About 4.4 million workers disappeared from the labor pool over the last four years.  Where did they go?  No one quite knows, exactly.

They don’t show up in the unemployment numbers.  But they do exist, hidden behind the statistical shadows.  The lucky ones, those who are gainfully employed, get after it each day.  They go to work and trade their time, talents, and labors in exchange for money.  Of those, a small subset is able to spend less than they make…and save the difference.

If the difference becomes big enough, and they save long enough, eventually they’ll build real and lasting wealth.  One day they may no longer have to work, if they don’t want to.  Unfortunately, getting to that point has become increasingly more difficult.

For while the hardworking, prudent, fellow may be able to scrape together a small grubstake.  All the time, even while sleeping, an appointed bureaucrat is busy shoveling money out of his bank account through the back door.  It really does sound quite fantastical, no?  But it is happening all the same. Continue reading →