On 04-28-10, ROSS SAUER said to ALL:


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



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


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



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


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


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


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




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*Durango b301 #PE*