This is one of those political narratives that doesn't seem to match the facts as I see them.appleman2006 wrote:Bootstrap you are correct that the majority of union workers today are actually public sector workers. And I would argue that it is this imbalance that is causing a large part of the harm in our society. The present ratio of public sector workers to private sector is not sustainable and will have to be one of the primary things that Trump will have to address if he is to succeed.
I don't know if Trump is going to increase or decrease spending. In the first few days of office, he has called for a massive increase in military spending, pledge billions of dollars to build a wall, insisted that 2/3 of the budget be protected from budget cuts, etc. So far, I don't see Trump creating a smaller government. I don't see him scaling back government surveillance or police powers. He seems to like power.
My guess is that Paul Ryan is going to strongly advocate for a balanced budget. I hope he succeeds, it's important.
Federal spending went down significantly during the Obama Administration, to levels close to the average since 1967, and revenue came up (largely due to the recovering economy). To balance the budget, Trump either has to raise taxes (he says he will cut them) or cut spending in military and entitlements. We'll see.