According to this, it is a great time to be a government/public employee.
USA Today reported that the percentage of federal employees making more than $100k annually rose 5% during the first 18 months of the recession. AND, that at the beginning of that 18 months period, the Transportation Department had exactly one person making more than $170k annually. Now? One thousand, six hundred and ninety people in that department make over $170k. What in the holy hell???
Apparently, the NYT also reported that state and local governments added 110,000 jobs since the recession’s beginning, while private sector shed 6.9 MILLION jobs. And it’s not just government salaries which are growing – in 2008, goverment benefits grew 3 times as fast as private sector employees.
The article examines unionization as a contributor. Over thirty-seven percent of government employees are unionized. And those unions are loaded with money to spend on their own interests. And where they’re the most powerful (like CA and NY), their home states are suffering the most. Huh. I loved this line in the article: “The federal government follows not far behind, on the kind of diet geese enjoy prior to becoming foie gras.”
The article takes the California example further. The Teachers’ union there have made demands which have effectively created the worst schools in the nation, along with the highest paid teachers. Neat! Paying for lack of performance – always a sure-fire way to get results (snort).
Gawd.
You know, I have no problem with government not cutting salaries in a time like this. But to raise them and add jobs means only one thing: Government is becoming a bigger component of the Economy.
I don’t like that.
MD: Government is becoming an unsustainable component of this economy.
The article is absolutely correct to use California as an example. California has two choices. File bankruptcy and save itself, or keep taxing and driving business out, then file bankruptcy because they have no tax base.
“One thousand, six hundred and ninety people in that department make over $170k.”
Those are the unelected czars and mini-czars. The difference between a mini-car and a mini-czar is that the former goes farther for less and creates less pollution than the latter.
Let it be known that this teacher has not seen an increase in salary. Just sayin’.