Dollar Signs in my Eyes

The United States Economy has not changed much in the last two decades as far as employment sectors are concerned: agriculture, less than 1&½ percent; industry including construction, hovering around 20%; services, pushing 80%.

The chart below did not copy and paste very well. Its columns are rather jammed together.. Anyways, from the stats, it shows the agricultural component employed over 75% of the workforce; non agricultural, less than 25%. The first Industrial Revolution began to flip those stats with the second Industrial Revolution leading to the12%/88% ratio, and adding the Manufacturing/Service Sectors to the Economy. Those Sectors also evolved from the 1950’s 50/50 split to the most current of 25% Manufacturing/75% Services.

https://eh.net/encyclopedia/the-history-of-american-labor-market-institutions-and-outcomes/

Non-Agriculture

Year

Total Labor Force (1000s)

Agriculture

Total

Manufacturing

Services

1800

1,658

76.2

23.8

1850

8,199

53.6

46.4

1900

29,031

37.5

59.4

35.8

23.6

1950

57,860

11.9

88.1

41.0

47.1

1999

133,489

2.3

97.7

24.7

73.0

This disproportionate percentage in my mind indicates a very unhealthy Economy. In Manufacturing, including Construction Industries, from sourcing raw materials to finished products, value is added at every step of the way. Wood from the forestry industry has value added through making lumber products which then gains more value added in construction. The same process is valid in mining to steel, coal to energy, agriculture to clothing, and so on and so forth.

On the other hand, Services are not considered a value added process. They are expenditures on accounting ledgers at the Business level. Certainly, some have become necessary. Some like Healthcare services are obviously essential. However, when a Union negotiates a Labor Agreement, Health Insurance is a major sticking point. Why? More than labor costs, they are a growing expense. It adds value to the Employees; not so much for the “bottom line.”

All in all, the imbalance in the National Accounting Ledger contributes to a weakening dollar (as the dollar represents the worth of the Economy, the total value added to it). Manufacturing adds value to the Economy. Less manufacturing means less value added to the Economy, and my guess means inflation as the increasing Services means loss of value added to the Economy.

The buffer which has been invented is, of course, the Stock Market — a fantasyland of wealth creation, which in my way of thinking, sucks the life out of the Economy and the value of the dollar, but protects the wealth of the Wealthy by ballooning fake wealth which they caen cash in at any time (but never do). They simply borrow real money off that wealth.

Don’t get me started on BitCoin.

Not for nothing, I like the Hebrew Economy as written in the Old Testament where every 7 years all debts incurred by fellow citizens were dissolved.