Last year, Stephen Moore wrote an op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal entitled “We’ve Become a Nation of Takers, Not Makers.” His point was that America had morphed from a nation that manufactured things to a nation of government workers. In 2011, the U.S. had about twice as many people working for government (22.5 […]
Last year, Stephen Moore wrote an op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal entitled “We’ve Become a Nation of Takers, Not Makers.” His point was that America had morphed from a nation that manufactured things to a nation of government workers.
In 2011, the U.S. had about twice as many people working for government (22.5 million) as it had employed in the manufacturing sector (11.5 million). In New York State, the ratio was more than three to one in favor of government employees. In 1960, the national ratio was reversed, with the manufacturing industry employing twice as many people as government.
Worse yet, Moore added up all the people in 2011 employed not just in manufacturing but also in construction, farming, fishing, forestry, mining, and utilities and still found more government workers than all the other-mentioned sectors combined.
Moore concluded that the trend would continue because recent surveys of college graduates indicated a growing number of America’s best minds continue to gravitate towards government agencies, because the agencies not only grow historically, but also provide something approaching lifetime security.
I thought about Moore’s focus on Americans as “takers” when I read the just- released Heritage Foundation report: “2012 Index of Dependence on Government.” (http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2012/02/2012-index-of-dependence-on-government). The report indicates that 67.3 million Americans now rely on assistance from Washington in the form of items such as food, shelter, clothing, college tuition, and health care. The benefits collectively add up to $2.5 trillion, which is roughly 70 percent of the current national budget (and nearly 100 percent of the taxes collected). In 1962, government programs represented only 28.3 percent of the national budget.
The Heritage report also points out a parallel trend in which the number of U.S. residents not paying federal-income tax rose from 12 percent in 1969 to 49.5 percent in 2009. This means that 151.7 million Americans paid no federal-income tax in 2009.
Are you sitting down? The Heritage report also notes that Americans dependent on government receive an average of $32,748 worth of benefits. The average American’s disposable income is $32,446. Being dependent on government is now a better deal for most Americans than working.
Clearly, the country is reaching a tipping point where a government-dependent population will be happy to receive additional benefits paid for by others. Is it surprising that our elected representatives call for even more entitlements and subsidies rather than spending prudence?
Three thousand three hundred years ago, Jewish civil code spelled out our obligation to others and to ourselves. In Exodus, the law stated: “If you see your enemy’s ass sagging under its burden, you shall not pass by. You shall surely release it with him.” A parallel command in Deuteronomy says: “You shall not see your brother’s ass or his ox falling (under its load) in the road, and hide yourself from them. You shall lift it (the load) up with him.”
Our obligation to help others is clear. So is the fundamental principle of reciprocity. To quote the current chief rabbi of England: “We owe duties to those who recognize the concept of duty.” In other words, we have a responsibility to those who acknowledge responsibility.
Our current system of increasing government dependence saps individual responsibility. It creates what psychologist Martin Seligman calls “learned helplessness,” or in the language of addiction therapy, we become “co-dependents” reinforcing the very problem we want to solve.
Further proof of this learned-helplessness and lack of individual responsibility comes from a study recently released by the Kaufman Foundation. The study focused on why employers were not currently aggressive in adding employees. Aside from the usual responses about regulatory uncertainty, sluggish growth, difficulty in accessing capital, and global instability, the study found that many employers interview too many potential hires who are ill-educated, not trained to work, and lack the ethic to work hard. In short, they are unemployable. Think we’re only talking about our nation’s youth? Kaufman says you can also add a wide swath of America’s middle-aged men and women.
George Bernard Shaw wrote that “…liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it.” Without the acceptance of personal responsibility, we are certainly becoming a nation of takers.
Norman Poltenson is the publisher of The Central New York Business Journal. Contact him at npoltenson@cnybj.com