Federal Workers Overpaid?!
 

Link

Wow - Personally very few of the Gov't workers I've ever dealt with are worth as much as - let alone more than those in the private sector.

The fine folks at Cato and their allies work for decades to bust unions and roll back benefits in the private sector. They attack government budgets, causing lower-paid government employees to be changed into even lower-paid and much lower-benefited private sector employees. I guess that complaining about the wage discrepancies is the logical next step.

The people who decided to pay the private sector so much lower and eliminate their pensions make many times the maximum federal salary.

I know that the highest paid in the private sector make more than the highest paid public, but still. . . Once averaged out one would think the private sector would be twice that of the public. Not the other way around.

Are you talking about two people doing essentially identical jobs, or a disparate collection of workers?

you have as much info as I.

My last post was in reference to my personal experience.

The calculation would be very different if apples were compared with apples, as Kelley pointed out in your quote. For one thing, the private sector includes the full spectrum of the economy, while government is primarily white collar, especially after outsourcing. When a big company outsources its janitorial staff, those employees are still in the private sector calculation. When a government entity does the same, those employees move from government to private sector, which increases the government salary average and decreases the private sector average.

From an article by the Reason Foundation (which popped up during a search of "public sector vs private sector wages"):

Keep trying to rationalize government excess. The fact is government employment has been growing, and private sector employment is shrinking. Private sector business don't print their own money, and most don't count on taxpayers to support their failures. I don't mind paying professionals a reasonable wage, no matter if private or public. The problem is overpaying too many employees too much money for too few hours.

Overpaying by whose definition?

Spud's, of course. :D

Okay, everyone, wheel out your pre-conceived misconceptions, trumpet them loudly, filter all other posts through the confirmation bias that has served you so well these past decades, ignore evidence to the contrary. Your flame war begins on post 17.

HEEEEEEEEEE!

I'll just post this here to get that much closer to post #17...

Yeh I'm impatient.

Under paid except for benefits.
 

I worked for federal government for 52 years and just retired because of health conditions.
When I started my annual pay was 2450 per year in 1954. The average factory worker was making 100 per week,or 2.50 per hr,twice my starting salary.
I worked my way up to a system analyst position as a gs 14 .My last salary was 120K.
My pension is 9K a month.
For about 30 years my salary was under most union manufacturing wages. Since the republicans (Reagan) managed to destroy the unions and send manufacturing to slave labor countries ,I am now overpaid.
A professional with two master degrees didn't make as much as a autoworker with no education. So I stayed for the pension.and as things turned out,I'm glad I did .
BTW - one reason these stats are skewed is because all the menial jobs are now handled by private contractors thereby raising the average for real gs employees .

Welcome to the Cellar, oldtimer. :D
With a 9k pension, you shouldn't have a problem paying your bills.

The tip mug is right down there. :D

Congrats on even reaching retirement.
52 years of working for any one employer deserves a lot of recognition.
I hope you enjoyed the work you were doing.

Not all of us were lucky enough to have government or auto workers union jobs. The rest of us just have to pay for them.

Gotta love hearing a guy with a pension worth about twice my income bitch. :headshake:

He's not the one I see complaining.

:eyebrow: :rolleyes:

Eh hem ... I was fanning the flames.

:lol:

You'd bloody better be in the flame-fanners' union, else yer a scab.

Ch'yeah.

Cite!

Why are you so UNAMERICAN. Why are you against the AMERICAN way?

Oh yeah, 'cause you're not American.

*chuckles*

Joking apart I'm interested to see there seems to be the start of Public v's Private in the states is this a new thing or has it been going on for a while?
In Europe over the last few years and in the UK there has been a concerted effort to badmouth civil servants and huge job cuts are expected in the UK,the right wing press have been hammering away for a number of years about pay,pensions conditions etc.
There have been mass walkouts and strikes all over Europe in Greece, Germany Holland to name a few and the wrighting is on the wall here as the Tories plan huge job cuts.
I'm just waiting on the Government starting to hand out the yellow stars for public sector workers to wear, never been a pariah before
:D

[Chairman] There's no shame in being a pariah [/Homer]

Greek civil servants had a lot of perks: bonus for working with a computer, bonus for working outdoors, bonus for arriving on time, retire on a pension at 51 ...

The most amusing thing re public vs private in US is the privates that rail the loudest about the publics are doing so because they are running for office . Guess what that makes them ??
Holy molars,Batman .
Surely,Shirley not wanabe public employees ?
How do you spell hypocrit ?? Republican !!

Why aren't we all just public employees then. Everyone can have the same benefits, pension plans and income...?

You wouldn't last a week in my job.

edit: so many people say that we are all responsible for what we do, what we make of it...if we want to get ahead, work harder, don't whine, just do it. When people actually do make something of it, get ahead, work realllly harder, those same people whine that someone is getting something they should be getting. The same people who eschew "handouts" piss and moan that someone is getting something over on them.

Well, suck it up, do better, make a change. You too can be an overworked underappreciated public servant making a LIVING wage (by no stretch of the imagination will you get rich). Quit whining about others and change YOURSELF, Mr and Mrs Bootstrap.

When the 10th person that day has cried or yelled at you, I promise not to ask you if you feel that you are being paid what you're worth.

The public, she can be a bitch. (The public, when you help someone, can also make you feel like you're making a difference for someone: which is why most of us do it...not because we're making some imagined exorbitant wage.)

I'm glad you're starting to see the light, Komrade Klassikman. ;)

Ohhh Zen - I should sign that sockpuppet up RFN!

Federal workers earning double their private counterparts
From USA Today

Dead horse, dumbfuck. You were refuted right out of your little whine fest. You done yet? Someone getting a sucker you didn't get? Boo fucking hoo. Again. You know, typically YOUR philosophy would teach that if you WANT a sucker you go out and work hard and GET your sucker.

You sound like a bleeding heart liberal tit-sucker. :lol:

"The analysis did not consider differences in experience and education."

Then it is a worthless analysis.

A day without a classic link to articles/opinions criticizing Obama, Democrats in Congress, government programs, Muslims, Mexicans, etc. is a day without sunshine. :D

Facts be damned. Context be damned. The objective is to criticize in order to support pre-determined positions, not to be a critical thinker.