prospects for the government sector masks the ominous trends that will, if left unchecked, leave both the public and private sectors in deep trouble: "The Obama administration estimates that federal spending will reach 28% of GDP in 2009, up from 19% a decade ago. It’s the largest share of the economy consumed by the federal government since the fighting stopped in World War II."

As Hot Air points out: "The Democratic agenda includes bailouts for states and rapid expansion of federal oversight in the energy and health-care sectors. What government worker wouldn’t be encouraged by that kind of job security? Small wonder Obama and his government employees keep talking about the “recovery.” They seem to be focused like a laser on adding more government jobs, and clueless about the private sector losses."

At some point the high tax driven expansionism chickens will come home to roost-and let's hope an awareness develops before it is too late; as it seems to be for the moribund California economic model (with NY State close behind): "The dire issues involving California's budget would prolong tough economic conditions in the state throughout the rest of the year, economists predicted on Tuesday. The economic prospects would remain slim in California despite modest improvements in the national economy, which has moved its condition from "intensive care" to "very sick," said economists at the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA)."

We seem to be developing a political class whose approach to government has been gleaned from seminars held by the Working Families Party. If this continues, the only families that will be working are those who belong to the political class itself-a model that the old Soviet Union has already demonstrated to be unsustainable.