-=> TIM RICHARDSON wrote to ROSS SAUER <=-

 TR> Hey....here's an idea. You could go work for the government.

 TR> Want to get rich? Work for feds | Washington Examiner Editorial

 TR> April 29, 2010
 TR> Data shows the pay gap between state and local government and private
 TR> sector workers. (Chris Edwards/Cato Institute)

 TR> For decades, public sector unions have peddled the fantasy that
 TR> government employees were paid less than their counterparts in the
 TR> private sector. In fact, the pay disparity is the other way around.
 TR> Government workers, especially at the federal level, make salaries that
 TR> are scandalously higher than those paid to private sector workers. And
 TR> let's not forget private sector workers not only have to be
 TR> sufficiently productive to earn their paychecks, they also must pay the
 TR> taxes that support the more generous jobs in the public sector.

 TR> Data compiled by the Commerce Department's Bureau of Economic Analysis
 TR> reveals the extent of the pay gap between federal and private workers.
 TR> As of 2008, the average federal salary was $119,982, compared with
 TR> $59,909 for the average private sector employee. In other words, the
 TR> average federal bureaucrat makes twice as much as the average working
 TR> taxpayer. Add the value of benefits like health care and pensions, and
 TR> the gap grows even bigger. The average federal employee's benefits add
 TR> $40,785 to his annual total compensation, whereas the average working
 TR> taxpayer's benefits increase his total compensation by only $9,881. In
 TR> other words, federal workers are paid on average salaries that are
 TR> twice as generous as those in the private sector, and they receive
 TR> benefits that are four times greater.

 TR> The situation is the same when state and local government compensation
 TR> data is compared with that of the private sector. As the Cato
 TR> Institute's Chris Edwards notes in the current issue of the Cato
 TR> Journal, "The public sector pay advantage is most pronounced in
 TR> benefits. Bureau of Economic Analysis data show that average
 TR> compensation in the private sector was $59,909 in 2008, including
 TR> $50,028 in wages and $9,881 in benefits. Average compensation in the
 TR> public sector was $67,812, including $52,051 in wages and $15,761 in
 TR> benefits." Those figures likely underestimate the true gap on the
 TR> benefits side because the typical government employee gets a guaranteed
 TR> defined benefit pension under very generous terms, while the private
 TR> sector norm is a 401(K) defined contribution plan that is subject to
 TR> the ups and downs of the economy.

 TR> With the federal deficit and national debt heading into the
 TR> stratosphere, taxpayers can no longer afford to support such lucrative
 TR> government compensation. Public sector pay and benefits at all levels
 TR> should be reduced to make it comparable to the wages and benefits
 TR> earned by the average working taxpayer. The first politician to propose
 TR> a five-year plan for this purpose is likely to be cheered mightily by
 TR> taxpayers.!

Which has what to do with the Repugs sending out a questionnaire designed to
look like a census form? Or the satirical take on that mailing?  Bugger-all,
that's what.

ENJOY!!!

From Uncle Dirty Dave's Kitchen
Home of YAHOOOOAHHHH Hot Sauce & Hardin Cider 

 

... The greater the ignorance the greater the dogmatism - Sir William Osler
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