One of the most important lessons I’ll teach my kids is simple and unapologetic: if you value job security, stay close to the revenue.
It’s not a feel-good slogan. It’s not meant to flatter the ego or diminish anyone’s contribution to society. It’s just reality. And if we want to build a more resilient America—an America that works for the long haul—we need to talk more openly and honestly about how our economy actually functions.
At its most basic level, labor in any society can be divided into three categories:
Revenue Earners – These are the individuals and businesses who create wealth. They build products, deliver services, innovate, sell, and generate the income that keeps the economy moving. They create the pie.
Revenue Supporters – These roles exist to help the revenue earners operate more effectively. Think of roles in HR, operations, compliance, IT—essential functions that support and optimize the creation of value.
Tax-Supported Labor – These are the public sector jobs that are funded through taxation of the first two groups. This includes teachers, police officers, regulators, and government employees at every level. These are often essential, honorable jobs—but their financial viability is tied directly to how well the private sector performs.
Every one of these categories has value. Our society doesn’t work without teachers, EMTs, or civil engineers. It doesn’t work without administrators and internal teams that keep private companies functioning. But here’s the uncomfortable truth: none of it works unless someone is out there producing taxable revenue. Every government paycheck, every public benefit, every non-revenue-supporting job is ultimately enabled by someone else's value creation.
We’ve spent too long pretending that this doesn’t matter. That we can endlessly expand the tax-supported sector without consequence. That we can stretch deficits into perpetuity. That we can meet every public need and political promise by simply raising taxes on “someone else.”
But we are now colliding with the limits of that thinking.
The United States currently spends about two trillion dollars more each year than it brings in. That’s not a temporary crisis or a COVID-era hangover. That’s structural overspending. It’s our new normal. And it is dangerously unsustainable.
To put it plainly: we cannot afford about $2 trillion of what we currently spend. And yet the discussion in some political circles continues as if cutting spending is an option to be considered, not a necessity to be confronted.
Meanwhile, the largest single line item in our federal budget is no longer defense, healthcare, or education. It’s interest on the debt. That means the money we borrow—largely to pay for things we can’t afford—costs us more than any individual priority we claim to care about. That is the very definition of fiscal mismanagement.
We are mortgaging the future to fund the present, and eventually, the bill comes due.
This is not an anti-government argument. This is not some libertarian screed calling for a dismantling of public institutions. I value public schools. I value infrastructure. I believe in the importance of national defense, emergency response, and safety nets for the vulnerable. But none of that is sustainable unless we rebuild our commitment to economic growth and value creation. We cannot keep expanding what we tax and spend without expanding what we earn.
And that’s where this lesson for my children becomes a lesson for the country: if you want security in an insecure world, if you want to have a job that will always be in demand, stay close to the revenue. Learn to create value. Be the one who sells, builds, produces, or invents. Create the economic engine that powers everything else.
We should be steering a new generation toward that mindset—not because other jobs are unimportant, but because the entire system depends on people who produce.
That’s what makes America resilient. That’s what gives us leverage, choices, and power. We should be proud of the jobs that support others, and proud of the jobs that serve the public. But we should never lose sight of the fact that those jobs are made possible by the revenue generated in the private sector.
We need a cultural realignment around value. That doesn’t mean idolizing wealth or reducing people to profit margins. It means grounding our policies—and our personal decisions—in a clear-eyed understanding of where the money comes from, and what it costs when we spend beyond our means.
America has always been at its best when we’ve embraced personal responsibility, economic freedom, and a shared commitment to building a better future. That starts with telling the truth: the strength of our country depends on the strength of its revenue engine.
Grow the economy. Protect value creation. Stay close to the revenue.
Our future depends on it.
If you take one thing away from this episode, let it be this: we don’t fix America by pretending the math doesn’t matter. We fix it by honoring those who create value, by building policies that support sustainable growth, and by telling the next generation the truth about where jobs, security, and opportunity actually come from.
This isn’t about worshiping wealth—it’s about respecting the engine that funds everything we care about.
If this episode sparked something in you, share it. Start a conversation with someone who’s ready to think bigger—and more honestly—about our future.
Subscribe for more, and as always—stay principled, stay engaged, and remember: the strength of a nation starts with the people who build it.
Until next time.
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