A Screwy Notion Of Shared Sacrifice 

Tax the what? You might remember this item from last year. In September, the very libertarian CATO Institute released a study that found federal workers earn an average salary of $71,206 vs. $40,331 for private sector employees. When benefits are included the numbers are more striking; federal salary with benefits increases to $119,982 vs. $59,909 for the private sector employee. The findings didn’t get much attention until USA TODAY reported similar results in December.

This Time magazine article from last month decries the budget crisis at the state level. While the USA TODAY story and CATO study refer only to federal workers, might there be a connection? Austerity measures for government employees are virtually non-existent, with one teachers’ union recently rejecting a 2% salary increase on the grounds it was too small. Know of anything similar happening in the private sector? When the president refers to ‘shared sacrifice’ and derisively to ‘tax cuts for the rich’ to whom is he referring? Unions are now, by far, the majority owners of the nation’s auto industry. The AFL-CIO had an Enron-sized corruption scandal earlier this decade that went completely unnoticed and stemmed from insider trading in its union-owned insurance firm.

Pay inequality, accounting  scandals, insider trading; weren’t policies put in place to prevent this sort of stuff from happening? I’m sure a reform package is in the works to address this injustice. I won’t hold my breath.

• • 7/29/2010 4:32:47 PM
  • TK
  • When Pigs Fly
  • Let's not forget what we are paying many of these folks for - how about watching porn at the SEC instead of listening to numerous tips on how this guy Madoff was fleecing investors? I have lived in DC for my entire life and can tell you that once you have a federal job, it is almost impossible to lose. Stories of people sleeping at their desks are commonplace. A whole lot of folks retire in place. Or how about a guy who used to do my taxes as a part time job, that he did while at work on Uncle Sam's time. What about doing away with the federal Defined Benefit Plan and let them use the still lucrative TSP defined contribution option like most of us low life private sector fools who are trying to spur growth through productivity and innovation not regulation. Don't get me started,,,
• • 7/29/2010 5:15:48 PM
  • Gary Duell
  • pay inequities
  • OK, John, you asked for private sector examples. In 2009 the average Fortune 500 CEO's annual compensation was $9.5 mil. over half of which was stock & option awards. This was a decline of 9% over the previous year, but during a period when their companies lost 40% of their values. Rewards for success? Nonsense.
• • 7/29/2010 5:19:17 PM
  • Roy E. Thibodeau
  • Government workers
  • Does anyone wonder why socialism doesn't work? Too easy for the government to give themselves raises until they bankrupt the private sector which pays all the taxes to pay the government employees wages. Sounds a little like a ponzi scheme. But the socialists will keep trying!!!!
• • 7/30/2010 12:43:29 AM
  • Drew Lawrence
  • And your point?
  • So you put teachers in with desk jockies and lower middle class union workers, all of whom just want to earn a respectible living, and call them all overpaid government workers? You must work for Fix news...string a bunch of statistics together and throw in a couple of personal comments and call it reporting. I'm guessing you're trying to keep the Bush tax cuts in place for the rich by saying federal workers are overpaid. If we totally destroy unions and the middle class, everyone will work cheaply for the top 1 percent who control most of the wealth and who have enjoyed the largest tax cuts, percentage-wise, for the last decade. Next you'll start crying about the deficit. Find some answers. Find something good to say in support of not rolling back the top tax bracket rate, if that's your point, and don't slam the working class while doing so. Responding to your last graph...No, there obviously weren't enough regulations and penalties in place to prevent this sort of stuff.