What came first, the chicken or the egg? I think I
was first asked this philosophical question when I was in grade school. It probably followed the equally deep -- why did
the chicken cross the road?
Of course the answer to this question depends
on a couple of philosophical or theological choices of the respondent and as
far as I know has never been answered with 100% certainty. I don’t intend to enter into that debate, but
I would like to re-frame the question into a more political one.
In the United
States, what came first, big government or big business?
Our
government has grown, that fact is undeniable.
For comparison let’s use US census data[i]
as our ground truth.
In 1790, the
director of the census bureau was Thomas Jefferson (he was also Secretary of
State), he had 56 people collecting and compiling the data on the 3,929,214
residents of the 13 states. The cost of
that first census was $44,000 or 1.1 cents/person. The government asked it citizens 6 questions
revolving around the makeup of each family group (i.e. name of head of
household, free white males over 16, under 16, free white females, other free
people, and slaves).
In 2010, the
director was Robert M. Groves, he had 635,000 people collecting and compiling
the data on 308,745,538 residents in the 50 states. The cost had grown to $12,900,000,000.00
($12.9 billion), or $47.78/person. In an
effort to get the word out, they spent $133 million in multi-media advertising
in 28 languages, had traveling road shows to things like NASCAR races, ran
commercials as part of Super Bowl XLIV (44).
Additionally, they awarded Lockheed Martin a $600 million contract to
build the 2010 census “Decennial Response Integration System (DRIS).” The census asked 10 questions covering thinks like name, gender, age, race, ethnicity, relationship, and whether you own
or rent your home.[ii] To reduce the number of questions previously
asked they now conduct an annual “American Community Survey” that seeks
information on education, housing, and jobs.
So, just
using this one small bureau of the government we see the following “fun facts”
as the Census Bureau would say (by the way feel free to check my math).
- Between 1790 and 2010 the US population increased 7,758%
- The people hired to accomplish a single task grew by 1,133,829%
- The cost per capita (cost/person) to complete the census grew 434,264%, but the total cost to perform this one task was 29,318,082% greater in 2010 than 1790.
At the same
time the government was growing we moved from an agrarian nation, into a
manufacturing giant, aided by a couple of world wars that slowed or destroyed
the competition. We are now moving into
a service industry where information is king.
For example, we saw the airplane industry spawn and grow into around 10
or so major, and a myriad of minor companies from 1903 to the mid-1960s, and now,
through government approved consolidation we are down to two major, and a few
minor companies today. The car
manufacturing industry grew to over a dozen competing brands providing jobs to
the nation, and now our domestic base is GM (Chevy, Buick, Cadillac, and GM),
and Ford (with Lincoln). All the rest is
foreign owned (including Chrysler).
The medical
industry in the 1790s was essentially non-existent with barbers doubling as
dentists. The doctors were few and far
between. Today it is one of the largest
industries in the States, with heath care spending exceeding $3.8 trillion each
year.
So I come
back to the original question. Did
government grow to support the population, or did it grow to support the
businesses? Personally, I would follow
the money and believe if you follow the government growth, and all its regulations/spending you can
usually find some industry they are trying to protect, rather than improve the
lives of the average man or woman, although that story plays better to the
average man or woman on the street.
2 comments:
Well stated, John. Great food for thought. The question running thru my mind is " How long did it take you to compile all those figures!"
Pat, not too long, almost all of it is easily found at the Census Bureau.
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