Cut Pay For Government Workers (The only way to get serious about the deficit) (

Forbes ^ | 03/02/2010 | Brian Westbury and Robert Stein

[SeekAndFind]

Imagine a company that dominates its field. It's been No. 1 in its industry as long as anyone can remember. But lately it's fallen on hard times. Revenue has dropped dramatically. The only thing keeping it afloat is record borrowing based on its stellar credit rating, earned many years ago. Meanwhile, independent analysts have shown that workers at this company earn higher than average wages. Moreover, the workers have skills that are not easily transferable.

If this were an airline or an automaker, the solution would be a no-brainer: It would be time for a big pay cut. If the company didn't cut pay, or increased it, creditors and investors would question the seriousness of management.

But this is exactly what President Obama did in his most recent budget--request a wage increase of 2% for civilian federal workers in 2010. It's no wonder some are questioning the financial stability of the U.S. So why don't we do something serious. How about an outright pay cut of 10% for all civilian federal workers?

Just to be clear, we're not just picking on President Obama here. The pay increase in his budget would actually be the smallest in 20 years. But total compensation per federal worker--cash earnings plus fringe benefits--now averages twice that of the private sector. So cutting cash earnings by 10% across the board seems not only reasonable, but justified.

Truth be told, it would not save a great deal of money, at least not up front. The payroll (wages and salaries) for civilian federal workers is about $150 billion per year, so a 10% cut would only create $15 billion in outlay savings.

Nonetheless, a one-time pay cut of 10% permanently shifts future wages onto a lower path.

[Recon Dad]

.........and cut the number of employees!

Name one profit making business that has not trimmed its overall numbers when times get tough.

[Paladin2]

Sounds like GM.

[Psycho_Bunny]

The difference in pay for government employees vs. the private sector is insulting to the core.

[Oldeconomybuyer]

The private sector has, for the most part, adjusted budgets inline with the recession. The public sector has done just the opposite - increased spending as tax receipts declined. This “government bubble” will burst, it will be on The Kenyan’s watch, and it will be fugly.

[null and void]

Never happen. Look for higher pay in hyper-inflated dollars.

Same thing for SS, Granny can't very well complain that her SS benefits are smaller when the number of dollars she gets is much higher, even if the new number has 1/10th the buying power. Obviously it's her own damm fault that she can't budget effectively.

And Welfare Queens? Well, pretty hard to complain when everyone's a millionaire!

[BubbaBobTX]

Here is another money saving idea cut foreign aid to the following countries:

Below are the actual voting records of various Arabic/Islamic States which are recorded in both the US State Department and United Nations records:
>
> Kuwait votes against the United States 67% of the time
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> Qatar votes against the United States 67% of the time
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> Morocco votes against the United States 70% of the time
> United Arab Emirates votes against the U. S. 70% of the time.
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> Jordan votes against the United States 71% of the time.
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> Tunisia votes against the United States 71% of the time.
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> Saudi Arabia votes against the United States 73% of the time..
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> Yemen votes against the United States 74% of the time.
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> Algeria votes against the United States 74% of the time.
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> Oman votes against the United States 74% of the time.
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> Sudan votes against the United States 75% of the time.
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> Pakistan votes against the United States 75% of the time.
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> Libya votes against the United States 76% of the time.
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> Egypt votes against the United States 79% of the time.
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> Lebanon votes against the United States 80% of the time.
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> India votes against the United States 81% of the time.
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> Syria votes against the United States 84% of the time.
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> Mauritania votes against the United States 87% of the time.
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> U S Foreign Aid to those that hate us:
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> Egypt, for example, after voting 79% of the time against the United States, still receives $2 billion annually in US Foreign Aid.
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> Jordan votes 71% against the United States
>
> And receives $192,814,000 annually in US Foreign Aid..
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> Pakistan votes 75% against the United States
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> Receives $6,721,000 annually in US Foreign Aid.
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> India votes 81% against the United States
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> Receives $143,699,000 annually.
>
> Perhaps it is time to get out of the UN and give the tax savings back to the American workers who are having to skimp and sacrifice to pay the taxes (and gasoline).
>

[null and void]

Yeah, but when? October would be best, IMHO...

[tiki]

I think to make it fair EVERY government expenditure needs to be cut 10%. Welfare, roads, congress, president, the only thing left untouched would be defense.

[Non-Sequitur]

Nonetheless, a one-time pay cut of 10% permanently shifts future wages onto a lower path.

Include Congress and the Executive Branch in the 10% cut.

Nobody likes to see anyone's pay cut. But a whole lot of private companies, my own among them, cut pay a minimum of 5% and a maximum in come cases of 30%. In this time of massive budget cuts it's only fair that federal employees take a hit.

[TexasFreeper2009]

They need to crack down on people collect 2, 3, or sometimes even 4 government pensions.

They also need to end the practice of allowing people to pad their last year of work salary with overtime in order to double what they get in government retirement benefits.

[The Duke]

Gives a whole new meaning to "public servants", doesn't it?

It's unfortunate though, that we wait until tough times to recognize this travesty.

[b4its2late]

And cut entitlements for those that are able to work or that are addicted to drugs. Also, relook at foreign aid. Those that don’t like us get cut off. I bet we save lots of cash that way.

[Mobties]

Publish the salaries/total compensation of local government employees. This should be a requirement in every town, city, and state.

[Jack Hydrazine]

Ancient Rome didn’t scale back their bureaucracy and it bankrupted them. China was a superpower 1000 years ago and their bureaucrats - the Mandarins - became too large and did in the country. America is definitely on course to see the same.

[gitmogrunt]

It’s alreay on the internet at OPM.gov. Knock your self out pasting it all over town.

[mom4melody]

Not for all federal employees. I left private sector in 2003 (not by choice, my job was outsouced).

I took a job with the VA in 2004.

Just now (Jan 2010) have I made the salary I lost in 2003.

I write Contracts - not an easy job and not for the uneducated or lazy. My salary? $40,875.00.

I don’t know where you gov’t employee haters get your stats but you are way off most of the time.

[CharacterCounts]

Welfare, roads, congress, president, the only thing left untouched would be defense.

I had a conversation recently with a person who, along with his wife, was in their second year of receiving unemployment, and food subsidies. He was outraged that we were paying anyone in the military since, in his mind, we have no need for a military and the money paid to our soldiers is merely taking away money that should be given to him.

After a little more conversation, I discovered that this guy was making a substantial under the table income. As long as these kind of people get to vote, we are screwed.

[gitmogrunt]

I’m sure you found those CEO bonuses and the bail outs equally insulting core.

[gitmogrunt]

Dear Author of the article:

A cut of 10% is a savings of 15 Billion dollars, that is not chicken feed, as you implied.