77,000 feds paid more than governorsGovernment salaries put under scrutiny

More than 77,000 federal government employees throughout the country — including computer operators, more than 5,000 air traffic controllers, 22 librarians and one interior designer — earned more than the governors of the states in which they work.

The findings, from a Congressional Research Service report requested by Sen. Tom Coburn, Oklahoma Republican, were released at a time when public workers’ salaries and benefits are under scrutiny across the country as governments try to streamline.

CRS reviewed 2009 salary figures, the most recent available, and found 77,057 employees who earned more in annual pay than their respective governors. Of those workers, 18,351 were doctors — the highest percentage. The second-highest total was for 5,170 air traffic controllers — likely both front-line controllers and their supervisors.

In Maryland, 7,283 federal employees — about 7 percent of all full-time federal employees in the state — earned more than Gov. Martin O'Malley’s $150,000 salary. Maryland was topped by Colorado, which in 2009 had 10,875 employees who made more than the $90,000 salary of the governor, Bill Ritter.

“Across America, governors are being asked to do more with less, often at lower pay than federal employees in their states. The pay gap between governors and federal employees should prompt Congress to take a closer look at federal salaries,” Mr. Coburn said. “With our debt and deficits spiraling out of control, now is the time to ask agencies — not just governors — to do more with less.”

Government Interior Decorators/Interior Designers are fairly rare and far between and sought after in the repair, renovation, and new construction aspects of government facilities.

Depending upon location, cost of living adjustments and per diem/travel expenses, such a professional usually makes between $70-$100k. They also probably save the government more than their salary if the government falls back to standard subprofessional substitutes.

The Interior professional coordinates between all the interior furnishings, Class III property, and insures the sourcing meets all the regulatory compliance.

When you don’t have the ID folks, you tend to see either crappy IKEA style office furnishings and Equipment that lasts less than 3 years, or gold plated over priced furnishings which also tends to disappear from the facilities within about 3 years.

Good ID folks also know how to get better quality furnishings while meeting all the quotas on small business, prison industry and handicapped manufactured furnishings.

Where excessive government funding is expended is probably on SES level positions hand picked by elected officials who place their own buddies in highly paid positions, with little to no qualifications, fraudulently or night school diploma type qualifications. Look at the GS 14 and above positions or at GS-12/13 positions with occupants who only had a GED, then procured a local community college ‘graduate degree’, with the job description tailored for that individual.

FWIW, the excess is a lot tougher to get rid of that it appears. When campaigns are launched to get rid of it, and those are anticipated by the frauds, they generally have already thought several steps ahead of the power curve, such that the first 2-3 purges actually gets rid of probably some of the most productive employees in the ranks.

In the organizations I’ve studied, not from 2 decades ago, but in today’s government, the simplest way to find the frauds are by going up the chain of command. The most successful and worldly ones today tend to be the frauds, but once they’ve sat in their positions for 3-6 years, they tend to not be satiated with getting something for nothing, and want more. They also tend to realign the organization to fit their empire building schemes, so their removal or replacement might be painful at first.

"...and found 77,057 employees who earned more in annual pay than their respective governors..."

And probably a far larger number of employees who are paid a little less but nearly that much. That's what keeps your local services (gas, food, other shopping) going during the Depression and keeps the debt economy sliding down so weirdly and smoothly. It also continues the flow of imports and keeps oil high.

They will be a default, but government will not let go of those employees easily--thus, continued increases in spending, monetization and no repudiation until it's somehow forced.

“Yes, and many counties are run like municipalities. The total number of local employees (state, county, city) in the USA must be mind boggling.”

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And therein lies the greatest threat to the continued existence of our country as we have known it.

How many Americans now have a close relative in some way attached, to say, just the huge education gravy train, and thus would be strongly predisposed to vote for continued socialism?

If we have not already reached a critical mass of parasites, we are closely approaching it.

Computer Operators??

Holy 1987! The few guys I know who are still doing that make around twenty bucks an hour.

Yes. But a lot of people don't have a clue what they should be paid! Non-IT people are fooled by the unions when wages are set. They have no clue how little knowledge is needed to be an Operator who monitors a system versus those who build the system and the software.

I remember back in the 1980s when I was a systems engineer I had to work closely with computer operators on mainframes and minis. I knew everything they knew (console commands etc.) plus far more (systems and applications coding, and machine integration). There were a few sharp operators, like when I had a problem with a balky tape reel drive; the operator slapped some spit on a capstan post and the tape reel loaded up. For the most part, Operators know minimal information about the systems they monitor.

Many government salaries for Computer Operators are skewed nowadays, paying them near what systems and applications programmers and engineers receive. The unions did this.

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