(CNN) -- I was talking to a close family friend during my vacation in Florida, and he was criticizing the governor there for taking the stimulus money that came from the federal government.
"Florida should just cut government spending, and not use the Feds as a crutch," he said with great vehemence.
Now, this family friend is not a wealthy guy, but he lives a comfortable life, made more comfortable by the fact that he gets a nice monthly pension check from the state. I didn't dare suggest to him that perhaps cutting back on his monthly pension might be one way to cut that spending, because if I had, I would have had a seven-iron flying at my head.
But what is most interesting to me about that conversation is how the attitude of this family friend reflects the attitudes of most Americans. Cut government spending, but don't touch my piece of the pie, the many cry out as one.
As federal policy makers grapple with the budget next week when Congress reconvenes, I challenge them to answer four uncomfortable questions that could bankrupt the country if unanswered: - CNN Story
This is a good story with some good questions. Just a snippet -
According to the Tax Foundation, fully 32 percent of all Americans pay no federal income taxes while 42 percent of single Americans pay no federal income taxes. With President Obama's aggressive efforts to give more money to more Americans through tax credit refundability, many experts expect that over half of the people will owe nothing or may get back some money from the federal government. Ironically, this trend started under George W. Bush, the president who supposedly ignored the poor - CNN
1 comment:
"According to one study, public employees ...more than in the private sector." A more professional written analysis would directly cite the source, and would reference a countersource (say perhaps the articles releases by OPM) on this exact subject.
You are comparing apples to oranges. If you want to compare apples to apples, factor in the wages for all of the work that Federal Government contracts out. The salaried government positions are typcially higher paying because they are more analysis and managerial based, because work below that level is nearly always contracted out to the public. This stems back to the true measure of the government workforce. The days of government of all government employees are long gone. To claim that government is shrinking, the U.S. simply contracts that work out to the public, and claims that government is shrinking. A true comparison between public and private, must remove those contractors from public, and more correctly classify them as government. I find that the ratio is usually at least 50-50 and often 80-20 in favor or more contractors.
Take a look at the analses on the OMB website. (follow the link about salary) and you will find that for an apples to apples of pure government (noncontractor) positions to their equivalents in the public sector, the U.S. underpays by at least 10%. Government has a hard time attracting talent because of the regulations and pay disparity.
Want a second source? Go to payscale.com or salary.com and enter the same position, with your industry as government. Then do it again with your industry as a typical nongovernment industry and observe the difference. It is very clear.
Why do you think government retirees or former appointees so often go to work for contractors? They pay better.
People who work for government accept comparably less pay because of the stability in economic sitations exactly like we are in now. It is easy to accuse pay disparity now - whien the gap narrows some. How about another comparison during market booms? You will find in those situation government workers "apples to apples" for the same job make even less.
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