Shrinking Numbers

Just ponder these numbers:

--Almost half (49%) of Our working-age adults are on welfare, pensions or "not employed" (as opposed to the "unemployed" who are jobless and technically looking for a job.)

--Of the remaining 51%, roughly 44% are employed part-time in service/retail jobs, such as fast food restaurants, stores and service jobs. Of that 51%, about 26% are directly employed by the government.

--The above reduction means that some 30% of 51% of all Our working adults are "builders" instead of "maintainers" or "expense." (Yes, government workers are an expense. Internalize that and deal.) For the math-challenged, what I'm saying is that barely 15% of Us working-age adults are "builders"...and We are losing the battle to grow Our numbers.

By "builders" I mean folks whose work activities create something new, as opposed to merely moving a product from point A to point B or--in the government's case--making it more difficult to move a  product from Point A to Point B, or merely supporting those who move or obstruct product movement. By My definition, a doctor is a "maintainer," moving drugs or services from a provider to a patient, unless s/he establishes an office or clinic where other folks are hired and thus services are expanded.

Most people call these kind of workers "entrepreneurs," and I don't disagree, but there's a financial search element to that word that is not included in My term. Why? Because "builders" are often people who can make things happen without the angst-laden pursuit of "capital."

Cases in point: The mushrooming of flea market businesses and "pop-up vendors." One can argue that all they are doing is moving a product from point A to point B, but unlike the fast food drone or retail store zombie, the people developing these stalls/ambulatory sales spots are assuming a risk to develop an alternative distribution channel. The drone and zombie risk only dropping dead from boredom or apoplexy, whilst the drone zombies working in government run a slight additional risk of being beaten to a bloody pulp by an irate citizen. The builder takes a risk: the rest are sheep.

And you can't build an economy with 85% sheep.

Furthermore, if the government hyenas keep making it harder and harder to be anything but sheep, then We are allowing them to consistently undermine Our future. It is no mystery why Our economy has an improper amount of suction: the mystery is why We keep putting up with it, if not actively encouraging their sabotage.

Our numbers are shrinking. Think about what foretells.


The Jenius Has Spoken.

[Update: 21 July 2010: From Change.org, a sobering look at employment. In their article about low-paying jobs keeping a person poor, 2 of the "bottom" 3 are fast-food workers and cashiers, positions that form a significant bulk of Our "marginally employed." And these are the jobs that make up Our fastest-growing sectors for 2011 and 2012, based on franchise and chain store expansion numbers. Woo. Hoo.]