The news we have been warning you about is in. Government workers on average exceed the pay scale of those in private industry. The unsustainable situation is here. It is now clear that Bill Clinton was a bit premature when he said that the "era of big government is over." Sadly he didn't count on the era of big Obama to come.
One word explains why this upside down situation has come to fruition: unions.
USA Today is reporting that "the number of federal workers earning six-figure salaries has exploded during the recession." The paper finds that workers at the high end of the salary scale are well represented in government. I'd say overly represented.
In a follow up to the USA Today report, Mark Hemingway of the Washington Examiner adds that by including benefits, even the mid scale government workers do better than the private sector. "Throw in benefits," Hemingway says, "and the average federal worker makes $38,000+ more than the average private sector worker..."
For its part, the Las Vegas Review-Journal adds that a "day of reckoning" looms for this situation.
The problem of runaway public-sector compensation is reaching the boiling point, as states and local governments struggle with budget deficits and demand that the private sector contribute more and more to keep the party going.
The day of reckoning looms. After all, who's working for whom?
The LVR-J also has a very good point. One of the reasons that many union supporters say that unions are necessary for government workers is because they usually earn less than the private sector and their benefits and pensions are needed to make up the difference. But this new news makes that argument the lie by proving that government workers make far more than those in the private sector.
And let us recall who actually pays these government workers. It is you and I the taxpayer. The undeserved riches that these union thugs are paid do not come from some magical, bottomless bank account. It comes from the ever shrinking private business sector and the quickly emptying taxpayer's pocket.
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"The only end of writing is to enable the reader better to enjoy life, or better to endure it."
-Samuel Johnson
Warner Todd Huston is a Chicago based freelance writer, has been writing opinion editorials and social criticism since early 2001 and is featured on many websites such as Andrew Breitbart's BigGovernment.com, RightWingNews.com, CanadaFreePress.com, StoptheACLU.com, TheRealityCheck.org, RedState.com, Human Events Magazine, AmericanDailyReview.com, and the New Media Journal, among many, many others. Additionally, he has been a frequent guest on talk-radio programs to discuss his opinion editorials and current events and is currently the co-host of "Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Conservatism" heard on BlogTalkRadio. Warner is also the editor of the Cook County Page for RedCounty.com.
