This surprise anybody?
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?
Fewer and fewer in the private sector to pay for more and more in the public sector. This should alarm absolutely everyone, but still there are those who scream about draconian, extreme, irresponsible cuts over 1- or 2-percent reductions. It's good to know that Indiana is one of only two states (Wisconsin is the other one) that doesn't have more government workers on the payroll than people manufacturing industrial goods.
