The Ruling Class Takes Care of Its Own
It’s safe to say that the disconnect between the resourceful, wealth-producing private sector and the resource-draining, wealth-destroying public sector has never been greater. In his seminal, insightful essay at the American Spectator, Angelo M. Codevilla of the Claremont Institute characterizes the former as “the country class” and the latter as “the ruling class.”
To see that the ruling class currently has the upper hand, one need look no further than an August 10 USA Today report covering federal, state, and private sector compensation filed by Dennis Cauchon.
Here’s the rundown in round numbers:
- The average civilian federal worker earns — I’m sorry, “gets paid” — over $81,000 a year. After adding in almost $42,000 for benefits, he or she receives total compensation of over $123,000.
- For state and local government employees, the analogous figures are a shade over $53,000, almost $17,000, and nearly $70,000.
- Private sector workers average about $50,500 in pay, $10,500 in benefits, and just over $61,000 in total comp.
For those keeping score, the average federal worker — oops, “employee” — is paid 60% more than his or her private sector counterpart, receives bennies that are four times greater, and gets a total compensation package that is more than twice as high.
You know things are out of whack when including UAW workers at government-controlled General Motors in the federal government’s numbers (they aren’t; GM — get ready for this — calls itself “a private company” in its regulatory filings) would more than likely bring those averages down.
According to Cauchon, the status quo’s defenders claim that “the compensation gap reflects the increasingly high level of skill and education required for most federal jobs and the government contracting out lower-paid jobs to the private sector in recent years.” I don’t think so, because USAT’s reported figures are averages, not medians. While there are upper limits on what federal workers can be paid, a relatively small but numerically influential group of extremely productive and successful private-sector participants makes quite a bit more. I wouldn’t be at all surprised to learn that the federal-private differentials using medians are even greater than those seen above using averages.
Regardless, Cauchon in effect reports that for the time being the differentials, no matter how calculated, are on track to grow:
Last week, President Obama ordered a freeze on bonuses for 2,900 political appointees. For the rest of the 2-million-person federal workforce, Obama asked for a 1.4% across-the-board pay hike in 2011, the smallest in more than a decade. Federal workers also would qualify for seniority pay hikes.
So there will be a drop-in-the-bucket freeze accompanied by pay hikes for everyone else. Big deal.
When I heard “ruling class” I also expected to hear something about CEO mega-bonuses, even for those who drove their companies into the ditch or off the cliff. As for your figures, I’d be a lot more interested if there were breakdowns by kinds of workers in both the government and private sector data. Is a private “worker” someone who works at McDonald’s or Walmart, or someone at a high skill position, or a CEO? Averaging in all three, or only some of the above to get a private figure seems odd. As it stands, the points here are far too general to be of much help. By the second page, it is boilerplate anti-guvment worker stuff. Try to bring something new to the table.
If those CEOs are getting money from sources other than my tax dollars, I take no issue with it.
Fortunately, not all high-bonus-payed CEO’s work for taxpayer-supported companies. There are those that work for Government Motors, Fannie May, Freddie Mac, and most of the financial industry. These are the same ones that contributed mucho bucks to the Democrats and the Obama campaign. Obama’s economic advisers during his run for the presidency came out of Fannie May and Freddie Mac. And to compare the “general” federal workforce with individuals who run manufacturing corporations is ludicrous.
Sorry but I hear a personal ox being gored. The political class has no restraint on the insanity of it’s pay and hiring. I live within a few miles of Social Security headquarters in suburban MD and if you looked real close you might even see them sleeping during the daytime. Fannie and Freddie didn’t go bankrupt only because of Congressional corruption, many of their employees can’t add never mind count. And the beat goes on. More money for those connected to the political elite and the rest of us get to share the cost. I say enough is enough.
Okay:
In an analysis of existing data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and Bureau of Economic Analysis, James Sherk, a Heritage senior policy analyst in labor economics, found even after adjusting for factors such as age, skill level and education, federal employees earned 30 percent to 40 percent more in total compensation — including wages and benefits — than private sector workers in comparable jobs.
Back to you, Dwight. Dwight? Dwight? Where are you?
Oh, that is right. You are in pwnedville, where you are not taking calls. /smirk
Jim, I’m not sure I follow. Dwight said he would like to know breakdowns of the stats, because the numbers seem fishy.
5 posts later, Tom Blumer points out that in fact, the numbers were way off.
I’m not sure how Dwight was “pwned” here. Can you elaborate?
“way off”?????? the article claimed 60%, subsequent post said 40%. For the purpose of the argumemnt that is close enough for me
the point is that the ONLY funding for the public sector is taken from the private sector. There.is.no.other.money……….
Now – we can debate that some “public sector” worker are in fact true value creators (or at least, value protectors) – for example the police ensure the rule of law and so protect the environment that allows free enterprise to thrive. (Actually even here , in principal, the police could be funded on a voluntary basis by local business and citizens)
Notwithstanding – the basic point is that an ever growing public sector is not the basis for a sound society. (Just ask the Russians…. they tried it for a few years)
I’ve lived in DC area for 20 years now. For three years in the late-90s, I was employed as a contractor at the FDIC, and it was an eye-opener. It quickly became apparent that I and other contractors were hired to cover for FDIC employees who didn’t seem to do anything. One guy would close his office door and sleep under his desk for a couple hours each day. Long lunches, running personal hobbies and outside businesses from the office, managing their stock portfolios, hours spent every day attending to other personal matters – all of this was common. When asked, many of these folks couldn’t coherently describe their jobs. Not once did I see one of these people fired.
I’m not saying this kind of conduct isn’t found in the private sector, but people who demonstrate such work habits tend not to last there. In my firm in these past 18 months, I’ve seen significant layoffs at my level, and those few who reflected the gov’t-employee work ethic were quickly out the door. That’s not the way it operates in a gov’t office.
Try to bring something new to the table.
Sometimes we offer the advice we most need to hear ourselves.
The Estrus Period Guide for Government Workers
Beware Government Workers wherever you are, the Conservative Rutting Season (CRS) is well underway.
Conservative Rutting Season (CRS) is when the conservative politicians, journalists, cable broadcasting and talk-show hosts, Internet pundits, writers and wanna-bes join forces with their counterparts in the liberal Democrat Party, mainstream media and press in a manically obsessed free-for-all to find out who can bash government workers the most.
No one knows for sure what causes or precipitates the Conservative Rutting Season (CRS), but it appears to be thermodynamically related and exponentially proportional to the release of election year pheromones by politicians that are trying to seduce as many voters as they can before election day. The heat seems to be so great that Conservative minds are not able to tell the politicians from the government workers, whether they are male or female, young or old or Democrat or Republican. So, just to be sure they bash and whiz on all of them.
Conservative Rutting Season (CRS) is an Open Season fun period of time when everyone is welcome to pitch in and deliver as many sucker punches to evil government workers as possible. Turncoats are particularly welcome, especially higher ranking active duty military personnel that bash civilian government workers.
There are no Conservative Rutting Season (CRS) winners but it is clear that nature’s rules of dominance apply. Hence, the bigger apes that can pound their chests harder and louder than everyone else receive preference. Thus during Conservative Rutting Season (CRS), Rush Limbaugh abandons his daily doses of spoon feeding the Perils of the Revolution of America’s Ruling Class to his listeners as does his water-marked afternoon parrot Hannity, followed later by Mark Levine; who appears to be working on an eleventh chapter to Liberty and Tyranny, a Conservative Manifesto that will be titled “Why The Founding Fathers Hated Government Workers and you should too.”
Once the Lords of the Jungle have staked out their territory with hormones, the little guys can follow suit by sparing with each other. They better do this if they ever hope to have and hold their own golden microphones or lead their flocks from deep inside a secret location.
“I have to drive a 10 year old car, but my neighbor, who is a government worker drives a brand new Mercedes that she parks in her own garage!” “I’m not guaranteed any retirement, but government workers that do half of the work that I do and get paid twice what I make will get 75% of their salary when they retire!” “Government workers don’t do anything productive that benefits the country. They don’t have to show a profit. Most of them sit on their rear ends doing nothing all day and they know that there is no way that they can be fired.” “I’m not talking about the Fire Fighters and Police dammit, I’m talking about the worthless bureaucrats that are of no value to the human race.” There, I said it!
Never mind that the civilian and military government employees that worked for NASA performed all of the scientific research that produced more advances in appliances, communications, entertainment, medicine and tools to benefit the entire human race in less than 50 years than everyone else did combined for the 5,000 – 6,000 years of Earth’s existence before then.
Never mind that the civilian and military government employees that worked for the Defense Department’s Research and Development Labs performed all of the chemical, electronic, scientific and physics related research and development that perfected and produced everything from LED digital watches, to the MRI machines that scan our bodies for diseases to GPS and satellite technology to the precision guided missiles that strike with pin-point precision thus insuring that it is safe for all Americans to go to sleep in their beds tonight, including the Conservatives that delight in bashing them.
It isn’t as if the Liberals haven’t given the Conservatives enough critically important issues to keep them busy because they have. For decades now bashing government workers has been a Conservative’s election year mantra. It is a time when liberals can sit back and relax knowing that the Conservatives are down there in the muck and grime doing their worst dirty work for them.
But, for some strange reason now, in the era and age of Obama, Pelosi and Reid the ferocity and intensity of the Conservative’s attacks against government workers is at an all time high. Less than three months away from one of the most important elections our country will ever face and Conservatives have become more obsessed with pounding on government workers than they are in dealing with the critical election issues on behalf of our nation. Mosque… What Mosque..? Iranian nuclear bomb..? Boom!! Who cares..? Do they know how hypocritical, ridiculous and stupid they sound? Do they care?
A month or two after the September 11th, 2001 terrorist attacks huge numbers of people got sick and tired of the media bashing President Bush and our Armed Forces. They turned off their television sets and withdrew their support in such numbers that it collapsed and shut down many of the liberal mainstream newspaper and media sources.
Today the leading Conservatives that benefited enormously from that common folks rebellion have their big guns turned directly on the government workers. They are unmercifully punishing everyday Joe Blow government workers because of what the elected politicians in both political parties are doing to them when it comes to taxes and restrictions. It is a mistake to think that its okay to keep doing this kind of thing, or that the government workers cannot do or say anything that will seriously endanger or harm their careers, publications, broadcast stations or talk show programs.
Count them all up. How many government workers are there in the United States of America? Cities, townships, incorporates, local governments, state governments, federal agencies and departments; there must be multiple millions of government workers. Rush Limbaugh claims and average 20 million listeners audience. Mark Levin has somewhere close to 10 million in his audience. How many government workers would it be reasonable to think make up those audiences? Five percent? Ten percent? Twenty? How many government workers in the United States of America are avid conservatives that support the Republicans? Is fifty percent a fair number, since by the Conservatives own research America leans much more conservative than it does liberal.
What if the majority of the government workers said, “Screw this, I don’t need to be hammered by anyone for something I’m not doing, much less by the Conservatives I’ve been supporting!” Would the loss of half of their listeners and the Liberals holding power permanently in Washington, DC have an effect?
Listen up Conservatives that love to bash government workers. Have the decency to treat government workers like they belong to the same human race you do. Those government workers in and of the United States of America are just about ready to take down their “Welcome Conservative” signs. That might be very bitter pill for you guys to swallow.
Then again there is the possibility that you people don’t choke on anything anymore so than the liberals you love to damn like dogs everyday.
Self serving poppycock. Half of government workers aren’t even sure of what exactly their job is. Go to any major office bureaucracy or department and look and see how many people are actually working. Now adjust that for those that are doing make work or adding counter productive red tape to the burden of the private sector and you will quickly realize that half of all government workers could be shown the door and no one would even notice, maybe not even their fellow workers.
How did you arrive at the “half” amount..?
Take paid time off from your private sector job to survey a nation of government workers?
If not that means you just lied..
Or is that considered some sort of acceptable “poppycock” in your mind; perhaps the private sector at large?
The point is that the Conservatives are driving just as much of a wooden stake through the hearts of everyday people as the liberals are WHEN they use other people for their own gain!
I’ve worked many sides of the fence; in the military, federal civilian, state civilian, city civilian, private sector and three small business enterprises of my own through the years.
I guarantee you that I can find just as much poppycock in any of those environments as anyone can throughout government service.
Demand that your elected representatives do their job and there will not be any mile wide gaps between what the government pays versus the private sector.
They can start with getting rid of the incredible taxes and restrictions imposed on the private sector beginning in the early 1970s; shortly after they managed to catch the government worker’s pay up to where 90% of them didn’t have to draw food stamps to feed their children.
Those taxes and restrictions are what have Limbaugh and the real money makers stirred up anyway. Government workers are being used to serve their purpose; which is to protect and keep their hard earned dollars out of the hands of the politicians. Where does that leave you or any other average Joe Blow, private sector, government or whatever..? Dream on friend!
Conservatives, in addition to a lousy attitude now have a bad case of total amnesia.
“Have the decency to treat government workers like they belong to the same human race you do.”
That is exactly what I want. I got a layoff 3 years ago and found another job. That’s what I want for about half the federal work force.
All of the inventions and benefits you cite as being produced by government workers were in fact invented by civilians working for private contractors hired by either NASA or the military. You could claim that certain federal programs have proved beneficial to humanity. But to use the programs to defend the pay scales of federal employees in general is misleading at best and downright lying at worst.
transistor, laser, integrated circuits, microprocessor, cell phone, Telstar, 3D tomography, artificial hearts, open heart surgery…and I’m sure we could go on. Government agencies produce nothing original, nor do their productions do much for civilians; I just don’t have much use for a cruise missile in my driveway, though one with flames on the tip might be cool.
Never mind that the civilian and military government employees that worked for NASA performed all of the scientific research that produced more advances in appliances, communications, entertainment, medicine and tools to benefit the entire human race in less than 50 years than everyone else did combined for the 5,000 – 6,000 years of Earth’s existence before then.
Never mind that the civilian and military government employees that worked for the Defense Department’s Research and Development Labs performed all of the chemical, electronic, scientific and physics related research and development that perfected and produced everything from LED digital watches, to the MRI machines that scan our bodies for diseases to GPS and satellite technology to the precision guided missiles that strike with pin-point precision thus insuring that it is safe for all Americans to go to sleep in their beds tonight, including the Conservatives that delight in bashing them.
Actually, no, not so much. Mostly, contractors doing the research (Bell Labs, Sandia Labs (run by AT&T, and today by Lockheed), or engineering (Texas Instruments in the case of the precision guided munitions (not, as you misstated, “missiles”).
Although, I will grant you that DoD and (until the AGW cult took control) DoE generated the best bang for the buck of any government entities in human history. This is why the Left places them at the top of the list for budget cuts. Can’t have government actually getting something useful for all that funding, now, can we?
Never mind that the civilian and military government employees that worked for NASA performed all of the scientific research that produced more advances in appliances, communications, entertainment, medicine and tools to benefit the entire human race in less than 50 years than everyone else did combined for the 5,000 – 6,000 years of Earth’s existence before then.
Never mind that the civilian and military government employees that worked for the Defense Department’s Research and Development Labs performed all of the chemical, electronic, scientific and physics related research and development that perfected and produced everything from LED digital watches, to the MRI machines that scan our bodies for diseases to GPS and satellite technology to the precision guided missiles that strike with pin-point precision thus insuring that it is safe for all Americans to go to sleep in their beds tonight, including the Conservatives that delight in bashing them.
Actually, no, not so much. Mostly, contractors doing the research (Bell Labs, Sandia Labs (run by AT&T, and today by Lockheed)), or engineering (Texas Instruments in the case of the precision guided munitions (not, as you misstated, “missiles”)).
Although, I will grant you that DoD and (until the AGW cult took control) DoE generated the best bang for the buck of any government entities in human history. This is why the Left places them at the top of the list for budget cuts. Can’t have government actually getting something useful for all that funding, now, can we?
You’re grossly mistaken. The perfect example being Raytheon who did the work to develop radar which lead to the microwave oven. Furthermore you ignorantly leave out the work done by private research laboratories that did as much of the scientific research into LED’s, Internet, and more. In fact you can sleep soundly because a private company did all of the chemical research in detecting chemical weapons. In fact if you had actually done any work in the sciences for the government you would have found a far greater number of private companies doing the work.
Your claim that government employees did all of the research is in fact an outright lie.
Never mind that the civilian and military government employees that worked for NASA performed all of the scientific research that produced more advances in appliances, communications, entertainment, medicine and tools to benefit the entire human race in less than 50 years than everyone else did combined for the 5,000 – 6,000 years of Earth’s existence before then.
That’s a load of misinformation. Contrary to your assertion that “all” of the research that led to NASA’s reaching the moon was the result of government employees, the truth is that most of the heavy lifting in the space effort was done by contractors at companies like McDonnell-Douglas, Boeing and General Motors.
I’ve heard it all before. Whenever someone dares to criticize government workers, we get told how much smarter they are than folks in the private sector and that all of them are the equivalent of PhD scientists at the Center for Disease Control.
I suppose that’s why even janitors in the federal payroll average twice in salary and benefits what their counterparts in the private sector earn.
I’m more than a little tired of government workers that believe that they are my better, that I exist to serve them and pay their salary. I’m tired of the dismissive attitude from everyone from the slow workers at the Secy of State office (here in Mich the SOS handles drivers licenses etc.) to the cops who sneer at you. I’m tired of U.S. Representative Sander Levin lying to my face when he says that his son’s last name had nothing to do with his appointment to a $124K/yr job as the asst dir of the state dept of labor and econ development.
Angelo Codevilla hit the nail on the head. America now has ruling class made up of government bureaucrats and politicians.
Obviously, Rutting Season, you see yourself as a member of that class.
“the average federal worker — oops, employee ” is neo-con code for “black.” You are a racist bigot.
Your comment betrays a finely-honed sense of humor, as well as a clear talent for articulating substance. (/sarc)
I see Federal buildings full of Shirley Sherrods.
Maybe if I show how superior I am, I can get my full federal benefits.
I can’t tell your race from your name, so you’re going to have to give me more information. Then I can provide “your kind” of lawyer to get those “full federal benefits” for you. Maybe! SIGNED: Your pal, Shirley S.
Norwegian so any Lutheran lawyer will do. But no Swedish, well maybe female Swedish.
Man this ethic grievance stuff sure is pain.
Apparently, “You are a racist bigot” is the new Leftist code for “I am a completely clueless dolt.”
3. Alice Wigglebotton
“’the average federal worker — oops, employee’” is neo-con code for ‘black.’ You are a racist bigot.”
Because it is simply not possible that Blacks – oh horrors, large numbers of them, even! – in federal employment could be lazy or be poor workers, right? Such an idea could spring only from racial bigotry, to be sure. Your diatribe becomes problematic only if we have the gracelessness to try to figure out how it apples to the 82% of non-Black federal employees about whose indolence the author was also speaking. And your diatribe, therefore, says much more about your bigotry than anyone else’s.
“the average federal worker — oops, employee ” is neo-con code for “black.” You are a racist bigot.
This dbag Alice posted this SAME EXACT BS line on another thread except it was
“corkscrew landings” is neo-con code for “black.” You are a racist bigot
I mean really, do Democrats add ANY value to this country?
While the focus of this article is the federal government, here in Michigan we have the same problem – but we have no printing press.
According to the Michigan Citizens Research Council, in 2000, Michigan had about 500,000 non-federal public employees (state, city, county, municipal, public education, etc.). Since 2000, about 800,000 to 1,000,000 (depending on who’s counting) private sector jobs have disappeared. Despite the massive private sector job loss, the number of public employees in Michigan has declined only slightly. Government now employs more people in Michigan than the three domestic auto manufacturers.
Taxpayers see bailouts and tax hikes being used primarily to save public employee jobs. Just one company in Michigan – Ford Motor Company – shed 40,000 jobs. GM and Chrysler have made similar drastic cuts while eliminating their defined beneift pensions.
Michigan taxpayers have been told every single public employee job is absolutely sacrosanct. During the last election, taxpayers were threatend that unless taxes were raised, to the alternative would be to release dangerous criminals from prison and lay off the state police.
Like California and New Jersey, Michigan can no longer support all these public employees and the cost of their benefits. Government needs to downsize at the federal and state level just like the private sector has. It’s long past time the public sector shared the pain being felt by the private sector.
You can add to that list of similar situations, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and my home state of Maryland. I am sure others can contribute equally clueless State governments that have tried to buy their way into the voters hearts.
Nickel, we headed for a train wreck in Michigan. Not only have we lost close to a million jobs and the tax revenue those jobs provided, property values in Michigan have collapsed and property tax revenues are drying up. Yet the state continues to spend. I have nothing against public employees. I don’t want to see any more people lose thier jobs but the money just isn’t there any more. Something’s gotta give.
You can’t just keep squeezing money out of the few people left who still have a job and/or haven’t left the state.
On my street there are unoccupied houses and nearby, an entire shopping mall sits completely empty. A friend of mine has had his house on the market for three years and he has cut the price in half and still can’t sell it. Half-empty strip malls are everywhere and every restaurant in town is sending out discount coupons – the ones that haven’t closed, anyway. This is serious but the public employee unions just don’t get it.
Sorry to ramble but this article struck a nerve.
yup – as I said earlier on – There.is.no.other.money
the state steals your money then spends it where IT thinks it will do better than where you can spend it. (sorry about the poor sentemce construction – I generally try to do better than that!)
anyway – it’s madness and the train wreck of the Western sconomies is under-way.
As Mrs Thatcher said (I think) – Socialists always run out of other peoples money
it is going to take serious leadership, blood sweat and tears to fix this problem…..
Hmmmm. First three comments from lefty moonbats.
Thank you Tom, I’ve been harping on this for a while on here on PJM and it’s about time someone put it all together so succinctly.
The unsustainable nature of this is going to tear our Country apart if we don’t reconfigure ‘public pensions’ and other ‘public jobs feeding on private dole’ soon.
The math will never add up.
You can’t win by getting rid of the winners.
I recently retired after a 30-year career with the Federal Government. And the writer is absolutely correct. I might have been underpaid in the 1980s compared to my high-tech counterparts in the private sector, but when I retired as a GS-14 even I had to admit I was woefully overpaid for my 40 hour work-week. And now I’m enjoying a classic (CSRS) pension that by itself pays more than the average worker receives. If at one time I accepted less for the job security offered, today one gets the best of both worlds: higher pay AND job security. And how curious that today the majority of union members in the US are employed in the public sector.
I can also verify the grade inflation, though it was visible even in the 1970s. I’d completed my BA at a leading Canadian University. When I attempted as a new teaching assistant to use the standards I’d experienced to grade papers at a Big Ten school, I had a lot of clearly dissatisfied students to deal with.
Part of the Stimulous Plan was used to pay unemployed English Majors to wax eloquently about the trials of being a Progressive. We couldn’t fit the $10,000 sign on those posts but you can rest assured that the trolls are doing their job to make America a better place.
“The art of government is to make two-thirds of a nation pay all it possibly can pay for the benefit of the other third.” Voltaire
The democrats have two critical voting blocks; those on the dole and fools. The ones on the dole don’t care how much the dems lie because they are making bank and the fools lack judgment or experience.
Many of Obama’s fools have wised up, it will be a generation or two before the democrats can obtain that many fools again. When and if we take power we need to cut drastically the ones on the federal dole. We need to make real reductions in the federal bureaucracy. The left will howl bloody murder because they know it’s there political death. We have to be strong and get it done. Obama has shown that the left has become the rights mortal enemy. They are trying to take us out for good we need to cut them down to size or face another Obama in 20 years.
The hulking giant in the room here is the role of government employee unions in this massive growth in government pay and benefits. These are the same people who are now screaming about the potential pension fund shortfalls for their union employees and demanding that Congress fund their inflated pension funds at the further expense of lower-paid, lower-benefit, harder-working private sector employees.
This country has become a two-tiered class, the class of government workers and the class of everyone else. There’s a reason that unions are declining everywhere in the private sector and growing in the public sector. The partnership between labor unions and government has become such a major economic force that it probably deserves its own “ism” to describe it since “Fascism” is already taken.
It’s time to decertify ALL government unions. Public Employee unions didn’t exist until about 1959 when the Mayor Wagner, Democrat of NYC decided it might be a good way to buy votes.
In 1963, John F Kennedy, another Democrat allowed the first Federal Employee Unionization – another huge voting bloc.
Time to say GOOD BY to public employee unions.
Oh Please. As an empolyee of the federal gov’t, I can tell you this article is a big bag of BS.
No, the average gov’t employee does not make $81,000/yr. That’s ridiculous. The most any gov’t employee (other than the Pres and Congress) can make is $178,000 and there’s very few of them.
I’ll agree that the blue collar gov’t workers are overpaid and babied but that’s because of their union which, like all unions, is a tremendously destructive influence.
But NO WAY are the rest of us making twice what the private sector does. I just joined the gov’t as an engineer and took a 12% pay cut to do so.
This article is just a straight out lie intended to whip the ignorant into a frenzy.
@12. jdalabama
working hard at the “peoples business” or reading blogs instead?
Time stamp says 8:49 am. If he’s on a 9-5 schedule, he arrived early and posted before his workday started.
The article only addresses what the MSM newspaper USA Today reported. To say that the author of this article is a liar is in itself a lie. Those of us who are “ignorant” always thought engineers were meticulous in their research, claims and statements. Maybe that is why the Feds hired you at a lower pay scale.
Get back to work, slacker. And that goes for you too, “rutting season.”
But as long as you’re on the computer on my dime, try this:
“For feds, more get 6-figure salaries
“By Dennis Cauchon, USA TODAY
“The number of federal workers earning six-figure salaries has exploded during the recession, according to a USA TODAY analysis of federal salary data.
Federal employees making salaries of $100,000 or more jumped from 14% to 19% of civil servants during the recession’s first 18 months — and that’s before overtime pay and bonuses are counted.
“Federal workers are enjoying an extraordinary boom time — in pay and hiring — during a recession that has cost 7.3 million jobs in the private sector.
“The highest-paid federal employees are doing best of all on salary increases. Defense Department civilian employees earning $150,000 or more increased from 1,868 in December 2007 to 10,100 in June 2009, the most recent figure available.
“When the recession started, the Transportation Department had only one person earning a salary of $170,000 or more. Eighteen months later, 1,690 employees had salaries above $170,000.
“The trend to six-figure salaries is occurring throughout the federal government, in agencies big and small, high-tech and low-tech. The primary cause: substantial pay raises and new salary rules.
“USA TODAY analyzed the Office of Personnel Management’s database that tracks salaries of more than 2 million federal workers. Excluded from OPM’s data: the White House, Congress, the Postal Service, intelligence agencies and uniformed military personnel.
“The growth in six-figure salaries has pushed the average federal worker’s pay to $71,206, compared with $40,331 in the private sector.
“Key reasons for the boom in six-figure salaries:
• Pay hikes. Then-president Bush recommended — and Congress approved — across-the-board raises of 3% in January 2008 and 3.9% in January 2009. President Obama has recommended 2% pay raises in January 2010, the smallest since 1975. Most federal workers also get longevity pay hikes — called steps — that average 1.5% per year.
•New pay system. Congress created a new National Security Pay Scale for the Defense Department to reward merit, in addition to the across-the-board increases. The merit raises, which started in January 2008, were larger than expected and rewarded high-ranking employees. In October, Congress voted to end the new pay scale by 2012.
• Paycaps eased. Many top civil servants are prohibited from making more than an agency’s leader. But if Congress lifts the boss’ salary, others get raises, too. When the Federal Aviation Administration chief’s salary rose, nearly 1,700 employees’ had their salaries lifted above $170,000, too.”
Nice work if you can get it. Stop whining, you little parasites.
@12. jdalabama
We’re mostly talking about PENSION bennies that are UNSUSTAINABLE. Did you even READ the damned article or are your comprehension skills woefully lacking?
Let me guess… Tick Tock…
You took a 12% pay cut so that you could have an AMAZING health-care/bennies/pension ‘package’ that people working in the private sector don’t have?
Eh? Am I warm? Hot? Closer?
Absolutely it was the pension that attracted me. But, there is nothing AMAZING about the gov’t benefit package.
Private company contributions to 401K plans often at least match what the defined benefits plan of the gov’t. that. And every payday our checks are smaller (not larger) than private counterparts in recogniton of the pension. Again, I speak of the “professional” employees.
The medical insurance is less generous than it was in private industry, life insurance about the same. There is no short term disability available. Visiona and Dental cost more than it did in private employment.
There is no such thing, for “professional” employees, of time in grade pay increases. There is no such thing as seniority increases. You may or may not get a raise or bonus depending on your contibutions, just like private industry.
I suggest you find out more before becoming just another mouthpiece for the ignorant.
jdalabama, what’s your real name and what agency do you work for?
What? Too much of a coward to post under your real name? Why do you need to be anonymous? You’re a proud government employee, let’s see what you really do for a living. Obviously you have time to read blogs on the taxpayers’ dime.
I’ve yet to see a public employee, unhappy about criticism of him and his fellow sinecurists, post a response under their real name.
As for in grade increases, of 1.8 million federal employees in the GS system, though in-grade steps are supposed to be merit based, only 400 didn’t get their bump in 2008. So much for “merit”.
One point of comparison between private vs public sector is comparing compensation with similar degrees; Bachelors in private vs bachelors degree in public.
What is missing is that the student with a high gpa will work for private industry while the student with the mediocre GPA couldnt get a job in private industry so they went to work for the government. So when comparing similar degrees, the gap is actually bigger since since the brain power with a government employee is typically less.
Mr. Blumer has provided a citation to substantiate his statements. Can you do the same?
ok how much did they make under bush and clinton?” your talk out of your butt again or your just Hippocrates
That’s where he would take your temp, but at least he (Hippocrates) will ‘first, do no harm’.
I find it laughable in light of my long experiences with U.S. immigration (formerly INS, now BCIS) that “[t]he ruling class wants us to believe that they and most federal workers are among the best and brightest society has produced.” The clerks and Deputy Adjudicating Officers (“DAO”) are mediocrities who have worked their way up the GS scale to earn high salaries and benefits. Take Estelle S., one DAO who interviewed me initially: she was a paralegal in law firms, but was repeatedly fired for incompetence. She went into the INS for a safe job, and was still incompetent – and a Grade A bitch. Then there is DAO R., an ill-educated (but charming) former Border Patrol officer who took a desk job. Finally, my favorite, David J., a double-dipper: hired on veteran’s preference and thus on his second fed job/second pension. He can speak English — unlike many DAOs who are naturalized immigrants and hired for political reasons (more non-whites, non-native born employees); they speak passable to lousy English — but is semi-literate, stumbling over a statute he read aloud to verify that I was in compliance with it.
Further, I am an Ivy grad and working on a Ph.D. at a British Ivy university. I am not impressed by u/grads and graduate students at American Ivy schools. The biggest hurdle is admission to the Ivy Leagues; academic performance and intellectual development is often mediocre. Personal statements about “overcoming hardships” in life count more than SAT/GRE scores and grades. A professor who tagged me in grad school as brighter than the rest and took me under her wing said, “you can do better,” i.e., encouraging me to advance to the Ph.D. program, and then dismissively referencing some of my classmates said, “they are CIA and State Department material.” Even liberal professors know that admissions standards are low; with admissions mainly based on political correctness and to generate revenue for the schools. These grads, Ivy BAs and MAs in hand, eventually make it into government. After all, with a BA in Gender Studies or a MA in Public Policy, what else can they do?
Thanks, Shivan. Very enlightening. Something that many of us have suspected all along. Many of the BA degrees issued by universities and colleges are worthless in private industry. Only the Feds would take them seriously.
Another outstanding piece. Just to let you know, some of California’s citizens will be protesting the Republican elites this Friday in San Diego: CA Tea Party Takeover Target #1: e-Meg @ GOP Fall Convention in San Diego – Aug. 20, 5pm
Somehow I don’t believe the vast majority of federal employees consider themselves a “ruling class.” Nor do I believe they act that way. Congress makes the the laws and mandates that agencies create regulations to comply with those laws. Yes, some high-level appointees are involved in that process and, in a way, “rule,”, but seriously do you think many federal employees actually have much say in what the rules are and how they are applied? This is the government for heaven’s sake – the typical federal employee can’t spend $100 on an over-priced private sector copier toner cartridge half the time without a fricken act of Congress.
Also, while federal employee compensation is certainly of concern considering the economy now, the snark of changing “earns” to “gets paid” and “workers” to “employees” does nothing to further your argument and only inflames passions. (Then again that’s what you want so bravo on accomplishing it.)
As to people going into the federal service not being as smart as those going into the private sector, well, I can’t wait to run into a smart customer service rep at Charter Cable, because frankly as far as I can tell they are are fricken brain dead. Same thing goes with the “high GPA” employees at most a dozen other private sector companies that the public has to deal with on a daily basis.
Everyone says all federal employees are lazy and stupid and corrupt, but they also know someone who is a federal employee and is the exception. That same employee loves to rail about how bad his or her co-workers are as a bonus I might add. Those same people love the military – all brave and smart individuals defending their country – but evidently as soon as those military members become vets and go to work in the government they suddenly get lazy, stupid, etc.
Frankly, I think government needs to be cut. We can’t afford everything we’re paying for. And that includes cutting federal employees. But articles like this, and the ignorant comments that cheer it on, don’t do anything but muddy the waters.
@TRO
That’ right. Let’s all be reasonable and just accept everything the gov’t does with a grain of salt. We should not let articles like this “inflame passions”. The fact that federal employees are over-payed and over-compensated is a serious issue. But, maybe not to you.
Your simple statement that “Congress makes the laws” is meant to be reasonable on the surface but demeaning to the reader. Your condescension is insulting. Congress is a political institution susceptible to outside pressures from lobbyists and special interests, particularly the unions, to buy their votes.
The article was basically an editorial on data presented by USA Today. If you didn’t like the way it was written, ignore it. But you can’t ignore the data. And, what kind of waters are we ‘muddying” here? Data is data.
And the contents of this article are only part of the problem. The other concern not addressed is that the gov’t is over-bloated. Gov’t employee numbers have risen 25% in two years. Again, thanks to Congress, under pressure from the unions. So actually, who rules here? Congress or the unions? Or both, as the article suggests.
Most of your other statements are simple generalities not worth refuting. Except, I would like to add one thing. Prior military service should be no guarantee of future Fed employment, and none of these posts have even come close to suggesting it.
I moved from a private non-profit into a Department of Defense civlian position 2 years ago. I took a 30% pay cut to do so, but I did it because I saw the writing on the wall, and I wanted to do something more interesting and that actually contributed to the welfare of our country. (Sure enough, that non-profit has laid off more than 50 % of its employees in the time since I left.) Defense is, after all, one of the specifically enumerated duties of the federal government in the Constitution.
I see none of the behavior of government workers I see so often described by people who frankly have no idea what they’re talking about. (What’s the difference between a fairy tale and a war story? One starts out, “Once upon a time …” the other starts out, “I know this guy …” Every single person in my office has a minimum of a master’s degree, yet the highest one is a YA-03 (that’s NSPS rating, soon to revert to GS because of Obama’s abolishing NSPS). That YA-03, who has a Ph.D., will convert to a GS-13, meaning he’ll make around $90,000 a year. He could do much better in the private sector.
We’re not unionized. We contribute to the national defense. (My particular position is heavily involved in the war in Afghanistan.)
Yeah, there are bureaucrats and government employees not earning their pay. But I can say the same for the private sector I worked in for 25 years before coming here.
In short, I’m tired of all the broad-brush government employee bashing. Most of it is uninformed and off-target.
Sorry, but us dudes in uniform get tired of hearing flabby gov’t civilians (non-veterans) whine, piss and moan about how hard their air-conditioned desk jobs are and how they just can’t work one minute more than an eight-hour day (weekdays) because they won’t get overtime, especially after we’ve deployed a few times.
Buzz,
See Post #7 Raymond in DC, above. Two sides to every story?
Forgot to add a point: even though I’m a veteran, I have no government pension. (I didn’t retire but rather resigned my commission after 10 years.) I get no pension in my present position, either: I contribute to a retirement fund just as I did to my 401(k) at my other jobs.
“Comparable levels of education” in the Federal Government should be taken with a grain of salt. There are tons of diploma mills in the DC area that exist only to enhance Federal employee’s credentials and, since degrees automatically result in pay raises, fatten their wallets.
P.S. I laughed out loud at “Hippocrates” above. I really hope arnold schwertman is a parody.
People are screaming bloody murder over public-sector wages and benefits, but you couldn’t say its an unusual situation, the public sector expands, in benefits, top-heavy wage tiers, assumed responsibilities, until the public begs for enough and shuts them down. Its a cycle that’s accelerated by a too-big-to-manage public sector. So I think blaming wages, or public sector unions, or anything else, misses the point, the public sector is simply too big to manage.
And the T-rex in the room is entitlements. SS, Medicare, Medicaid, is 100% of federal revenue. We are at the point that you could slash public sector salaries to mininum wage, and still run up the debt. So public sector wages and benefits is important, but a symptom, not the cause. The cause is we apparently cannot budget. We are all Californians now.
It’s interesting to note that military personnel do NOT bring the average down much, if at all. They are getting the same level of pay and benefits as the civilian feds, perhaps a bit more weighted towards benefits (such as housing).
And, yes, it is true that the federal pay differential got quite a bit larger under GWB; fed compensation in 2000 was “only” 150% of private sector instead of the 200% it is today.
The issue isn’t whether or not govt workers are overpaid, incompetent or lazy. I’m sure most of them earn their pay.
The problem is, when private sector companies turn sour and lose money due to a bad economy or lousy business practices, they have to cut costs and lay off employees. The govt, when times are bad, has the power to extort money in the form of increased taxes or simply print more money. When everybody was working, no one cared what public employees earned or how good their pensions and benefits were.
Now, however, 15 million people in the private sector are out of work, millions more are under-employed or have stopped looking for work. They see the public sector is not sharing the pain. Bailout money is being used to save public employee jobs, not create jobs for the unemployed. Compared to the massive job losses in the private sector, very few public employees have lost their jobs or had to accept pay and benefit cuts. Can you blame people in the private sector for being just a little resentful?
Well said! Of course there is resentment. But any job lost reduces the demand for goods and services of society as a whole, so it is hard to see how we would be better off if the public sector had lost 20% of its jobs. Wouldn’t the economic situation then be even worse?
Oops, I am that Anonymous.
@Anonymous (Dwight)
It would have been better to cut the public workforce by 20% and pump the savings back into the economy in the form of reductions in business taxes to help small and large business, which really drive the economy. Obama tried going the other way by paying off all his supporters in the unions and gov’t workers through his stimulus package that did not work. Keeping a large gov’t workforce in place does nothing but distribute public wealth to public employees.
Anonymous @ 11:43 am
Wow, prejudge much? I’m not a flabby civilian. I was a “dude in uniform” humping the jungles while your daddy was still in diapers.
And I still deploy. You’re probably the fat Chair Force dude I saw whining when McCrystal closed the Burger King at Bagram.
Shivan
You attend a “British Ivy”!? How can that be, when the Ivy League consists of only 8 universities, all of which are in the States?
I call bullshit.
Buzz
I call dumb.
There are two Brit schools that were “Ivy” (as in upper crust) before America was even discovered. In case you’re still puzzled, Oxford and Cambridge be their names.
Nice try, Shivan, but bullshit.
The term Ivy League was originally coined as an athletic conference (cf. Big Ten), not for academic reasons. Only in the last 50 years or so has it taken on an academic connotation.
My wife is English and I’ve spent a lot of time there (and my bro-in-law read at Magdalen College Oxford), and never once have I ever heard them referred to as “British Ivy.” (My bro-in-law just laughed when I asked him.)
I also happen to have a graduate degree from one of the real American Ivies, and never once did I hear a professor say anything remotely close to “they are CIA and State Department material,” as you claim, especially in the disdainful manner you imply, as if the only reason people go to those schools is to gain entry to government jobs.
I recognize bullshit when I see it, Shivan, and you’ve served up a huge load.
I am English and agree that we don’t refer to OxBridge as “Ivy” – but I knew what he meant – he was using a vernacular that would resonate with the audience – no harm in that surely?
Peej
More bullshit from the uninformed. The government accepts degrees only from accredited colleges and universities, and you must provide original transcripts as proof, not just say you have the degree.
Diploma mills, indeed.
I see a pattern here of everyone trying to one-up the other on their horror stories about federal employees and then blindly gainsaying what someone says in their defense without the slightest shred of evidence to support it.
Evidence?You want evidence ?I submit a good friend of mine who cant read or write despite the fact he graduated from high school.How did that happen?Or how about govt social programs retraining those from unions to the tune of 25k while non unionized workers laid off get denied the same training funding?Is that enough evidence for you?
Or how about Mrs Obama not able to pay her way despite the fact her husband makes over 200k a year?(or maybe she did ,my bad)
Or the fact that media glossed over the fact that Obamas campaign thrived off the very people who MIGHT have engineered this whole recession mess?Im sorry that may be conjecture my bad.
All many of us are saying is that we do have experience in dealing with local or federal govt and much of it is bloated.Now that is a fact!
I do not give a damn how much government employees make, the bottom line is we just cannot afford it anymore. Does anyone know how many taxpayers it takes to fund one mid-level government job? Government is a cost center. It does not make a profit it takes profits from the private sector. It does not create wealth it creates debt. In the vernacular of the left, the size of government, at all levels, is just not sustainable. The taxpayer cannot afford all of your salaries, your benefits and your retirement (or your programs).
Every person who works for the government or at one time worked for it, has seen firsthand examples of waste, staggering inefficiency, ineffectiveness and downright laziness. I worked for the federal government for two years and, in an office of twenty, I can name eight employees who did absolutely nothing. Those people could have been fired without there being any affect on the mission and output of the office (savings to the taxpayer would be approximately $800,000.00 per year). I bet that every government employee (and union employee) off the top of their head can name at least five fellow employees who should be fired for either lack of production (i.e., laziness) or lack of any meaningful purpose.
Government needs to shrink at all levels. Let’s start by shrinking the population of leftists, “moderates,” and RINOS in Congress this year.
You bet, a lot of useless government departments should be eliminated; cut the Departments of Education, Commerce, Labor, Interior, Energy, Transportation, and Agriculture.
Get rid of Fannie May and Freddy, PBS TV, and NPR radio. If the TVA hasn’t been privitized, then now is the time. Also the US Post Office should be privatized.
As for the military, as a USAF vet ’71 – ’74; I’ve always wondered why do pilots/navigators get extra “flight pay”, isn’t that there job? Why does the US need three air forces; get rid of US Marine Corps fixed wing air wings and bases. The majority of the time the US Navy can provide ground combat support and logistical transport for the Marines; as for other times, when needed, even the US Air Force can provide fixed wing air support for the Marines. USMC fixed wing air; a big waste of money.
Expat
We’re getting a bit off-topic, but you touched a nerve here. You know nothing about Marine Corps aviation or the way the Corps organizes and trains; otherwise, you couldn’t say what you say.
Marine aviation is organic to the Marine mission. They train together, deploy together, and operate as a single unit, a Combined Arms Task Force. (All Marine pilots have first gone through The Basic School, where they learn to be infantry officers first and foremost. You can’t say that about Navy or Air Force pilots.)
Last time the AF provided close air support to Marines, they shot up a bunch of Marine LAVs and killed a bunch of our guys. Turns out they didn’t recognize the vehicles (“they didn’t look American”), which happens when you don’t train or deploy together.
What we all need to remember is that for every person who works in the public sector, one job has been deducted from the private sector. This point is critically important and unavoidable.
Money taken in taxes is money not available for private investment. “Supply” side economics is nothing other than common sense. The term did not need to be invented prior to the Keynesian “Demand” side economics, which in effect says that governments spending more money than they have is good for the economy.
In reality, Keynes was a Bolshevik sympathizer, and lifelong protege of Fabian Socialist George Bernard Shaw.
Keynes, the author of “The End of Laissez Faire” (which Mussollini himself praised as “Fascist economics”), well understood the damage inflation can cause, and that building up governmental infrastructure would lead over time to the dependency of all on a ruling class he called the “Salariat”. This was the goal: an omnipotent bureaucracy, led by Oxbridge graduates who understood the political and social value of his politicised brand of homosexuality.
I’ve been talking this for a month or two, but I will deconstruct Keyneism when I get time, and post it on one of my websites, one of which is posted, and the other one of which is linked there. The key is to eliminate private capital. Private Capital is nothing other, in the end, than savings in some form. That is why he attacked savings so viciously, as the root of the problem.
The entirety of his “General Theory” is a ruse, designed to fool the stupid, and the keys to which were issued in private “ceremonies” for those initiated to the inner sanctum.