Consider the irony.  Government job creation is high and growing.  Private-sector job creation is much slower.  This shouldn’t be a surprise — the pseudo-government agency called the Federal Reserve has guaranteed that private sector job growth will slow and may reverse.

Job growth in the private economy, the kind that creates wealth and tax revenue, was only 99,000. The government contributed 51,000 of the new jobs, second only to hiring in healthcare (58,400) by industry. This continues the trend of 50,000 new government jobs a month over the past year. Government employment is now back where it was before the pandemic in February 2020.

Fed policy created this extreme imbalance in the private economy — first, by printing $8 trillion under Q.E., which led to the inflation we experience today.  Second, by raising interest rates as high and as fast as they did, Fed policy all but guarantees that the private sector will go into a recession.  But government programs and employees will prosper while citizens pay off the debt for generations.

The “irony” is that all these printed dollars (Q.E.) went into government spending programs and federal employment, through purchase of Treasury bonds by another agency, the Federal Reserve.

The real kicker is that neither political party is willing to curb government spending and thereby stop the growth in government control over our lives.  Instead, both parties merrily kick the can down the road and leave the crushing deficit to the private sector and future generations.  Talk about a road to serfdom, and we private citizens will be the serfs.

Our government policies caused inflation through Q.E.  They also shut down the private economy through interest rate hikes.  Our federal government, including elected politicians, continues to spend us into penury.  Yet our government continues to grow, and its employees prosper, while we citizens sit around and pay off the tremendous debt they incurred to further their careers.  Forgive me, but this is insane.

It’s not as if our nation can continue on this path.  Inflation is harming everyone, especially the poor.  Federal bureaucrats and regulations are crushing free enterprise with relatively useless edicts.  Businesses must comply, and they pass the cost of regulation on to consumers.  Further, this same government is forcing adherence to a green energy policy that costs more trillions of (our) dollars based on questionable science.

Spending, by our government, in excess of tax revenues leads to debt.  The nation’s debt is unsustainable, and both parties still allow government to spend and grow. 

“A Republic, if you can keep it.”  Actually, a constitutional republic.  It is the ultimate tool to control a government.  But first, we citizens must exercise our right to support only elected officials who understand how to eliminate excess federal spending, and who have the willpower to do it.

Ben Franklin issued a warning 247 years ago that it is up to us to keep our republic.  It takes knowledge, and if you are reading these articles, you are gaining that knowledge.  It also takes effort.  Our nation can be saved for posterity by every one of us working toward a common goal.  We owe it to those who fought the same battles in the past and to those who succeed us. 

“The wise man plants a tree for his progeny, knowing that he will never sit in its shade.”

Jay Davidson is founder and CEO of a commercial bank.  He is a student of the Austrian School of Economics and a dedicated capitalist.  He believes there is a direct connection joining individual right and responsibility, our Constitution, capitalism, and the intent of our Creator.

Image via Picryl.