via Right Klik
This graph’s whiff of Marie Antoinette should boil every patriot’s blood. While the American people live increasingly ascetic lives, and even city halls and statehouses have displayed some restraint, Washington, D.C., increasingly resembles Versailles — an out-of-touch, extravagant, and callous place that fuels little beyond the nation’s disgust, fury, and organized rebellion. As the party rages within the Beltway, federal revelers scream, “Let them pay taxes!”(source)
These nauseating numbers show federal employees earning 201 percent of the average private worker’s compensation. Federal benefits equal 395 percent of private-sector benefits.
This bloat is bipartisan. While President Obama’s spending spree has exacerbated the inequality of federal vs. private compensation, this problem reaches into the irresponsible Bush-Rove years. Between 2000 and 2009, private salaries and benefits grew by 8.8 percent after inflation. Among federal civilians, however, salaries and benefits exploded by 36.9 percent.(source)
I don't get how a civil servant can earn over 100k. Here, we have CBC execs (your NPR) earning well north of 150k.
ReplyDeleteAlcohol is run by the government and they pay their employees, I think, around on average $28 per hour. More than a first year medical doctor and teacher.
Monopoly and a racket.
Back in 2004, the Pennsylvania Turnpike tollbooth workers went on strike around Thanksgiving. They were worried about their jobs because of the rise of the EZPass. When I passed by them on my way to my grandparents, I didn't honk my horn in support.
ReplyDeleteIt's a good thing that I didn't find out how much they actually made, otherwise I would have been tempted to run them over. They made 21 dollars an hour plus full medical and dental benefits. Think about that. They are making at least three times as much as your average cashier and they were doing the exact same thing.
Here on the Rim of Insanity, it is very apparent how many of these government workers and contractors are living high off the taxpayer's dime. Ride around on the Metro and you'll plenty of pro-government propaganda aimed at all kinds of agencies, depending on your location.
The crime isn't what the government is paying toll workers, the crime is how little private companies pay their emplyees.
ReplyDeleteIf the federal government was a corporation, this would be "success," since they're paying high wages and growing. Just sayin...
The Federal Government is $13 trillion in debt.
ReplyDeleteThat is not success by any metric. But you are right, the United States Federal government is probably the world's largest corporation, only the transactions they make are not voluntary and they produce nothing but destruction.
If private companies don't pay their workers enough, then why are people still working for them?
"the crime is how little private companies pay their emplyees."
ReplyDeleteHow is that a crime exactly?
If private companies don't pay their workers enough, then why are people still working for them?
ReplyDeleteHow is that a crime exactly?
This is where freedom breaks down in a capitalist system. People who work minimum wage jobs aren't "choosing" to work them, it is all they can get. In a society with double digit unemployment, it's not freedom, it's desperation.
What's more, many people who get financial assistance have a job, some even have two, but it may not be enough to cover their expenses. Why do we have people working two jobs who are below the poverty level?
You guys make it so hard not to insult you... fucking retards.
Dude, you have to demonstrate how that happens exactly. Things like:
ReplyDelete"People who work minimum wage jobs aren't "choosing" to work them, it is all they can get. In a society with double digit unemployment, it's not freedom, it's desperation.
Are just humourous, not factual.
Why is the plight of other people humorous to you?
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry you're so erroneously informed, but maybe this can enlighten you. And even this is four years old, but it's eloquently stated and fairly accurate, only today it's not 1 in 10 Americans in poverty, it's 1 in 7.
I'm sick and fucking tired of stating reality and being refuted by ignorant pieces of shit... fucking read something useful instead of the sports pages and FoxNews.com
Poverty cannot be measured solely based on income and benefits.
ReplyDeleteAnd if people really are stuck in a minimum wage job, that means they didn't go out and learn skills that would allow them to be marketable in the job market. In other words, if you are a high-school dropout and a single parent, you're going to be stuck with a minimum wage job until you can learn better skills. And there is always ample opportunity to do so in the country. For now anyway.
The poor in other nations envy the poor in our nation because they are obese (the majority of obese are also considered poor) and they have luxuries like flatscreen televisions that other countries don't have. I've seen the poor in our country and I've seen the poor in other countries. The comparison doesn't come close.
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ReplyDeleteThere he goes with the presumptuous bull shit again.
ReplyDeleteBret, I've owned TWO businesses in my life. Plus we own properties.
Keep that in mind before you tell people who actually experience the inner-workings of running a business they're retarded.
And for the love of God...I don't watch Fox! Sports pages more so. But even then, I tend to read sports history and past classic writing.
Of course, Bret is always reading the "right" financial sources.
One other thing, Canada, which is a mixed-market economy has 11% of its population considered "poor." We're 34 million people. I've mentioned this three times to you and it's met with silence.
There's more to poverty than what you let on.
Do I deny there's a problem or abuses? Of course not. What are you suggesting? Businesses be forced to pay a higher minimum wage?
And if people really are stuck in a minimum wage job, that means they didn't go out and learn skills that would allow them to be marketable in the job market. In other words, if you are a high-school dropout and a single parent, you're going to be stuck with a minimum wage job until you can learn better skills. And there is always ample opportunity to do so in the country. For now anyway.
ReplyDeleteThis is such bullshit. There are millions of single parents out there who work two or even three jobs, and you want them finding time to go to school... what do we do with the kids? You are probably obsessed with blaming the parents, but the kids end up fucked up from all of this and they grow up to be no better. You have to break vicious cycles or they repeat, and we can't now because right-wing ideology has amassed the wealth in the hands of a few who we refuse to tax.
TC: unless you were working with billions of dollars, this isn't directed at you. No one is hurting the little business guy... except the big businesses who use their wealth to shoulder you out. Don't be so myopic.
Well.
ReplyDeleteSay so from the start. Business is business; big or small.