Just What is Big Government?

On one of the message boards I read (I read Hannity for politics, and a few movie fan boards. This was on a movie fan board, where of course the Off Topic folder and the threads it contains on politics are the most-read threads on the entire board!) and a guy was commenting, "We've got a lot of people, so we need a big government!"

That's what big government is. It's five people on the government payroll doing a job two people could do. But those people are not going to lose their jobs. Gov. Schwarzenegger in California tried to furlough goverment workers 2 days a week or something, and the Union was up in arms about it. The state is bankrupt and the Union doesn't want its people to lose 2 days of work a week....so in another few years they'll lose their whole jobs... (except the union reps, of course, who will b given choice new jobs even as they sell the rest of their people down the river.)

Here's what Rush had to say about it today:

Story #2: Federal Worker Salaries Skyrocket Since 2005

RUSH: By the way, the new unemployment numbers are out here: "Jobless claims fell sharply to a four-month low." Now, AP in this story neglects to mention that last week's unemployment claims were quietly revised upwards. It's a federal holiday tomorrow, and that's why we're getting tomorrow's unemployment news today. What is the federal holiday tomorrow? (interruption) Veterans Day, right. "Fewer people applied for unemployment aid last week, the third drop in four weeks, and evidence that the job market's showing signs of life, if the decline continues..." Now, AP screws up because they put this positive story out after the Democrats get shellacked. But nevertheless, I've mentioned this once before, I'm gonna mention it again.

The three wealthiest counties per capita now are the three counties surrounding Washington, DC. There's one of them in Maryland and two in Virginia. And the story, the average pay now for a federal employee is a little bit north of $150,000. USA Today has an article that the number of Fed workers making more than $150,000 has gone up tenfold since 2005 -- and these people are all gonna have lifetime pensions, and they're gonna have lifetime benefits and lifetime this and that. You propose cutting some of this down the road? You look at the holy hell that these people will start raising. "Mr. Limbaugh, Mr. Limbaugh, what's wrong? I thought you wanted people to do well. What's wrong with people making $150,000 a year and good pensions?"

Well, I'll tell you what's wrong with it. When the people paying them are making an average of 75 or 50. That's what's wrong with it. That's what's wrong with it: The people paying them are making half of what they make, and then let's not even talk about production, because the government does not create wealth. The government does not produce wealth. It confiscates it, and then redistributes it.