It must be said. People losing jobs — as many federal government employees are– is a difficult and very bad turn of events for the individuals involved — no matter who you are or for what entity you were working. It is not a new kind of malady. OK, maybe it is for government, but it isn’t for the private sector.
For all the wringing of hands, crying and lamenting on media about the layoffs of thousands of government workers – not to mention law suits being filed declaring that their employer has no right to fire them – one has to be amazed at the incredible angst that so many are exhibiting. Where was that concern — all those tears and media blitzes — during and after COVID when millions of people lost their jobs and even lost thriving businesses because of government coerced layoffs and the inhibition of people’s freedom to even leave their homes?
Government bureaucrats were actually the ones enforcing the dictatorial decrees with an arrogance of righteousness that often comes with unchecked power.
(Nonfarm payroll employment in the United States declined by 9.4 million in 2020).
“We need more compassion,” said one talking head recently. Really? I never heard anyone say that during all the COVID mandates.
Where? Where? Where was all this outrage, whining, indignation and compassion then? If you objected at that time you were considered criminal, and an adversarial spreader of misinformation and bureaucrats did all in their power to block citizen access to social media and free speech.
I recall most distinctly, at the very beginning, in listening to the mandates that everyone not go to work, and that employers close their businesses, the very obvious lack of concern about what that was doing to people –- impacts that are still being felt today by many people. It was shocking. As I listened to the decree, I immediately thought of people like single mothers waiting tables to support their children, or of families working hard to meet monthly mortgage payments. Just one week of no income would be devastating to them.
When I asked a question about such impacts of the COVID official, resplendent in the glory of being able to exercise his new found power, he had the stunned, blank look on his face of someone who had never even thought of such a plight. He had no answer.
There was minimal concern expressed in national media about all the unemployed people. There were no demonstrations or any aspect of concern from bureaucrats anywhere. In fact many of them were enthusiastic participants as they went into businesses to shut them down, with threats of arrest to workers and customers.
Bureaucrats, of course, had guaranteed incomes, no matter what. For them it was little more than a paid vacation.
Kind of a different response we are seeing now, from government and other collectivists, don’t you think?
It is now rather surreal to see government factions concerned about being unemployed and declaring it to be unjust, and wanting the world to be concerned about their plight.
At a later point in time, the COVID official, who never even thought about how eliminating jobs for so many people would really hurt them, was heralded by some factions in the community as a noble, valiant and dauntless leader.
President Trump is doing exactly what so many leaders over the past five decades or more have promised to do and never did – cut the size and power of government. That he is doing it so quickly and relentlessly is probably the only way it can be done, which is probably why no one was ever successful in doing it in the past.
Part of the reason for the lamenting and crying of those in opposition is because President Trump is enlisting a truly noble, valiant and dauntless leader, Elon Musk, giving them no time to develop strategies to oppose the cuts and layoffs.
That there are people who are being negatively impacted through no fault of their own, there is no doubt and one can certainly feel sorry for them, but welcome to the real world. Fortunately, there is one good thing that is sure to come to the rescue of all the workers now flooding the labor market – the US private sector has more jobs than workers and it is a situation that is expected to continue for the next 15 years. You have more options than did the workers and businesses during COVID.
