Rabbit hole references:
Additional Note: The scope of what government employees are tasked with keeping an eye on is staggering: Weather patterns, financial services, product safety, environmental impacts and disasters, effectiveness of our educational system, the condition of our roads, the safety of our communities, communicable deceases, air traffic control and much, much more. It is amazing that it only takes 3 million federal employees to stay on top of it all. I know, 3 million sounds like a lot, so for context let us just look at a very small slice of companies working in some of these spaces:
JP Morgan: 0.3 million employees
Amazon: 1.6 million employees
Tesla: 0.1 million employees
Delta: 0.1 million employees
United Health Group: 0.4 million employees
Allied Universal: 0.8 million employees
Total: 3.3 million employees
From a slightly different perspective:
In many private sectors, it makes (financial) sense to reduce the workforce if payroll goes above 30% of the revenue. Out of the approximately $5 trillion US federal revenue (2024, smaller than it would have been before the tax cuts), federal employees are paid approximately $200 billion or less than 5% of the revenue. So, if your goal is to reduce government spending, this is not a great place to look. Not only will it stop vital government functions, but it will also in fact save very little. The place to look are the big expense items, but those will not be touched since it is not politically expedient.
If the goal is to undermine the agencies providing information about how the economy is doing, the level of transmission of deceases in our communities and what companies are taking advantage of American citizens, then eliminating the government employees is a great strategy. As a bonus, eliminating the reports produces by the different agencies also removes any grounding of political arguments. Without data to ground a discussion, every argument will be centered on what we feel is right, and such arguments are rarely peacefully resolved.
Final Thought: Demonizing government employees by calling them names and targeting their integrity is a dangerous path for society. Smaller groups being singled out in this way is a tried-and-true political strategy that ignores the impact on the individuals being targeted. For many fired employees, their families will face an uncertain future. Children and spouses will feel the financial and emotional burden, community ties and financial resources will be strained. So, let us show kindness toward those impacted by this political push when we meet them.
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