Comments: "U-6:" Real Unemployment
Good grief, one in 5 able-bodied adults are consuming more than they produce in California and Nevada. And yet, CA is solid pro-slavery, and NV is trending there. How much pain does it take for people to say enough!, I'm going with the other guy?
And then I realized, once you go slavery, you never go back. Because those one in five are collecting free money extracted by force from their neighbors, whether they sit on their duff or hustle a little in the off-books economy. They will never vote themselves to be weaned from Uncle Sugar's hind teat.
Once a polity gets to 20% real unemployment, it's over. They will keep voting for slavery until the community evaporates into ruin.
Why 20%? Because opposing political factions start with a guaranteed 40%, and fight over the 20%. Assuming that job losses affect all factions equally, the slavery faction now has the magic 50%. Game over, man!
Posted by John A. Fleming at August 3, 2012 11:11 AM