But just to sum up the notion of malivestment: in an economy with market-set interest rates and "real" saved money, there is the constant tendency for investment to shift towards the most productive uses-- meaning, chasing whatever has the highest interest rate (such as business ventures with the most potential for profit). When the State enacts laws-- of which there are hundreds of thousands in the United States alone-- or suppresses interest rates, or steals money (taxes), or puts in place price floors or ceilings, or gives "created out of thin air" money to some businesses but not others, it is diverting the economy's precious, finite resources away from wherever whey were otherwise going to be used. By definition then, all of these actions create malinvestment.
This kind of economic system is called "Fascism"; the State and private businesses collude to such an extent that the line between "public" and "private" becomes blurred, until it's difficult to even tell the two apart.
Fascism in action; where does the State end and private business begin?
The American State apparatuses steal two trillion dollars worth of money, per year, in taxes alone. This, on top of the many hundreds of thousands of laws, the constant distortion of markets with price controls, subsidies, and interest rates, means that Americans would probably be several times wealthier in the absence of the State and its various boondoggles, such as the Fed.
But one aspect of malinvestment that I haven't dug into much is when the State hires people away from private endeavors, and employs these tax cattle either directly, or indirectly via its Fascistic mega-cartels. Specifically, how many people are we talking here?
I decided to look at Minnesota, which is where I live, and I also determined that a top 20 would be a good cut-off line, since that would most likely encompass most of the employed population. But where to get the data? Well, it turns out that the State itself tracks this data. Not kidding. In fact, you can run the report yourself right here, or take a look at the spreadsheet I used to construct the below HTML.
| "Company" Name | Cartel | Number Employed |
|---|---|---|
| Mayo Clinic | Healthcare | 39518 |
| State of Minnesota | Direct | 37180 |
| Federal Government | Direct | 31434 |
| Target | None | 29896 |
| Allina | Healthcare | 29896 |
| U of M | Education | 25836 |
| HealthPartners | Healthcare | 22500 |
| Walmart | None | 21564 |
| Fairview | Healthcare | 21564 |
| Wells Fargo | Banking | 20000 |
| State Colleges | Education | 16920 |
| 3M | None | 16920 |
| UnitedHealth | Healthcare | 15000 |
| Postal Service | Direct | 12430 |
| U.S. Bancorp | Banking | 11881 |
| Essential Health | Healthcare | 11398 |
| Delta Air Lines | None | 10000 |
| Medtronic | Healthcare | 9300 |
| CentraCare Health | Healthcare | 8990 |
| Supervalu | None | 8950 |
| Total Employed | 401177 | |
| Total State/Cartels | 313847 | |
| Percentage State/Cartels | 78.2% | |
Even I was surprised and dismayed at this result; a whopping 78% of the people employed by Minnesota's top 20 employers are employed either directly by the State, or by one of its largest cartels-- Healthcare, Eduction, and Banking. Holy smokes. Each and every one of these people's labor, diverted from productive use...
What makes the picture even more sad, is that the few people not employed by the State mega-cartel ring work for an airline (gee, no regulations there-- perhaps cartel-worthy?), and 3M (a significant part of their company works on products for industries which are heavily subsidized by the State). The rest? Retail. Nowhere on this list is a single person who actually produces anything, other than 3M plant employees-- a miniscule percentage of the total employed.
But hey, I guess then at least people can rightfully claim that they have a "State-Approved Job!" Hooray for Independence Day!
The burly chested, Aryan Master Race government "peace officer" is your friend-- as long as you do absolutely everything he says. Note that even the flyer wasn't produced in Minnesota. I thought the State was trying to crack down on outsourcing?