A great post from the blog, Get Liberty, which details the differences in pay and benefits between the public and private sector. Here in RI, this is one of the main issues which has caused our economy to circle the drain. Looks like the rest of the US is using our state as a model for growth. Good luck with that.
Feeding the Monster
By: adminOn: 04/28/2009 12:22:24In: Fiscal ResponsibilityComments: 0
By Isaac MacMillen
“An appeaser is one who feeds everyone else around him to the crocodile, in hopes he'll eat him last.” –Winston Churchill
American taxpayers are feeding a voracious monster that threatens their very existence. Much like the unwitting tourist that feeds a wild animal only to whet its insatiable appetite, American taxpayers are funding a government bureaucracy that, at its current and projected growth rate, will eventually consume the private sector.
Now, with the release of a study drawing attention to the disparity in pay and benefits between the public and private sectors, the seriousness of the situation is finally being brought into full view.
According to USA Today, public sector employees make nearly 44 percent more than their private sector colleagues, once benefits are factored into the equation. The average state or federal employee makes $39.25, of which $13.38 is benefits, while the average salary of a private employee is $11.90 less—$27.35, including $7.98 in benefits.
This huge disparity is dangerous. While the private sector produces goods and services that stimulate economic growth, the public sector siphons off tax dollars and drains the investment pool. As the public sector grows—and no doubt it will continue to expand, as the Democrats in the White House and in Congress push their Big Government plans—production declines and deficits explode.
Read the rest HERE.
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5 comments:
The last paragraph of the article is an accurate portrayal of the "formula" that the current resident of the White House is depending on to kill innovation and small business. Unfortunately, it is working while the gullible hang on every word of a lying MSM.
Enlightening; I was always lead to believe that government jobs didn't pay well but had stability and good benefits. Come to think of it, I mostly heard that from people who worked for government and I thought they were looking for sympathy.
I was a federal employee for 35 years and a contractor employee for 6 more years. This data is misleading because the government, at least at the federal level, has very few blue-collar jobs. Most federal jobs require at least a bachelors degree.
My experience was that top government people are underpaid and many mid-level and lower level people are incompetent and overpaid. The problem is that incompetent people can't be fired for performance problems. At the same time, it is impossible to attract good top people, especially in technical fields.
I agree that the top level Federal employees are underpaid, while the vast middle and lower levels are overpaid. In state government the wage differential is just as large, if not larger than at the Federal level. In RI, the average compensation for the public sector worker is 4th highest in the nation, while the average compensation for the private sector worker is 23rd highest. That kind of divergence in wages and benefits within the same economic environment is not sustainable.
Government jobs, for as long as I can remember, have been considered great- good benefits and job security. Many people who are able to obtain such jobs stay with them for a life-time. The problems is that these people do not produce anything. True they do provide some needed services. But each years a larger and larger percentage of the work force goes into government service. This trend cannot continue. The logical conclusion of the trend would be an eventual pay reduction for most all the government workers and increased tax burdens on those who work in the private sector. Anyone with a understanding of basic economics can see this.
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