In response to my updated More on Federal Debt post, reader dougiefreshhh comments:
Source: BLS / Treasury Direct
for even more "on the street" bang, i'd plot this as a function of percent employed (non-public sector..as the gov't really doesn't produce anything).
Source: BLS / Treasury Direct
Public sector employees may or may not produce anything depending on your political perspective, but no matter your perspective, they do pay taxes--excluding them in this graph is rather silly.
ReplyDeleteI prefer just using the private sector as it creates the wealth that must feed the beast called government in all it's forms including all the public sector jobs mentioned. When the private sector goes bye-bye, so do all the goodies provided to government by the sweat of our private brows.
ReplyDeleteagree with both points.
ReplyDeletei do believe that the public sector creates the infrastructure for future growth, but they are not revenue producers in the sense that they will earn income to pay down the national debt (excluding a damn good tax collector, such as my dad).
that said, payment of taxes seems like a funny comment considering they are paid with tax revenue (or borrowing). in theory, a government worker could simply earn a lower salary and not pay taxes at all and it would be the same (it is the same pool of money).
in that framework, government workers don't provide revenue to the government, but they cheap workers (via a tax break).