Posted on 03/11/2009 5:11:30 AM PDT by bestintxas
A new aristocracy walks among us. The formerly enormous middle class that dominated the American social structure for most of a century is crumbling before our eyes, as retirement accounts and home equity evaporate, while health care costs continue to grow inexorably by nearly 10 percent a year. In the face of rising unemployment and tumbling personal net worth, life has gotten much riskier for a vast swath of the American populace.
However, the new aristocrats, government employees both currently employed and retired, are guaranteed generous pensions that are insulated from both retirement and stock market fluctuations. They occupy a privileged class position, their bonanza protected by law, and underwritten by the ability of the state to raise taxes on the rest of us, no matter how meager or nonexistent our own retirement arrangements or health care access.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
Bulls-eye post.
It’s only temporary and will last only as long as the economic seed corn that sustains them. Ask the average Zimbabwean government worker whether they are a member of a privileged aristocracy.
Theirs a reason people go postal at the post office...no thanks.
Only by an American government promise to pay. If the government goes bankrupt they will see what that promise is really worth. If the government provokes a revolt, they will also see what that promise is worth.
Make that......There is a reason..........
Exactly.
Why your average voter doesnt see this is beyond me. He is willing to be unemployed begging Obama for crumbs off the table's of these high paided lottery winners. I live in Maryland and it's gravy train time here. The high paid (100-180K) government employees/contractors here vote democrat and worship government. To be fair, this got much worse under Bush 8 years as he grew gocvernment.
“Their pay and pension are protected.
Only by an American government promise to pay. If the government goes bankrupt they will see what that promise is really worth. If the government provokes a revolt, they will also see what that promise is worth.”
There will probably be no revolt, except in the Southwest or perhaps from Montana (go Montana!), but we can be sure the Feds will sell out to the Beijing Leninists.
read later
This is EXACTLY what has killed England, and driven the banks and government to over 60% insolvency.
The wealthy have all left or invested offshore. The middle class has been taxed and regulated out of existence, with those able to work becoming either gov’t employees... or becoming the poor. The poor have all been given government aid or have been given guaranteed jobs.
Add to this socialized medicine and unregulated illegal immigration, and you have England bailing from a sinking ship... with a bucket that has a gaping hole in it.
Or, you have America in ten years. FIGHT THIS!
Perhaps my biggest mistake was not looking for a county summer job at 16. I would be set for life.
Here in Upstate NY we regularly have State Police or retired school principals retiring with pensions of $150K - $200K per year.
Particularly among police or firefighters, pension formula is some kind of average of salary for the last 2-3 years. So the scam is, the new guys give up all their overtime to the old guys, who work as much overtime as possible that last year (at double-time no less) to boost their average. Don’t forget health care is included also!
Sadly, I’m one of those people. I worked at a university for 20 years and retired at 54. I was able to get my old job back and so I’m now a double dipper. I always vote against new taxes or any giveaway programs(solid Republican supporter) and would gladly give up pay raise for the next few years to do my part, but I am in a slim minority and we just keep spending money like it’s water.
Should we all start signing up to be a post office worker? Their pay and pension are protected.>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
First I’ll say this > I believe I’m correct when I say that postal workers can & do contribute to a 401 outside of that they collect Social Security like you & I.
The thing that bothers me about this article is that you lump all gov employees. I truly hope you are not against pensions for 20 yr veterans who’ve stepped up again & again for their country.
I appreciate your comments.
I have family in UNY and I have found the entire enomomy there is government funded, either police, Nurses(medical) ,nursing homes ,public school teachers, retired, disabled, or a service sector that supports them, like supermarkets. It truly is a welfare state and very liberal voting wise. Even the republicans are liberal.In fact, Guiliani is a conservative there. Like Maryland there is a worship and faith in the almighty government. It has taught me how government contracts corrupt the soul from my seeing so many actually believe in it as the almighty power.
You may be right regarding the limitations on a revolt. The conditioning has been going on for a long time.
Am I the only one who has become more and more cynical toward federal, state and local public employees???
I can’t even look at the mailman anymore because I know damn well he voted for Obama and will get a pay raise this year regardless of the economy.
In Pennsylvania the state troopers looking to retire are the guys in the cars babysitting the interstate construction zones around the clock. These guys put in tremendous hours sitting in their cars during their last 3 yrs on the job.
I’m getting pretty sick of comments like this...I’m a federal employee that works pretty damn hard in a difficult field that is way underpaid by private sector standards.
I have never voted for a dimrat in my life, both my DH and I are solid conservatives and have raised 2 conservative children to adulthood and are working on 2 more. Not everyone in public service is a lazy government teat sucking slob.
Veterans should be recognized for their contribution. Always.
The transformation of our country of one of private business to one of public business is the big concern.
Too many people think the government has the money to “help” them when all the government does is to steal from some to give to others.
Since it is my belief that the government’s main role is the protection of the citizens of this country from outsiders, it is critical to have a capable military to defend us.
Yes, you are an important part of the role as set up in the Constitution and in no way represent the bureaucrats this article was targeting.
and 1 more thing - 6 philly cops have died in the line of duty in the last 17 months - are you suggesting that their pensions are undeserved?
A leftist acquaintence of mine with about 20 years of service was recently appointed judge, since she was so old.
i couldnt understand why..until i realized that this was a form of payola that sweetens her retirement. leftists always use your tax dollars as payola.
This is why our freeper union bashers are fools. They need to pay attention to the Federal Government unions and unions on all levels of government
I guess it’s time to get a government job!
i couldnt understand why..until i realized that this was a form of payola that sweetens her retirement. leftists always use your tax dollars as payola.
Private sector lawyers have always loved to serve 10 years as a judge
they will claim they are taking a pay cut to do some public service
But their real motive is to get that government pension lined up and being judge is low pressure compared to private sector lawyering
“Not everyone in public service is a lazy government teat sucking slob.
“
Welcome to FR!
Sweeping generalizations are the order of the day around here.
Personal atttacks, attacking apperance and lumping groups together for ‘2 minutes of hate’ are all SOP.
So, you are in good company :)
B*****ds!
The article is wrong about federal government contractors and employees. Contractors lose their jobs all the time when contracts are terminated. It’s certainly not a guaranteed pension. As for federal employees, most are now under the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP). That’s driven by employee contributions (basically a 401K), with up to 5% matching, a rate that is not uncommon in commercial industry. There’s a pension, but I think it’s on the order of 1% per year served.
Another thing, the article seems to assume that ALL government employees are pretty much worthless. The federal government does have enumerated powers, and there’s nothing wrong (in my opinion) in serving jobs in those areas. For example, there are many employees like me who serve right alongside the active forces. There are also thousands of government employees and contractors who are putting their lives on the line every day in service to the country. They are making sacrifices and deserve to be compensated.
In other words, the author of the article (like many FReepers who bash all government employees) are not being fair. Unless you’re an anarchist, you realize government does have to have some employees, and those employees deserve to be paid. The article itself states the best and brightest might be drawn to government jobs. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
Of course, I fully support efforts to bring more accountability to government and reduce it to its enumerated powers.
No, not ALL, but damn near all.
Folks, think about this statement. It IS reality.
The left and gov't/statist supporters try to paint those who say "no" to their tyranny as "seditionists" or "traitors". But the reality it, we're human beings who, as the Declaration states, have unalienable rights endowed by our Creator. And any attempts to usurp those right is
PROVOCATIVE. Not us, THEM. They are doing the agitating.
unions - when unions first started they were in fact necessary but since that time have bargained & played games enough straight towards unemployment.
let me tell you a little story - when i was young for a summer I worked at his warehouse fully run by the teamsters, the pay they recieved for what little work they did made it so obvious that they wouldn’t be around for long & sure enough they soon closed.
practically the only unions let are gov unions & that is because they have no competition
You bring up some interesting points. It is always good to have someone give another thoughtful point of view. Generalizations made do not mean every single person.
On one hand we have the constitution that calls for the federal government to protect the country, and little else. On the other hand we have dangerous growth in the federal government, including defense under GWB. Federal spending being largely political, the contracts are by nature wasteful and given the past 7 years large and wasteful. I am talking about hundreds of billions(read the DC area papers) . There is no self correcting mechanism. Direct government employees are the kings, near 100% job security, retirement buyouts instead of layoffs with cost of living increase on top of merit increases. You can meet neighbors near DC who swap computer boards (no technical work or experience) earning 75K per year.
I have seen this high paid class that live like kings compared to taxpayers worship govmt and develop an attitude of superiority to the small business owner, supporting Kerry, and Obama, smart elite like them. The business owner is the real hero, they pay the bills.
I am a small business owner. I own a bar. I enjoy my life.
However, I become very cynical this time of year when I file and pay my taxes.
“underpaid by private sector standards.”-—then quit
Federal employee time off benefits:(I believe after 8 years of service)
1) 8 hrs sick leave per pay period (26 x year)= 208 hrs per year= 5 weeks
2) 8 hrs annual leave per pay period (26 x year) =208 hrs per year= 5 weeks
3) New Years, MLK Day, President Day, Memorial Day, 4th of July, Labor Day, Columbus Day, Veterns Day, Thanksgiving, X-mas off
Nothing personal but I, as a tax payer am paying for this.
True, but that means that they only go down after most of the rest of us.
The city employees of Vallejo, CA thought the same thing.
Get lost. I said nothing about the risk police officers take. Only that their retirement formulas are being systematically abused by certain officers.
Of course that's not the case. They aren't completely worthless, and some of the functions government performs are necessary, even if they could be done more efficiently in the private sector.
A key issue to think about is aggregate efficiency. How productive, on average, do you think government employees are in relation to private sector employees? If you think, as I do, that they are less productive, try to be quantitative. Let's be generous and guess that they are 90% as productive as people in the private sector.
Since approximately 50% of the economy runs through either the federal government, the state governments, or mandated private work, a 90% public/private efficiency ratio corresponds to a net efficency loss of 5%. You can use different numbers, but you're going to get several percentage points of GDP waste/loss as long as that public/private ratio is under 100%. It's no wonder that the maximum GDP growth we can manage under heavy government is in the 2.5 to 3% range. A large part of the workforce is under government control, and a significant (not all) number of them don't bust hump like they do in the non-unionized private sector.
Wrong.
4 hours sick leave per pay period
Vacation Leave is 4 hours for 1-3 years of service, 6 hours for 3-15, and 8 hours after 15 years.
And 10 holidays.
All less then what I had in private sector. Our benefits are not what everyone thinks either.
I should quit? I love my job. I love that my work provides for veterans. The worst part (even worse then the flood of Obamabots I work with) is being eaten by your own on a thread like this.
Given what I do, I could complain all day about the entitlement minded small business owners who have the SBA lobby for them and hold hostage every agencies procurement policies.
I make no apologies for what I do for a living...I pay taxes just like everyone else, too.
Go back to the bar until you can complain with facts instead of fiction.
The the other irony is these public union guys here in New York, who have gamed the system to get their yearly pensions (not including Social Security, health care, etc..) up to $150k or higher, then immediately move to FL, TX or NC.
Lower taxes (and better weather) there, don’t ya know....
Absolutely right.
The problem isn’t the employees, it’s the system. A bureaucracy is inherently inefficient. There’s simply no way around this simple fact. That’s why Bush was on a fool’s errand, because he wanted to make government better/more efficient instead of eliminating it.
I know many government employees who work hard. A lot of effort is wasted working in an inefficient system. In other words, the hard work isn’t necessarily productive, it’s often about getting the job done in spite of numerous bureaucratic hurdles.
If a government employee keeps their head down, not making waves, they are liable to do OK. If they push hard to change things, they will likely bring grief on themselves. Again, that is the nature of bureaucracy. Nevertheless, it’s also why many employees eventually lose the desire to keep trying.
The vast majority of government employees I know are good people who want to do the right thing. The system is the problem, and that system needs to be changed. People need to stop asking the government to do everything, especially the many things that could be done much more efficiently in private industry. I mean, do we really need a Department of Education? If it was eliminated, those employees would return to more productive roles in society, and that is just one of many government agencies that are in dire need of being eliminated or reduced.
So go get a real job. Government employees, unless law enforcement are for people that can't hack it in the private sector.
So get hired in the private sector and quit whining.
L
Federal employees earn 4 hours of sick leave per pay period. Starting employees earn 4 hours of annual leave per pay period, increased to 6 hours per pay period after (I think) three years. I don’t think they start earning 8 hours per pay period until after 15 years of service. Any unused sick leave is lost on retirement or separation.
I agree it’s generous compared to many civilian jobs, especially the 8 hours per pay period. However, what do you propose for government employees to do? Should they refuse to take the leave or quit so as to not earn it? Blame the politicians who set it up, not the employees.
The free market price for a skill is never wrong.
I worked at a “real job” for 16 years at a large company before my entire division was out-sourced. My DH worked there as well and was also out-sourced. We both gave 110% to that company only to be treated like unwanted furniture after our CEO befriended Jack Welch.
Now, the only “company” that gets 100% of us is the one inside our front door.
After 9/11 and the out-sourcing, the only position I could find in my field was with a federal agency. I jave stayed and created a good career doing a necessary job (and no, it’s not law enforcement).
Government jobs are also for people who have been so successful in private sector that they are hired in at higher levels then what available at their private sector company, thus gaining a promotion.
Jealous?
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