Good Morning Middle America, your week-end addition of the King of Simple News is on the air.

I was just reading that President-elect Obama has determined that if more people had jobs, unemployment would be lower. This guy knows more about economics than I gave him credit for.

The job loses for last week were 516,000 and no you didn’t read that wrong. The predictions from nearly all sources are that job losses will continue well into next year after which time they will level off.

How do they know that unemployment will level off? At the rate we are going, only government employees will remain working and there won’t be anyone else to lay off. Most government jobs are considered to be in the asbestos sector; fire proof.

I’m holding to my long term prediction that we will see a New, New Deal unveiled in the not so distant future. But where will the money come from to support such a program?

This isn’t 1929, the physical system was raring to go in “29″ and now it simply isn’t. The resource cupboard is practically bare and the population is not nearly as prepared for hard times. Not to mention that this time around America is the largest DEBTOR nation on earth.

Alert reader Bill Arett, made the statement that many jobs merely represent indirect taxation due to their non-productive nature. The notorious Wall Street Gang, banking CEOs, top-heavy corporate management, massive government “make work” jobs, and the list is endless of those who take a lot and produce very little that is truly beneficial to society.

The producers of real goods and valuable services in America pay for the follies of our artificial hierarchy of needs and the false economy that has been built around the mantra of “growth is good.” If growth is good, then more growth is even better, seems to go the tune; up to now that is.

So how has America reached this point of no return, the time when growth is no longer possible? We elect the person that promises the most and demands the least from us. Here is an excellent example, author unknown:

The most eye-opening civics lesson I ever had was while teaching third grade. The presidential election was heating up and some of the children showed an interest. I decided we would have an election for a class president.

We would choose our nominees. They would make a campaign speech and the class would vote.

To simplify the process, candidates were nominated by other class members. We discussed what kinds of characteristics these students should have. We got many nominations and from those, Jamie and Olivia were picked to run for the top spot.

The class had done a great job in their selections. Both candidates were good kids. I thought Jamie might have an advantage because he got lots of parental support. I had never seen Olivia’s mother.

The day arrived when they were to make their speeches. Jamie went first. He had specific ideas about how to make our class a better place. He ended by promising to do his very best. Everyone applauded. He sat down and Olivia came to the podium.

Her speech was concise. She said, “If you will vote for me, I will give you ice cream.” She sat down. The class went wild. “Yes! Yes! We want ice cream.”

She surely would say more? She did not have to. A discussion followed. How did she plan to pay for the ice cream? She wasn’t sure. Would her parents buy it or would the class pay for it. She didn’t know. The class really didn’t care. All they were thinking about was ice cream. Jamie was forgotten. Olivia won by a land slide. End of example.

And that my friends is how we elect politicians in the United States and how we have arrived at the point of diminishing returns. It’s all about the ice cream.