Posted by
John Caile on Monday, March 29, 2010 11:42:52 AM
With the official unemployment figure hovering around 10% - and the real number closer to a staggering 17% - those of you in the private sector know full well how desperately most people are working to keep their heads above water. Last month, real wages declined in 42 of the 50 states. Foreclosures are at an all-time high.
So you might be surprised to find out that while private sector employees are worrying about keeping their jobs and your homes, government workers have been downright rolling in the dough (courtesy of you, the taxpayer, by the way).
From the Wall Street Journal:
THE
GOVERNMENT PAY BOOM.
“It turns out there really is growing inequality in America. It’s the
45% premium in pay and benefits that government workers receive
over the poor saps who create wealth in the private economy.
And the gap is growing. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor
Statistics (BLS), from 1998 to 2008 public employee compensation grew by
28.6%, compared with 19.3% for private workers. In the recession year
of 2009, with almost no inflation and record budget deficits, more than
half the states awarded pay raises to their employees. Even as deficits
in state capitals widen and are forcing cuts in services, few
politicians are willing to eliminate these pay inequities.”
There’s more: “What if government workers earned the average of what
private workers earn? States and localities would save $339 billion a
year from their more than $2.1 trillion budgets. These savings are
larger than the combined estimated deficits for 2010 and 2011 of every
state in America. In a separate survey, the federal Bureau of Economic
Analysis compares the compensation of public versus private workers in
each of the 50 states.
Perhaps not coincidentally, the pay gap is widest in states that have
the biggest budget deficits, such as New Jersey, Nevada and Hawaii. Of
the 40 states that have a budget deficit so far this year, 28 would have
a balanced budget were it not for the windfall to government workers.”
You may also have noted that the cities and states that represent the biggest financial disasters are...run by Democrats. California is out of control. Michigan is bankrupt - the city of Detroit is about to implode.
Yet government employees continue to rake in the cash.
No wonder the biggest contributors to Democrats are government unions...