« Rethinking Salary Constructs, Federal Pay Continues To Skyrocket »
In 2008 the average federal worker earned twice that of his private-industry counterpart in wages and benefits: $120,000 per year versus $60,000.
Check out the difference in slope of the two lines. Yowza. Federal pay and benefits are up 58% since 2000 compared to just 28% in the private sector.
Of course, when you consider the massive productivity advantage government workers enjoy over their private counterparts, it all makes sense. WTF?
Well, it's all the Democrats fault undoubtedly. Wait, looks like it was Bush.
- The George W. Bush years were very lucrative for federal workers. In 2000, the average compensation (wages and benefits) of federal workers was 66 percent higher than the average compensation in the U.S. private sector. The new data show that average federal compensation is now more than double the average in the private sector.
- If you drive through Northern Virginia, you will find nearly entire neighborhoods of $500,000 to $900,000 homes owned by government workers or contractors. Then you can drive five streets over and find $200,000 to $400,000 homes owned by those who pay the salaries for those government employees. It’s a fascinating distribution of wealth. Most government employees and contractors could not earn more than $60,000 on the free market. Their only chance to make that kind of money comes from having an employer that not only never has to make a profit but can forcibly take money through taxation.
The answer is that both are deeply to blame. Don't be fooled. There's nary a difference between Democrats and Republicans when it comes to growth of government. Both parties are completely, sadistically, out of control. There is NO spending restraint on either side of the aisle, just hot air, promises, and purple unicorns. Oh and bubbles.
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Monday, October 26, 2009 at 4:46PM
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Reader Comments (12)
The mind of a federal worker: "Work is simple. You go into the office, roll your eyes for eight hours, then you come home and bitch about it to either A) your significant other or B) the internet. Another workday crossed off the calendar before you can finally embrace the sweet release of death."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWOoqmrOCH8&feature=player_profilepage
I missed this earlier, but like you say, it's IMPORTANT:
"The Obama administration appears to want to keep an inherited $700 billion financial rescue fund going past its scheduled expiry at year-end....It will expire at the end of this year unless Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner submits a written certification to Congress providing a justification for extension."
http://www.reuters.com/article/Washington09/idUSTRE59K66K20091021
We have to stop them here. This has to be a line in the sand, I think. I don't see how they can extend the bailouts now that people are starting to wake up to the facts, but they'll try. The line they'll use, apparently, is that now they're helping the small banks extend credit to "consumers and small businesses." I think this is just BS so they have their bailout funds ready to go whenever Citi or BAC decides to come back for another drink.
It's unclear from the article (and I haven't read the TARP legislation in a while - unlike your Congressman who didn't read it at all), but it's unclear whether this is Geithner's decision to renew or Congress's.
http://dailybail.com/home/sherman-to-geithner-can-we-tell-america-today-that-capitalis.html
http://dailybail.com/home/video-tarp-on-steroids-brad-sherman-questions-tim-geithner.html
http://dailybail.com/home/brad-sherman-recycling-tarp-funds-is-illegal.html
Some seem to keep their beer goggles on and continue to miss this...
"According to Business Week, the average CEO [Chief Executive Officer] made 42 times the average blue-collar worker's pay in 1980, 85 times in 1990 and a staggering 531 times in 2000."
-- AFL-CIO "Executive Paywatch"
Government has been owned for a very long time.
"I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country ... corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed. I feel at this moment more anxiety for the safety of my country than ever before, even in the midst of war."
-- Abraham Lincoln, letter to Col. William F. Elkins, Nov 21, 1864. Reference: The Lincoln Encyclopedia, Archer H. Shaw (Macmillan, 1950, NY).
The sources for the data are the links in the story...
http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/2009/08/24/federal-pay-continues-rapid-ascent/
http://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/2009/09/11/overpaid-bureaucrats/
http://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/2009/09/11/overpaid-bureaucrats/