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As a liberal, I happen to agree with Dan Mitchell.
The only sector in America that is flourishing is the government and civil work force. Ever wonder why DC suburbs are have the highest household income in the country? Lobbyists and bureaucrats are leeching off of tax payer dollars at the state and federal level. These government and contractor jobs are not hard to lose. This is a huge advanatage over the private sector.
As a liberal, I happen to agree with Dan Mitchell.
The only sector in America that is flourishing is the government and civil work force. Ever wonder why DC suburbs are have the highest household income in the country? Lobbyists and bureaucrats are leeching off of tax payer dollars at the state and federal level. These government and contractor jobs are not hard to lose. This is a huge advanatage over the private sector.
"Flourishing", that's a laugh. My state government department is "restructuring" 1200 positions. The fortunes of government always lag behind the private sector, you just have to wait for it to catch up.
Also, I agree that lobbyists make a lot of money, but they are paid by the industry they represent, not by the taxpayer.
"Flourishing", that's a laugh. My state government department is "restructuring" 1200 positions. The fortunes of government always lag behind the private sector, you just have to wait for it to catch up.
Also, I agree that lobbyists make a lot of money, but they are paid by the industry they represent, not by the taxpayer.
Here we go again....more waving the bloody shirt to keep the middle class gouging away at each other. This is as much class warfare within a class as the rich vs poor meme and it really needs to stop as it does not advance the dialogue of improving the prosperity of our citizens as a whole. Lets examine the problems of why the middle class is getting it in the shorts in the private sector. The correct question isn't why do they (civil servants) have more, but why do I have less? Somehow, I doubt that is the question the Cato Institute wants you to examine.
First of all, I expect that my benefits will not be there when I retire, either because of political action or political corruption, or both. So, it should be taken out of the equation. I have in my retirement savings strategy.
Second, I don't trust that people, even trained statisticians, will (or can) use averages honestly.
Finally, those charts do not reflect my experience, they just do not. I do not earn as much as a private industry position sharing similar duties, benefits included.
As a liberal, I happen to agree with Dan Mitchell.
The only sector in America that is flourishing is the government and civil work force. Ever wonder why DC suburbs are have the highest household income in the country? Lobbyists and bureaucrats are leeching off of tax payer dollars at the state and federal level. These government and contractor jobs are not hard to lose. This is a huge advanatage over the private sector.
As a very conservative, conservative I have to agree with you on this one. That won't happen often but this time I had to go along with all his words. Hell, I am even giving you a rep point for this one.
Finally, those charts do not reflect my experience, they just do not. I do not earn as much as a private industry position sharing similar duties, benefits included.
Everyone claims this, but you'd be crazy to leave government work for a private industry job. You simply cannot make up for the loss of a PENSION and the super-lucrative benefits (let alone the limited working hours of government). I hear many public employees claim this, and I was one of them long ago when I left government work for the "better paid" private sector.
Guess what? In government, your salary ALWAYS increases every year, and benefits (always incredibly generous compared to the private sector) always get better. This is not true in the private sector. The salary you come in at, is the salary you'll leave at, in the private sector. After about 5 years you'll get mad at the new people being hired in at the "new people" higher salary, when you have experience and they don't. You'll get a job somewhere else (at least back when there were jobs around), and be thrilled at your new higher salary. But, again, no raises, ever. Costs must be kept down.
When I worked in local government, I was hired in at $18,000 a year, and 8 years later was making over $40,000 a year. The raises flowed in. I didn't have to ask. In the private sector, I asked, and got the "hard times" lectures every time. I stayed locked at the same salary level for the next 10 years in the private sector, until I went back to grad school, again.
Time to equalize the government worker with the lot of those working in the private sector. Promises? Yes, we all had promises made--but I'm tired of the only promises being kept are the ones to OTHER people, the ones that cost ME hard-earned money.
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