Federal Wages and benefits need to be cut
Posted by Mike Sylvester - 3/6/10 @ 10:58 am - Filed Under 2010 National Elections, Featured
USA today has a must read article that discusses Federal pay as compared to private sector pay.
Our Federal Government is spending an unsustainable amount of money each and every year. This is evidenced by the fact that the Congressional Budget Office is currently projecting the the Federal Government will spend 9.7 trillion dollars more than it brings in over the next ten years. In other words the National Debt will increase by 9.7 trillion dollars over the next decade!
Clearly this is unsustainable and members of both political parties have been clamoring about fiscal responsibility for as long as I can remember. That being said; when each Party is in the majority they rapidly forget their campaign promises and start spending money to ensure their re-election.
The USA Today article referenced above is an excellent article and highlights the problem.
USA today analyzed a wide array of Federal jobs and those jobs with an equivalent in the private sector were analyzed.
When the comparable jobs are analyzed Federal workers make 12.7% more than their private sector counterparts. Worse yet is when benefits are analyzed.
Over the entire private sector the average benefits paid per worker in 2008 was $9882. The average Federal worker’s benefits were $40,785. In 2008 the average Federal worker’s benefits were worth 4.13 times the average private sector worker’s benefits.
This unfairness needs to be addressed and it needs to be addressed in a hurry. That being said; it will not be addressed because the Democrats are beholden to the Federal workers unions.
The statisticyou must take from this analysis is that in 2008 the average Federal worker’s compensation and benefits cost the taxpayers of this country almost $110,000 each. This does not include bonuses, per diem, etc.
This is clearly unsustainable.
Unfortunately the public sector unions have control of the National Democratic Party andthey will fight against the needed reforms.
I think Federal workers should make the same amount of compensation in total salary and benefits as those people in the private sector.
Mike Sylvester
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5 Responses to “Federal Wages and benefits need to be cut”
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[...] excellent post by Mike Sylvester at Fort Wayne Politics: USA today has a must read article that discusses Federal pay as compared to private sector [...]
Why not cut the Department of Education, Department of Energy, and the Department of Agriculture?
Budget for Department of:
Agriculture: 95 billion
Energy: 24 Billion
Education: 63.7 Billion
Why are there more employees in the department of agriculture then there are farmers? Those three government agencies need to be cut drastically.
Timraiders,
I believe all three Departments you mentioned should be eliminated.
Mike
I must agree Mike, there is far too much pork being stuffed into the barrels. I understand where you are coming from with the attacks on Democrats and their allegiance to workers unions. However, as you clearly stated previously in the article, the Republicans have been no better, leaving behind promises of spending cuts within months of being elected. Rep. Souder is a prime example of Republican promises gone south, and a prime candidate for the closest place to home to begin looking for a method of trimming the fat! I’m sure there’s probably some Democrats in the House that would be worth looking into as well.
The GOP as a whole has become inundated with Glen Beck and Ron Paul whack-jobs, wanting to do everything from abolishing the Fed and returning to the Gold Standard, to encouraging people to leave their church if it preaches a doctrine of “social justice,” and touting all thing progressive as evil, and labeling anti-war anthems as anti-American. The few Republicans who seem to have solid and sane fiscal policies seem inept on social policies that fit with the times. Likewise, Democrats who aren’t on extreme ends of social progress, are generally fiscally irrational, fueling every policy they can find a reason for with taxes and fees that are unsustainable.
Where do suggest we independents turn, Mike? The Libertarian Party is all bark and no bite. What about your Republican brothers and sisters? Aside from candidates like Troyer who talk a good game against their primary opponents but have said little of their own strategy for reform, where are we to look for true change? I see no one answering the call. And worse than anything, even if there are good, solid, grounded candidates out there willing to put spending in check and cut out the waste without putting a stonewall in front of true progress for society, how can the public become educated and motivated enough before primaries and general elections to get off their lazy McButts ™ and do something about it?
AA Wulf,
I personally feel that 90% or more of the elected Democrats need to be replaced and 80% or more of the elected Republicans need to be replaced. If you read this blog at all you certainly know that I want Mark Souder to be replaced.
I think that independents need to do more research and need to vote for better candidates.
Mike