Two headlines/posts from the National Center for Policy Analysis in the same day:
Majority in United States Still Say Government Doing Too Much
As the presidential campaign heats up, the candidates have sought to distinguish themselves on one of the most important issues in the election: the role of government in the life of Americans, says Gallup.
- Fifty-four percent of Americans believe the government is trying to do too many things.
- Only 39 percent of Americans believe that the government should do more to solve the nation’s problems.
- Only a few times in the past 20 years have a higher percentage of Americans said the government should do more than is doing too much: in 1992 and 1993 when Clinton had run and been in office and right after the September 11 attacks.
Government Employees Work Less than Private-Sector Employees
Researchers have found using the American Time Use Survey (ATUS) that the average government employee works less than private sector employees do. The “underworked” government employee should be of concern to taxpayers who expect private-sector levels of work in the public sector in exchange for private-sector levels of compensation, says Jason Richwine, a senior policy analyst at the Heritage Foundation.
Using a dataset sponsored by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, researchers interviewed workers about their work time during a 24 hour period, to take into account late night and weekend work.
- The data produced a sample of 1,776 federal workers, 8,053 state and local workers and 39,042 private-sector workers.
- The data shows that private-sector employees put in 41.4 hours during a typical week.
- This is in contrast to the 38.7 hours federal employees work per week and 38.1 hours state and local government employees work.
- In a year’s total, private-sector employees work an average of one more month than government employees.
Oh, and this headline from Rasmussen shows we can win if our side learns how to reach more people and communicate effectively:
64% Think Too Many Americans Dependent on Government Financial Aid
Americans strongly believe that there is too much government dependency in the country today. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 64% of Adults think there are too many Americans dependent on the government for financial aid. Just 10% think not enough Americans are dependent on the government, while 16% say the level of dependency is about right.
