A quick Google says about 3 million non-military Federal employees. Assuming a median salary of $60K a year ($50+bennies) gives an annual salary cost of $180 million or a fifth of a trillion dollars (probably much more).
Not counting full-time contractors, the number of which no one knows b/c contractors are expense items (or capitalized as part of a larger contract) and no different that computers or desk chairs as far as accounting is concerned.
$60K!
You’d better at least double that.
The poverty stricken State of Maine has several single-spaced pages of RAT paycheck recipients (I am loath to call them workers) earning more than that. That’s about what mid-level staffers at the Statehouse get.
And when you speak of bennies....they generally equal double or triple the pay rate.
The do-nothing bureaucRATs and other public “employee” lay-abouts and no-show parasites are the ultimate welfare class.
Their main function is to stand by for a year, and then become a fully paid, professional campaign staff for the RATs at election time.