Government spending and taxation is a perennial issue, but given the pending proposals to increase US spending by an unprecedented amount I thought it would be interesting to take a quick look into the history of the federal government’s balance sheet. Given that the burden of government income is borne by the people and the benefit of government spending theoretically accrues to the people, I thought the best way to view the history of government income and expenses would be through a per capita lens. Additionally, since modern fiscal policy has continuously and severely eroded the value of the currency, I thought it would only be fair to compare things adjusted for inflation. So I marshaled data on the US population (source) and US federal government balance sheet (source) to calculate a per capita basis and ran the results through an inflation calculator (source) to standardize values across time, with the results below.
The first thing that sticks out to me from this data is the fact that government spending in per capita real terms has increased one hundred times over during the past 110 years. Whereas it took just under $200 per person (in 2020 dollars) to run the government in 1910, in 2020 it took just under $20,000. Whether this enormous increase in expenditures is justified or whether the individual tax-payer receives $20,000 worth of services from the government I will leave to the reader.
The second thing that sticks out from the data is the departure from fiscal responsibility. While the government has regularly run deficits, these were typically small until the 1980s, at which time the current pattern of spending beyond its means was established, to only briefly be corrected in the late 90s/early 2000s. Deficits went from being nothing ($5/person in 1910) and small ($221/person in 1950) to being significant ($1,023/person in 1980) and unsustainable ($9,441/person in 2020). As it is unlikely that the average citizen could afford an extra ten grand in taxes per year, this deficit spending will have to be corrected sooner or later. Hopefully fiscal sanity will prevail before a fiscal disaster, but I wouldn’t bet on it.
As government spending has increased, by necessity so too has government income, primarily derived from taxes. The per capita burden in constant dollars has increased fifty-fold over the past 110 years, rising from approximately $200 per person in 1910 to over $10,000 per person in 2020. While this burden in constant dollars has increased significantly, the question arose whether the burden in proportionate terms has increased, or has increasing wages meant that the burden of government has stayed the same? To investigate, I found average data on wages from the Social Security Administration (source 1, source 2), although this data only stretched back into the 1950s, so a comparison could not be made as far back as the previous data I had gathered. This makes sense, as taxes on income did not encompass the majority of the population in the early part of the 20th century, so the government would have had no need (and no mechanism) of keeping track of wages in the country, and therefor it would have been difficult to impossible to accurately calculate the average wage. The data I found is presented below, compared to the previous information on government income and expenses on a per capita basis.
The remarkable thing here is that wages have grown considerably in constant dollars, yet nevertheless government income and expenditures have grown even faster. Per capita government income has grown from 13% of the average salary in 1960 to 20% of the average salary in 2020, despite the fact that the average salary itself increased by $17,500 in constant dollars over the same time frame. And, as should be no surprise given the fiscal irresponsibility discussed previously, government spending has ballooned from 13% to 37% of the average salary in the same time frame. It would appear that the government’s appetite is insatiable.
To iterate on this investigation, I decided to also look at things on a household basis. Not everyone is a participant in the taxed labor force and most people don’t live separately but rather pool their resources in households, so considering the household rather than the individual as the basic unit of measure may provide a more accurate picture of the situation. I was not able to find as extensive data on households, so once again our time-frame of investigation is shortened, but what I did find (source 1, source 2) I incorporated into my analysis below.
Considering things on a household basis does not improve the situation. In 2019 (the most recent year of household income available in my source) government income per household clocked in at 39% of median household income while government expenses per household exceeded 50% of the median household income. If the government were not running a deficit a very large number of households would be seeing more than half of their income consumed by the government, and even as it is the bill will come due one day, in some form or another, so I think it is fair to say that the government in the US places a heavy burden on its people. And this is only the federal government, most households must also contribute to their state and local governments as well.
A caveat is that with the progressive taxation system in the US not all household must bear an equal burden of the government, some being made to carry more of the load than others. And likewise the benefits provided by the government are not equally distributed, so some will see the government financial structure as more of a boon while others will see it as more of a bane. Also, households are not the only taxpayers in the country. Companies are taxed and do in fact produce wealth on their own, not merely extract it from the people, which complicates matters further and puts the question of exactly how burdensome the government is beyond the scope of this elementary analysis. But I do think this basic analysis does demonstrate that it is burdensome, and only getting more-so.
As an addendum, I thought about selecting a few other countries for comparison to the US, to put things into perspective, but relevant data from most of the other candidates I thought of was even more difficult to come by (with the exception of the UK), so I abandoned that endeavor. I attach the charts for the UK and Canada below, for anyone who is curious, but will not comment on them further than to say that it looks like they are generally in the same boat as the US.
For those who are interesting in delving into this topic a bit further, in my search for data I ran across an interesting website with some nice graphs on US government revenue and expenses as well as a website with nice graphs comparing government spending across countries, but as both of these websites had information as a % of GDP rather than in hard figures I did not use any of their data in the analyses in this article.
Inflection, 2001, I hate statistics, good job Gadfly!
Thanks!
These are things we knew but you really nailed it with the hard evidence. Great work, Gadfly, thanks.
You’re welcome! That’s part of the fun of this series, finding the actual data on topics I already “knew” about.
The conclusion is alarming – the whole world (I have no doubt every country with a population that has money to extract is trending the same way as the US, the UK, and Canada) is taxing itself into the poorhouse.
WTF, the world?
WTF, the world?
My thoughts exactly.
I submit it’s part of the same phenomenon that has led to the global mass hysteria over the vid. The elites are running the show, and the vid has been nothing if not enormously lucrative for them.
Comma on wrong side of F…
WT, F the World.
I’m still trying to work out what it means for multiples of world GDP to be owed to creditors, with no curtailment in government spending or even the velocity of spending in sight. Obviously not all that debt comes due at once, and most of it is rolled over, but how is it possibly sustainable? We inflate our way out of fiscal calamity? And hope China doesn’t notice? I get there’s no endgame imagined by politicians, that’s a Hitler in the bunker problem, but surely macroeconomists wonder about these things. We’re laying claim on more and more future spending by eating up consumption now with deficit spending. What does that mean on a global scale?
Hyperinflation worldwide soon.
When fiat money is not worth the numbers written on them. Ask venezuela about that.
Property, ammo, food, Meds and Spices!
I must say, I stock everything you mentioned but spices. I never considered spices until y’all brought it up.
I do look forward to Baron Trumps second term Presidency after receiving 2 billion votes and some homemade applesauce with cinnamon.
Don’t forget skillz.
And we can skin a buck, and run a trotline
And a country boy can survive, country folks can survive
https://youtu.be/3cQNkIrg-Tkhttps://youtu.be/3cQNkIrg-Tk
Hey, I’ve did that. Can’t run the chain saw too well any more though.
Will trade saw work for honey.
It’s musical chairs. Round and round we go…
When the tune is called, it will be ugly when people can’t find a spot to sit.
The obvious conclusion is that increasing government expenditures increases wages.
But seriously, interesting data and presentation! The progressive nature of taxation in this country leaves a large number of people (workers and non-workers) untaxed, as you note. As the number who pay becomes a smaller and smaller fraction of the total, and the amount the government spends increases, the amount per capita will increase, and its rate of increase will increase over time.
When it will become too burdensome, I don’t know. But it will, eventually.
The obvious conclusion is that increasing government expenditures increases wages.
We may be losing on every sale, but we’ll make it up on volume!
But seriously, interesting data and presentation!
Thanks!
When it will become too burdensome, I don’t know. But it will, eventually.
Sadly I suspect sooner rather than later, but exactly when is all up in the air.
Nice writeup, Gadfly. Didn’t Rome wind up in a similar situation? The bread and circuses didn’t pay for themselves.
I just read a write-up the other day (unfortunately I forget where – FEE, AEI, someplace like that) that was talking about this, how the Empire kind of destroyed its economy in the third century with a series of currency debasements and draconian price controls, with the currency debasement instituted as a “clever” way to pay for government largess. Plus ça change…
The roman empire had decline once corruption, political instability, attacks on frontiers, over dependence on slavery caused the empire to break into smaller political subdivisions.
Yes they did, intential debasement of Silver coinage,
This has been a constant criticism by Daniel J. Miller for years. I read him daily.
https://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/
He often does columns where he pokes fun and all of the the political orientations.
and => at
I’ll have to check that out.
I sure feels like the elites are stomping down on the spending accelerator, stealing all they can, and accepting that it will end very badly before long.
https://media.gab.com/system/media_attachments/files/087/514/900/original/94f0046cdc986e60.jpeg
I’m having certain thoughts about the movie Munich and wondering whether it actually matters.
There is a tipping point, where that is is unknown. We can look at Venezuela and Cuba that seem to only last because the government still controls the military, that is to say, the private ownership of guns is not allowed.
I would think we’re closing in on that point, it’s the outcome that is unknown.
Commies in america and around the world know that nuking economies will lead to an opportunity for “revolution”.
Hyperinflation and crippling debt have worked before.
Americans are not going to like what is coming to America in the near future.
Sobering analysis, Gadfly. Depressing may be a better word. I think this one sentence kind of sums it all up:
Insanity.
But look around at all the delicious omelets that the government is providing!
The era of abuse. The IRS abuses us through taxes. Public schools abuse our children. The media abuses our sense of reality. Corporations abuse their workers. The medical industry abuses their patients. Family members abuse one another. All the panicked shutins are abusing drugs and booze.
Dysfunction breeds abuse. This country has been dysfunctional for a long time, and the financial graphs tell a part of that story.
Inflation is a helluva aphrodisiac.
“We’ll run out of money when we run out of trees”
Ron Paul
What is hyperinflation described as? A money tree shoved up your ass?
$20,000.
Shoved up your ass, a nickel at a time.
Then I’d have a shitload of nickels.
I was told there would be no kink shaming.
Rule34?
What is the conversion rate from monopoly money to Stanley Nickels?
I’ll take mine in Schrute Bucks, thanks.
1/100 of a cent!
Lute fisk and Firewood eh?
I’d prefer a check.
It’s gonna be one of those great big ones, on an easel.
Right up the ole pooper. Easel and all.
Nah..one you can’t cash..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2QjmYDtjv8
There is no Black Swan, now we just wait and watch, it is coming, what iT is, we shall see,
So after talking to my sister who works at a hospital, this should really piss you off.
So do y’all know that they dont intubate COVID patients much anymore? Why you ask? Remember when all companies had to make respiration machines?
Turns out jamming tubes down peoples throats, sedating them, and putting pneumonia bacteria directly into patient lungs was bad for them. Turns out family not able to visit and make informed medical decisions for said COVID patients gave hospitals and their govt overlords carte blanche to “accidentally” kill patients. Now these same psychopaths are trying to force experimental drugs on kids.
BTW: my sister is participating in a study to measure antibodies in person who got COVID and those that got the vax. Vax people and COVID sick had off the charts antibodies. What is unknown are how long the antibodies for vax people last. COVID sick people still have antibodies after over 1 year.
That would go a long way towards explaining the odd pneumonia outbreak I saw in the data when I did my article on COVID a few months back. There was a 360% increase in non-COVID pneumonia/flu deaths from 2019 to 2020, which seemed rather baffling.
Yup. Discovery of Lefty criminal malfeasance is another reason that any open discussion of these topics must be stripped from social media or news.
What is unknown are how long the antibodies for vax people last.
That’s been studied in Israel, and at least for Pfizer; the antibodies drop by 40% per month. I got vaccinated in March/April and because I donate blood have had antibody tests every 2 months — my antibody levels have dropped at almost exactly that rate. After 6 months or so, the level is below the “positive” line. Antibodies of people who had COVID drop only by 5% per month.
Do I receive $20,000 worth of services from my gov’t per year? Pretty sure I’m paying for someone else to get those services. Very informative article.
Some of that is reparations. You owe them!
I’m 1/16th Black, what do I get,? 2 packs of menthols and a King Cobra 40?
…and spinners for the Suburu…
Kia, good man, Kia,
/Spinners!
Only white people (by which I mean white junior high schoolers) drink the King Cobra. It’s whiter than Mickeys, and that’s saying something.
It get’s you Drunk!
You’ll be fucking fat chicks in no time!
Infrastructure ain’t cheap. You’re getting those services as part of your investment and with the multiplier effect you’ll make money. Kind of the way your house appreciated and now you’ll owe tax on the appreciation. Modern Economic Theory
Just think how you could trick out that Caprice wagon with an extra 20g’s.
20Gs? better have a stasis field or your gonna splatter some folks aboot!
We’d be vastly better off if the feds torched those tax dollars rather than spend them. Hell, if they managed to incinerate the actual wealth-producing assets those tax dollars represent, we’d still be better off.
Hey, it ain’t cheap for the salaries of all those FBI agents who set up terrorist stings and monitor your behavior at the school board meetings. And, without our military Top Men in the Pentagon, those tens of thousands of screaming Chinee soldiers hiding in all those cargo ships off Long Beach would storm ashore and show Californians what Real Communism was.
“Chinee soldiers hiding in all those cargo ships off Long Beach would storm ashore and show Californians what Real Communism was.”
that would be funny, because they would all be starving, right off the coast,
Being pregnant is a heavy burden. It is an even heavier burden when you are carrying the heaviest First that has ever existed. The one that will change everything.
Now you’re just being silly, there is no existense, your Firsting has destroted the Universe, thanks Bro!
or Destroyed,
Know what is fun. I have a drop in the bucket budget in terms of FedGov spending. Since I may need on my way out…I’m suspending spending until Nov 23rd.
It ain’t much but neither is one pilot with a flag, one ground crew that blows off engine maintenance.
I’ve been seeing the changing quality of commercial pilot candidates that come through our flight school. I’m honestly surprised that of all places the line would be drawn by THEM.
I love what this Lady is doing, and a cutie!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9g25qjIav3I
I like her…but she rivals it
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Txi7QuO99kM
Oh Cool! dude!
And a Real Woman, Yes!
I am good with either yours or mine really.
Dude, I am blown away, seriously, thanks for that,
The fit lines drawn between decadal years in Fig 1 would seem to miss much wartime spending of WWI, II, and Korea.
It does, but I was fine with that for two reasons: 1) laziness, 2) the decadal data points captured the general trend, since the wartime spending was temporary/anomalous. If I run out of ideas sometime I might revisit this topic and create graphs that capture all the years. The reason I didn’t here is because I didn’t have an actual formula for the inflation (I’m guessing there’s not one, since it is variable) so I had to run each data point through the inflation calculator manually.
Agree that such spending mostly evaporated in postwar drawdowns, but i think it might show a not quite as coupled past history, though the current uncoupling is in a league of its own.
Thanks for legwork in putting this together! Quite interesting and a different perspective than the typical deficit/budgetary presentation.
In Hell I’l be in good Company, Metal version, very cool,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDXc7MznYvY
Excellent!
Some family covering it…god I love people and music.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjLC4ymSXVs
Bass player and me need a word.
No, and Hell no, get some mics or something at least, I solo that song better, and thats sad,
Alright Yusef…to make up for the bad recording….same girl you covered Gwen…
Good god what a back!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6RD6mjiIZE
Burning some midnight oil on OT. Going to be a very long 8 hours! Anyone still sober? Conscious?
Idiot Boy, at your service!
I haven’t finished the tall can of Pacifico yet so maybe both? Second night in a hotel this trip.
Pacifico, worth it?
No, and hell no, unless your in Mexico,
My mind is on vacation in México.
But Yusef is right. Until real Grupo Modelo is imported into the US, Constellations’ fake beer can suck donkey dicks. Their Pacifico isn’t brewed anywhere near the Pacific.
Roger…save the cheerleader, save the world
It’s a shame how much they managed to fuck that show up.
Absolutely.
Puddles oh Hell yes!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bfPwtUTP4k
I dont know if it is utube or my ISP, but that site is trash right now.
YT? huh?
Honestly, its my modem/router. It just goes into some weird firewall asshole blocking mode. This site gets caught up into it also. I even disabled firewall on it and it still just is blocking everything.
This Is Awesome, watch his feet, Valkyries are badass! I own 2,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bP-fFxAMOI
One organ visualized in play.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipzR9bhei_o
All the sound from one person.
Great article gadfly.
Thanks!
I’m no economist but I can do simple math. The lady is a liar.
https://twitchy.com/brettt-3136/2021/10/12/treasury-secretary-janet-yellen-says-proposed-600-reporting-requirement-for-banks-is-to-hold-billionaires-accountable/
Absolutely. That is all that it is about. It certainly isn’t about my wife’s small business that may take in some cash that can’t be reportable unless that number is implemented. Yep its the billionaire that is buying willy nilly those gadgets and gizmos.
I would be in prison for all the transactions in the last 2 years,
Most of this crowd doesn’t blink at a 600$ costco bill, so I guess we are all Billionaires now?
I blink at it…and forget the drive home, but yes…we are all billionaries now.
This is too obvious of a lie for even the biggest of useful idiots.
You would think so and yet there Yellen is spouting it.
Huh…what you think…his real voice? cause that…shit…Im a straight man and that…whew!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9kb4-wUAU4
That’s him, a great find, thaanks OBE, the girls rocked it!
I’d like to sniff the back of the mandolin player’s knees but maybe that’s just me.
Laugh break…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXezLv_5RaY
I have to say, Toxteth found that video, it’s her Avatar, great fun though!
Fine…rock…red heads…stylized tap….some EDM….what more could you ask for
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvipPYFebWc
This is how you do modern Irish music! hell yes!
This is why we cannot hang out together Yusef…you understand now!
Watch out for your Big toe…
Lake Street Dive used the cat meme with that song first. Pretty good version too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqEiWN44L3M
Weird…but okay. Lead chick just needed some coaching and she could have nailed a lot of that…if she took her top off.
A better version IMHO. Mythical libertarian women should enjoy this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcVFtu-ZmmM
I am literally on the floor laughing
No, really; I fell tripped over my cat and fell down, then watched.
Fuckin commies:
https://www.businessinsider.com/texas-ban-vaccine-mandates-likely-wont-be-enforceable-experts-say-2021-10
“”According to the president’s executive order, federal action supersedes any state mandate or law, and we would be expected to comply with the president’s order to remain compliant as a federal contractor,” the Southwest statement, obtained by Insider, read. ”
Where the fuck are OSHA mandates or executive orders in the US Constitution?
Well the OSHA ‘mandate’ is the bluff. The extension of the EO on FedGov to contractors should be dubious at best, flat out bullshit normally.
Much like fire in a theater, this crap about federal law superseding state law is bullshit. It’s true only in the context of powers ceded via the constitution, but that’s a dead letter so who am I kidding.
You will amount to nothing son! You get out of the house!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBfsS1EGyWc
Oh…you are playing that!? We love you son!
I need to practice to get my higher end skills in order, but I did play 5 songs for 20$ each recently, so i still got it, you just can’t kill music,
https://youtu.be/FS6a0NWI0do
Fast cars and airplanes and opera is what gets me laid.. The more you know!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9qLfyLowjg
Damn Antonio…get it.
Phantom,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8IuFl3sMhk
Not a fan…I love the anticipation, the intrigue and the darkness. But Iron Maiden didn’t do a bad job.
Okay not ‘opera’. but you get it. Song makes the wife turn to puddy.
That always works, get that Woman!
Metal cover of YMO
https://youtu.be/uW0-R5M5COY
As pointed out in the comments, lyrics credits on several of these go to Peter Barakan. Yes, that Peter Barakan of Begin Japanology.
I see that some sad souls attempted to First today in my absence. One even called me out by name. The lack of respect, and appreciation for what I am doing for not just the Glibertariat, but the whole world, is troubling. But not surprising. Great Firsters are always underappreciated in their own times. It is not until they ascend to the First Realm that people know what they have lost. But I have been given the gift of The First That Will Change Everything.
YOU had ONE Job, and you had 4 tries, and still couldn’t First? For shame Bro, i thought you were the Firstest of the First?
There needs to be a study on people who have the ability to jerk off in the mirror for hours every day and still not eat a bullet. Truly amazing!
I eagerly await the First of all Firsts. It better be good, or The Rest will revolt!
Just great Rock by the Best! You been….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2AC41dglnM
Ill raise the ante by two cellos…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uT3SBzmDxGk
good, seen it,
Yeah well..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfS31bkLmvI
Imma gonna give it to you know.
Sidebar, pretty good, filmed at the Mormon rocks in SoCal, i know because I climbed them,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CNB5OLUPM0
Yep hiked them many times. Just outside of the 15 and on the way to backside of Baldy.
Them’s them, a lot of good friction free climbs available, spooky as fuck, right behind her in the video,
/Memories
Nowhere for pro at all, pure free climb, yikes!
The impossible..done…
Human voice is by far the greatest instrument.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZNgJ7-dUmk
Thank you, very much, this is wonderful,
I did not know that was humanly possible, Wow,
Amazing no? You would need what? 4-6 different instruments between winds and brass to get that?
Serious question, is there a scientific reason that multiple cultures can’t pronounce certain words in the English language?
None I’m awre of, but I speak English, which means I can speak any language and appropriate any words I choose, Taco, Curry, Sushi, hell, we got it all!
I would say that multiple cultures can pronounce English words. However, it seems Latin based languages have a hard time with annunciation.
Paging HM…
A bit here? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second-language_phonology
you might be surprised with what one guy and a good voice can do,
/Me
That’s the point…
Yes
https://youtu.be/jJewbFZHI34
Maybe its the beer…maybe its the love for music…but my god.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fz7P1T1qhPg
I been playing songs for money, time to break out my Uke, inspiration! Thanks OBE!
Alright….gonna break some rules here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYCoyUxY2HY
Sorry, none of them can compete with Dolly, but I will deal with it.
Nope, She’s always been Real, as in true Bluegrass, Love Dolly!
I thought it was going to be porn. I am disappointed.
It is what it is and the past 15 posts about music turned you on?
I like when musicians take risks, Not a fan of Dave Grohl, but this project rocks!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4DeaXf1FzE
I like it, especially the blond backup singer. The grove is there. Do kids today even understand?
I like the large Chinese gal TBH, she’s cute, but I dig His big band approach to the whole thing, sounds great and looks cool,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7o5n5SpWEwQ
It is where I belong and I will die there.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhM4sIeeHYQ
And God I want that Blue Telecaster, Yummy,
I mean, its about the music right?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrQZBTkvV8I
Yeah who cares look at them daisy dukes.
Oh its about talent AND beauty.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKezUd_xw20
That was fun!
Bastardize it all and just enjoy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KnAzpi4avo
Them daisies was dukin’ it out. Sheesh!
impressive,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBoGdJ54oWI
Absolutely. This past hour or so is why I mourn for the human race. Such beauty, diversity, grace, rawness, love and it will be all gone.
If me and mine survive, so will the arts, it’s truly in my Blood, and my kids carry it on, Don’t despair the coming dark Times, adapt my friend, I know you will,
Huh…they still make country
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYXAaQtJLGc
Good song, makes me wish for my Wendy, i never get to grow old with my Woman,
/Sad Bob
That is what makes us, humans so great. We immortalize. We remember. We never forget.
Don’t worry. The universe is here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zbQnKvwaBg&t=125s
Life goes on.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYRtwjFnjgM
I am thinking Yusef has succumbed to the world of sleep…but if he awakes…
listen in and watch. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRDKlQx_Pm0
I’m always awake for her, yowza!
I don’t usually like thin ladies, but she’s so slinky, Yum!
You fancy glibs and your youtube access!
PC out, up way too long,
Great work, gadfly; very clearly presented and explained.
As to all my fellow Glib commenters, no, we aren’t necessarily going to change any minds or even change our ultimate fate as a nation. We’ve been around 300 years or so. Collapse is not atypical at that point for empires or even small kingdoms.
The quest gadfly implies and others here speak out explicitly is “So what? What can we do to shift course and protect, even expand human freedom?
I wish I had the answer.
“I wish I had the answer.”
I think we do. The US constitution and it’s rich history of battles between ‘the greater good’ and citizen’s/state’s freedoms leave us a pretty good map to a bright future. Now we just need to convince or steer the masses in the right direction. I believe that’s the impossible task.
We may not need to steer or convince them too much if when the time comes we just get out of the way and let nature do it’s thing.
Good morning Hayek!
Also, belated good morrow to you, good sir!
I wish i could say good morning, but its pretty blah at this point.
So……my confession.
We had a foster child that the state took after the child shot itself. Child stated that it shot itself because of abuse at home, and revealed that part of that was sexual. We took this child home, and although the child should have had inpatient pych counselling done, no facility would take it because….gunshot wound.
Well we took child home, ran it all over the place for wound care, medical care, vision care, dental care, all those things that any child should get. But it was difficult if not impossible to get child into counselling for self harm and individual care for sexual abuse. After jumping up and down a lot finally got individual counselling established for child. Monday child relapsed. 8 PM video counselling session. Recommended hospitalization, but no beds….
Yesterday child went to school, 2:30 PM found out bed was available, picked up child, and took it to inpatient facility. Child is there, and we will likely never see child again. I am going to miss the kid, but the way things were going, it was going to either kill a dog, burn the house down or something like that.
Child never did get any real mental health help while it was in the hospital (5 weeks) recovering from gunshot. We never really understood what we were getting into. while we were “trained” we did not have the tools or the resources to help deal with child issues. We were never told all of the specifics of the case. Hard to be aware of what to look out for.
And while “policy” is for reunification, it seems that DHS employees really don’t believe in it. I don’t know if that’s because of the horrors they encounter or if they think redemption is impossible.
I have doubts that the abuse ever occurred. Child didn’t act like it was abused. But i don’t know what that looks like. Kid was odd. Spouse thinks it is a sociopath. So it is possible that a family was destroyed based on the words of a child.
We tried to do the good thing, take care of it, but things went odd, and the state never did help us when child needed help. Now we need to do cleanup, and return things to parent.
Maybe its the storm that woke me up, maybe it a guilty conscience, I don’t know. Don’t know what I could have done better.
(Not PC, hate that shit, just trying to protect a kids privacy 20 years from now when the AI knows all).
Nothing to feel guilty about. You took in an abused stranger and tried to help. Not many of those rabbit holes wind up happy. Seriously, huge Kudos for trying.
?
I got nothing here…sorry dude.
May God bless you and your wife for giving it all you had to help.
And may God bless that screwed up kid and either heal it or limit its damage to other kind people.
You did all the right things .
This world sucks. That is all.
You tried, and that counts for a lot. Few people have the resources to provide for a sociopath. Not everyone can be a Biden or a Kennedy.
I have a difficult enough time with my own spawn. I’m not sure I could do that and I’m sure I wouldn’t attempt it. Good on you for doing so.
So sorry. I heard somewhere that actions are our responsibility, outcomes not so much. You tried, sometimes that is all that can be done. Peace
Jesus, Robo! Had the same thing happen (absent the gun shot) about 35 years ago when my landlords were fostering. Turned out that the little girl’s tales of abuse by her parents were just that, tales. We were all young social workers at the time. That may have turned ugly very quick. Watch your back in those situations.
https://omaha.com/news/world/murmuration-dazzles-as-birds-swirl-across-netherlands-skies/video_c56b2713-9145-5195-a8f3-708ff8646233.html
A murmuration. Watch it.
G’ morning Sean.
Lovely.
But where were the central planners? Surely those birds needed strict instructions rather than instinct, observation, and flexibility!!!
Pretty soon, The Big Giant Head is going into space.
?
https://milfordlive.com/delaware-auditor-kathy-mcguinness-indicted-on-five-counts/
Lock her up!
She was just following Uncle Joe’s example!!
https://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2021/10/12/two-headed-turtle-cape-cod/
Great. The next thing you know, the frogs will be gay.
But they give great head…
Ribbet for yer pleasure
Jumping to conclusions, are we?
I’m green with envy.
AAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!
I’m awake again. I pointed out to the hubby that there was zero chance I’m crossing the California / Nevada border with that big bud he still had. So he ate it,
Needless to say, I’m pretty much on my own for the duration of the pre-packing arrangements.
Not too big a deal( would like to have thrown more away by now, but the movers will be here in 6 hours and will start packing EVERYTHING they see.
I took all the magnets including the clear photo frame magnets off the fridge last night .
It looks so wrong to me now. It instantly makes it easier to leave here. Without pics of the stepkids, the pets, the hubs, also the take out menus, etc, it’s just an appliance.
it’s just an appliance
Yep, and they don’t
seem tolast like they used to anyway.I’m pretty much on my own for the duration of the pre-packing arrangements.
LOL
Yeah, yeah. Basically it means I have two pets to corral while working with the movers. I just hopes he uses the litter box as faithfully as the cats does.
Good luck. For some reason this popped into my head.
Lol.
“HEY MELLOW OUT, MAN!!!”
What’s this? Showing your work? Naming sources? This is heresy. I demand conjecture. I demand prevarication. I demand feelings! Burn the extremist!
Other than that, great job, Gadfly. I would glance the the debt clock, but it’s just too damned early.
So, I’ll just finish with a FUCK.YOU.CUT.SPENDING.
Excellent work, Gadfly. I might even share this article with friends…
Theory #1 Going to inflate it away.
Theory #2 going to blow a EMP bombs, blow out the banking computers and wipe it all away.
It’s #1 and they’re doing it now.
The movers will take firearms but not ammo. OK I was never able to obtain ammo more than a few 9mm in California anyway, no biggie.
But the movers wanted a list of firearms and serial numbers.
As I typed up the list it occurred to me that only the 9mm guns and the shotgun exist on paper. So that is what they will get. The deep well of the Tesla trunk will never tell the rest…
Dont have a boating accident in your electric car!
“only the 9mm guns and the shotgun exist on paper.”
Ghost guns ?
suh fam
yo whats goody yo
Good morning, homey et al!
My boss is WFH today, and The Big Boss is on vacation the rest of the week. No other senior management – or management of any kind, for that matter – will be in the house. My big act of civil disobedience: I WON’T be wearing corporate logo-wear with my jeans!
I’m such a rebel. ?
Mornin’ GT!
I’m such a rebel
Damn straight!
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=aF7V2dSvxpo
I’m a rebel.
“Hidden track” – reminds me of a line TT just came across, re: the impending end of DST: “An extra hour of 2021 is like a bonus track on a Yoko Ono album.”
Nice.
Lol
sup’ pimpnotic
I was going to (no, really…I swear) bring you some of the curry shrimp yesterday. The pic I just sent.
But I ate it all.
Caribbean Sunshine curry marinade- 12/10 would recommend.
Looks delish! Oh, well – I’m sure you enjoyed it.
Yesterday was Fish Stick Day, but I suppose we could have stretched the definition…
Ill try to keep you and TT in mind the next time I get some shrimps. I have a brisket I need to use, too.
If Jugsy isnt here….
Mornin’, Glibred. Get your FJB shirt on, sans bra.
If the fabric is heavy enough and the screen print covers enough real estate, you betcha!
Fuck Johann Biden ?
Amazon has pages of shirts already!
Mornin’. Another day, another
dollar$.50$.10$0.01On Topic – that Canada graph was the most frightening of them all but I’ve known this for quite some time. Ah well, at least I got to enjoy my youth. I’m old and don’t care overmuch anymore. Poor young folk will never know what it means to be “free”.
“Poor young folk will never know what it means to be “free”.”
Speaking only for myself, I am the one who doesn’t know that, because I grew up in a world where freedom was taken for granted. It turns out that freedom is not the default, it requires sacrifice. My kids will not have it as easy as I did, but they might understand the value of freedom better than I.
Say it ain’t so, Mick!
https://nypost.com/2021/10/13/rolling-stones-retire-classic-rock-song-brown-sugar/
Well…except for that ONE filter…
Karens unite and ban this.
Until then, crank it up.
Morning.
I hate filling out timesheets.
Recording my activity down to fifteen minute increments is annoying, especially since it’s not billable to anyone. It’s a waste of time.
Good morning, U! I had a job long ago where I had to do that. Agreed – it’s an enormous PITA. Sincere sympathy!
I’m caught up to today. Just have to fill in today’s activity at the end of the day and submit that one.
Is this the last day of a pay period? Seems like unusual timing, whether your pay is biweekly or semi-monthly.
Mine is due at EOD every Saturday. Which is why I’m usually logging in late Saturday to make shit up and get it done.
#metoo. Fortunately, my outfit does not require that level of granularity.
Ha ha! The supervisor at one of my sites chases the employees around to fill out the timesheet so she can nip out ten minutes early. She has to enter them into the payroll account. So, so dumb.
Amen, brother. I *hate* it. I make sure to scrupulously book the time I waste filling out timesheets, too.
“Build back better”
https://nypost.com/2021/10/12/record-4-3-million-americans-quit-their-jobs-in-august/
At least they are still getting paid…
For now.
No worries – Biden’s about to kill those jobs, too.
Hygiene update- I just yanked a ear hair that was around 3″ long.
Where did this thing come from? I inspect each night before I go into work, to assure myself Im not “that old guy” with a Boston Fern growing out of his auditory canal.
It must’ve grown in the past 9 hours.
Nevertheless, current titty status = calm.
At least it wasn’t growing across your ass.
https://www.nj.com/advice/2021/10/dear-abby-kilt-wearing-scot-endures-repeated-assaults.html
“DEAR ABBY: I married a proud Scotsman a year ago who often wears kilts. When we go out, women think nothing of coming over and lifting his kilt, which exposes him to anyone who has a visual advantage. These women scream with glee and then become physically aggressive with their hands. Frankly, I am shocked and horrified anyone would do this.”
I’ll take things that never happened for $200, Alex. Clearly the hubby is not a true Scotsman.
I’ll take a Hubby that prefers a hands on approach for $1000, Alex.