| Author | Message | ||
     Moxnix |
We are turning into a zombie nation. Here's the publisher of US News and World Report, telling it like it is...in The Financial Times: America's public servants are now its masters By Mort Zuckerman There really are two Americas, but they are not captured by the standard class warfare speeches that dramatise the gulf between the rich and the poor. Of the new divisions, one is the gap between employed and unemployed that President Barack Obama seeks to close with yet another $50bn stimulus programme. Another is between workers in the private and public sectors. No guesses which are the more protected. A recent study by the Mayo Research Institute found that "private-sector workers were nearly three times more likely to be jobless than public- sector workers". Political tension is bound to grow when jobs disappear faster in the private than the public sector, just as compensation in the former is squeezed more. There was a time when government work offered lower salaries than comparable jobs in the private sector, a difference for which the public sector compensated by providing more security and better benefits. No longer. These days, government employees are better off in almost every area: pay, benefits, time off and security, on top of working fewer hours. Public workers have become a privileged class - an elite who live better than their private-sector counterparts. Public servants have become the public's masters. Take federal employees. For nine years in a row, they have been awarded bigger average pay and benefit increases than private-sector workers. In 2008, the average wage for 1.9m federal civilian workers was more than $79,000, against an average of about $50,000 for the nation's 108m private-sector workers, measured in full-time equivalents. Ninety per cent of government employees receive lifetime pension benefits versus 18 per cent of private employees. Public service employees continue to gain annual salary increases; they retire earlier with instant, guaranteed benefits paid for with the taxes of those very same private- sector workers. More troubling still is the inherent political corruption. Elected officials tend to be accommodating when confronted by powerful constituencies such as the public service unions that agitate for plush benefits and often provide (or deny) a steady flow of cash to election campaign funds. Their successors will have to cope with the inherited debt burden - and ultimately the nation's taxpayers are stuck with the bill. As Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has pointed out, spending on retirement benefits for California's state employees is growing at three times the rate of state revenues, now exceeding $6bn annually and growing at the rate of 15 per cent a year. In other states, however, the politics of public pensions appear to be changing. In Michigan, Governor Jennifer Granholm, a Democrat, recently enacted a teacher pension reform that should save about $3bn over 10 years by increasing the amount workers must contribute. Illinois raised its retirement age for newly hired public workers from as low as 55 to 67. Chris Christie, the Republican governor of New Jersey, decided that even if it took bruising clashes with public worker unions, public service compensation reform was essential for the fiscal health of the state. His stance surprised many, but it made him a national figure. There is no quick fix to deal with the billions in unfunded liabilities. Public service employees are almost impossible to fire, except after a long process and only for the most grievous offences. What is more, the courts have ruled in many states that pension increases granted by elected bodies are vested benefits that must be paid no matter what, precluding politicians from going back and changing past agreements. A fundamental rethinking of the public workforce is necessary. Americans cannot maintain their essential faith in government if there are two Americas, in which the private sector subsidises the disproportionate benefits of this new public sector elite. | ||
| Pwnzor |
Was this news? | ||
| Moxnix |
No. But people in business who don't watch CNBC will read it. My customer base in natural resources and farmland is not as interested in the US since BO took office and started bad mouthing folk with money. They are looking at South America and Africa. Manufacturing left. Investors are shy. Some financial analysts are predicting a rude awakening: http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.a64b6f a820c23d9ef2058a22276ce3a1.2c1&show_article=1 Aside from time in the service, I've had three public sector jobs, all of which encouraged me to return to the private sector. Rule of thumb: 10 percent of government employees do 90 percent of the work. C'mon, I just enjoy moaning about Uncle Sugar's elites. | ||
| Whisperstealth |
Moxnix, Most will stay stay stuck with their head in the sand. And of course, when it all crashes down they will scream the loudest and want somebody else to fix it. America will see a kind of ruin that will be a little unique. Like the "great melting pot" we are, we will have pieces from all past great collapses in ours. I love my country but have lost all faith that we will avoid a huge collapse and new revolution. We again and again fail to look at and learn from history, thinking we are better somehow and will avoid repeating it. Wrong. Yet I still try to live life, and enjoy it the best I can. Life is still beautiful, and I'll enjoy the beauty while it's still here  | ||
| Stirz007 |
A couple of thoughts: In the Engineering and Construction biz, those who are working with/for the National Park Service are currently swamped with more work than they can do. Not much else out there in these parts... If you count all State, Federal and Local governmental employees, including Military and LEO's, Fire, etc., you will find that the majority (that's over 50%) of working Americans work for Government - at least last time I checked. That's not counting those who do not work, but rely on the government for their paycheck. Some of the biggest recruiting markets for new employees are Military (Gov-ment), Border Control/INS (Gummint), Law Enforcement (damn Gummint). Our workforce has become beholden to our government (instead of the other way around), a government that seems to be drifting toward becoming a police state. Look at all the agencies set up in the last decade 'for your protection'. It really is amazing how quick we give up liberties in the name of security - I question whether we have either. Still, I'm not ready to give up on the old gal... | ||
| Cityxslicker |
try to find a private company that will pay you 18k for two months to watch tv and report back on the 'image' of the programs...... http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article- 1311643/Revealed-Obama-hired-media-expert-monitor- negative-coverage-BP-oil-spill.html | ||
| Froggy |
You forgot to mention government run education, which I work for. | ||
| Reducati |
"If you count all State, Federal and Local governmental employees, including Military and LEO's, Fire, etc., you will find that the majority (that's over 50%) of working Americans work for Government - at least last time I checked. That's not counting those who do not work, but rely on the government for their paycheck. " DONT LET THE FACTS GET IN YOUR WAY...WOW!!!! According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, government accounts for about 8% of jobs in the United States. Here's the breakdown using numbers easily accessible on the BLS website (all numbers from 2006 or 2007): 1,774,000 Federal government civilian employees, excluding Post Office 615,000 Post Office 1,172,913 Military enlisted 230,577 Military Officers 2,424,000 State government (excluding education and hospitals) 5,594,000 Local government (excluding education and hospitals) That's a total of 11,810,490 government jobs. The total number of jobs in the U.S. in 2006 was 150,600,000, so government employment makes up 7.84% of all jobs. In 2007, the U.S. population (according to the Census Bureau) was 301,621,157, so about 4% of Americans are employed by the government. | ||
| Whisperstealth |
Red, I am either not as smart or not as used to using BLS site because it was hard to pull the numbers you did. But anyway, using your numbers, and info I did find, here are my thoughts. 4% of Americans are NOT employed by the government. The percentage is less according to the numbers you have up. You are not factoring in how many NON-US Citizens, (NON Americans) have government jobs. Those numbers will be harder to find perhaps. But being a resident of government institutions at times, I can tell you from first hand experience the government hires an awful lot of non-us-citizen medical workers, maintenance, ect.... Ever get jabbed in the arm repeatedly by a nurse that doesn't know what they are doing, and can't speak english? - Not fun. Even still, your 4% is a little miss-leading. It does not account for those who do not work for one reason or another. The 7.84% is a little closer to the truth. Total number of jobs includes those "10 hour a week and less gigs, temporary jobs, seasonal, etc. "In 2008, the Federal Government, excluding the Postal Service, employed about 2.0 million civilian workers. The Federal Government is the Nation's single largest employer. Because data on employment in certain agencies cannot be released to the public for national security reasons, this total does not include employment for the Central Intelligence Agency, National Security Agency, Defense Intelligence Agency, and National Imagery and Mapping Agency." How many secrete jobs are out there? I'm sure there are state jobs that fall into this category as well. The Raw numbers you came up with do not come close to telling the real story. Getting to the Brass Tack's: How many permanent 20 hour a week or more, with and with out benefits, jobs are there out there? How many of those are government jobs? How many non-government jobs pay a livable - no need to get a second job, jobs are there, compared to government jobs? How many non-gov middle class jobs compared to gov middle class jobs. What are the percentages on those? By far the Biggest employer of "middle" class jobs in this country is the government. There are THOUSANDS of families in this country who work full time and still qualify for food stamps and other aid. What is the real percentage of US and NON US citizens relying on government jobs / aid in one form or another? Another thing to throw out there: How many highly educated/skilled workers in this country work for the government as apposed to private industry? This country has lost a chilling and scary number of highly skilled jobs, workers, and manufacturing capability. Statistics and numbers can be manipulated. Go across this nation from sea to sea, and ask people what their lives are really like, see whats really going on. Then ask yourself if this is how it should be, and if government jobs are the answer. | ||
| Stirz007 |
Dan - You're a Cubs fan, so I figure you must be OK. Hey, my FACTS come directly from the intraweb thingy, so they gotta be true. I mean, I get emails EVERY week telling me how screwed up the Gummint is - Factical and trueiness. I forgot how highbrow these strings are - I'll try to do better next time. |
