So your country is in debt you say? The government spends much more than it makes you say? The government has racked up so much debt on our behalf that we owe (foreign governments banks and private companies mostly) tens of thousands of dollars EACH that we can’t afford to pay back and are being charged billions of (insert local currency here) per year in added interest debt alone.
If you live in my country (Australia) or in America or in the UK or Germany or any of most ‘westernised’ countries you’d be quite correct to say so – you’re in debt up to your eyeballs thanks to the amount you pay the government in taxes for essential services (+ administration costs) not being sufficient to cover all the necessary costs (+ some unnecessary ones) in providing them.
In my country our current government attacked the previous one viciously and continually over the fact that it had built up a federal debt approaching $300 000 000 000 – 3 hundred billion dollars. (In a country of 25 million this means the newest born baby owed the Australian government’s creditors $12 000! in 2013 (now more like $20 000) along with everybody else, not counting state debt added onto that.) Curiously in the 4 years of their government they have sought to double the cap on debt to 600 billion dollars! – with nothing like a plan on how to reduce it, let alone pay it back.
It’s not ok for them but it is unavoidable for us, apparently?
America’s federal debt is currently around 55 times Australia’s! And growing!
So it was with some considerable amusement that i, as a fervid critic of the system of weak government that permits this stuff to continue for years on end without biting the bullet and fixing the issue, found this today on, of all things, a christian pastoral website:
“For many American workers today, time’s a wastin’ – literally. According to a new survey by America Online and Salary.com, the average worker admits to frittering away 2.09 hours per 8-hour workday, not including lunch and scheduled break-time. As a matter of practice, companies assume a certain amount of wasted time when determining employee pay. However, the America Online / Salary.com survey indicates that employees are wasting about twice as much time as their employers expect. Salary.com calculated that employers spend $759 billion per year on salaries for which real work was expected, but not actually performed.”°
Which, if true, (and from my personal experience in the workforce and of that of my friends i have no reason to dispute it, either in the US or it’s similarity in my country) means if everyone actually did the work they are being paid for we could rip 3/4 of a TRILLION dollars off America’s debt each year without hiring another person or staying a second longer at work – or needing to create ‘new’ jobs. The figure for Aus should work out to something like A$40 billion, based on workforce size and pay rate difference.
So, i resolve to stop putting ALL the blame on my government for the mess we are ALL in and maybe try harder to not be quite so wasteful when i’m on someone’s payroll.
Now if i can just get the rest of the slackers to do the same….. 😉
love.
° – https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/time-the-great-equalizer-terry-blankenship-sermon-on-bible-study-167212?page=2
BLob's Blog 
Allow me to laugh. You are absolutely right. There are so many people that are paid to literally browse their cell phones however, there are many hardworking people that are taxed heavily that it’s discouraging to keep working as hard. I say this out of our personal experience; my groom is an engineering contractor and works very hard but we get taxed above and beyond for working for ourselves and then more.Thank you for sharing your wisdom on this topic.
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It makes me very happy that anyone would get a laugh from my writing – the gift of laughter is a great thing – even in otherwise very serious topics. I found it very interesting that employers factor in a certain amount of time-wasting into their calculations of pay rates for work done and even more so that the employees come up with a way of beating that sneaky system with one of their own. I often tend to blame the government for getting us into debt, but the real truth is the government cannot be responsible for all of it – it is us that does most of the work and the production and the consumption so any imbalance between what we produce and what we consume (profit/debt) is largely down to the workers not the governors. But sometimes the truth is too hurtful and we seek something to excuse us from it and blame someone else.
Thank you very much for your comment, Susan! 🙂
love.
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You are absolutely right. As human beings, we tend to want to blame others for our failures. When it comes to finances, many spend way more than they earn and then blame the government.My husband and I went through financial classes over 6 years ago and had the opportunity to lead some. We noticed how lazy our generation is. So much want to consume with no effort at all. 🌹. Thank you again.
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