Public Sector Pay: Pucker Up Monica and Bring Your Scalpel
by Morgan WarstlerI’m sure Ms. Monica Potts, is a delightful person and in polite company never wets on the carpet as some of us are want to do. And history teaches when a lady speaks ill of me, I surely have earned it.
![fail-kid-bird[2]](/wp-includes/images/blank.gif "fail-kid-bird[2]")
So I find myself a bit out of sorts after pouring over her latest screed, at the American Prospect, because no matter how I turn this around in my little mind I reach the conclusion: Monica owes me (gasp) an apology.
Here are a few minor gaffes Monica makes:
- I called for 20% cuts in federal, state, and local employees salaries. She misread and uses only federal numbers to impugn either my math skills or Google’s Calculator.
- I said we should cut public employee compensation by 20% and future increases should be tied to private wage growth. Again, Monica appears to have misread. I didn’t say each worker should receive 20% less, precisely because there is so much obvious inequity in the salary, pension, and overtime public employees receive. She makes my point by explaining a government cashier earns sixteen thousand dollars more per year than a cashier in the private sector. NJ’s governor just pointed to a 49 year old pensioner who is to receive $3.3 Milion on a $124,000 contribution. Please know this Monica: I don’t want to use a hatchet, I want to use a scalpel to remove 20% from public employee compensation. This doesn’t mean job reductions (that’s for another post), but if for instance a cashier quits in a huff, his eager replacement will still earn less. And this doesn’t mean furloughs, workers will be expected to earn less and (horrors!) show up for work.
- Monica doesn’t know of any work force that would tolerate a 20% cut in pay. Let me help her here with the aid of the interweb. Frankly, I’m a bit stunned by her assertion, because most all Americans in the private sector have experienced this kind of wage volatility at different points in their careers… including the UAW.
It has been noted, that Monica’s type of people get a tad miffed when they investigate the minds of my type of people, so quite naturally she’d read imaginary sentences and invent sub-par ideas to attribute to my spectacular failings.
As to restitution, in my own household, when I am so deeply in error, I’m lucky to get away with an hour long foot massage as penance. Though based on Monica’s notions of real world work, I’ll happily settle for a kiss on my ass.
And Monica, if your lips are pledged to the bottom of another, how about we work through your errors, and my insufferable attitude, with a podcast debate? Seriously, I’ll set it up, and we’ll both get copies….
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78 Comments
Methinks the author has already drawn blood with that scalpel. The question is whether Monica Potts realizes that she's bleeding to death?
Government cashiers? I think this underscores you are comparing apples to oranges. What cashiers? At the government grocery stores?
Cut military pay – in fact, cut the military. Reduce the overall size of the military. In fact, why do we need this enormously costly military when it can't protect us against an invasion force of 10-20 million foreigners and untold million foreign objects in the name of "Free Trade" which may be harboring anything from more illegal aliens to bombs to disease vectors to lead paint to invasive species?????? I just don't see where the government is keeping us safe from these threats. And they terrorize foreigners to boot – only making more enemies for us. Other government departments seem to run the parks, garbage pickup, etc…. well so don't throw out the baby with the bath water. It is empowering bureaucrats to kill and then not tasking them with protecting us is where I see the most value of our tax dollars lost.
Well Morgan,
"The federal government — with its steady pay structure, good benefits, and somewhat even playing field for promotions — runs counter to the Republican idea that a system in which the wealthiest rise leaving the lowest earners behind is better for all."
Monica just sold me. No where in the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, nor the Constitution do I find anything that remotely resembles the bloated, bucolic, Federal Government as we now know it today. I find limited government. Nowhere does it say that Government should be the largest, most stable, fairest employeer. Nor does it specify that government should be a panacea, a be all, do all, end all.
In the words of Ronald Reagan, Government is not the answer, Government is the problem. They are lucky I'm not running the outfit. I'd cut them with a chainsaw, not a scapel. I'd eliminate 50% and cut the balance by 50% of their wages and benefits, and eliminate the Unions.
……because most all Americans in the private sector have experienced this kind of wage volatility at different points in their careers… including the UAW.
It is a tradeoff – wages are stagnant during boom times, too.
pay cuts for everyone…
'Cause there coming, folks. The gravy train has left the station. All politicians should have THEIR pay cut; 20 percent for starters- and pensions and helth care reduced drastically. They should WANT to go home after a term or three.
Government employee average salary? $70k
Average salary private sector? $40,300
Any questions?
The American Prospect, not one of my favorite purveyors of fair and balanced perspective on the events of the World today…
A gov cashier is anyone who sits at a window and take a payment. Taxes or fees for a license.
Oh sure cut the military. Great Idea. That is one of the few things that constitutionally we should be spending Federal Tax dollars on.
You embarrass yourself without applying logic.
Do you savvy the meaning of "boom times"? Wages are not stagnant during boom times, they rise. Hence the term. Duh!
Sorry I must disagree a bit. If you work for the feds elected, appointed or hired you earn at least 40% to much. I know because I have had to deal with these people on more than one occasion. Sure some are great but no cashier is 16000 a year better than another cashier. Its BS and must stop.
Any questions?
Yeah, do you not realize you don't know what you are talking about? Where are the government pizza delivery people? Car washer? Fruit pickers? How about this.
http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/archives/blackwa...
Blackwater Mercs Make More than Petraeus
"…Monica’s type of people get a tad miffed when they investigate the minds of my type of people…"
This is assuming, of course that Monica has a mind capable of investigating an existent mind, if that is even possible. The much greater point you make is that she read your proposed solutions and totally turned them around in here proglib mind. I have had similar such excursions into the absurd with proglibs and try to not address them directly, because of that nuance, and prefer the written word where there will be documentation of what I really said. "The mind is a terrible thing to waste." as a TV ad once said, assuming there is something there to lose.
"I'd eliminate 50% and cut the balance by 50% of their wages and benefits, and eliminate the Unions." Sounds like a plan, Cowboy.
And you are comparing Blackwater Mercenaries to whom?
Just to be clear that we are indeed comparing "apples to apples"…
Reagan did PATCO!
You forgot to rant against government support of Israel. Don't worry- I panned you anyway!
""The federal government — with its steady pay structure, good benefits, and somewhat even playing field for promotions — runs counter to the Republican idea that a system in which the wealthiest rise leaving the lowest earners behind is better for all.""
Jesus Christ, what a pathetic strawman.
Liberals are hate-filled liars.
My wages rose until last year, when they became stagnant. You should not post until you do some research.
From your post above at the top of the page, peckerhead:
"Government cashiers? I think this underscores you are comparing apples to oranges. What cashiers? At the government grocery stores?"
I'd say there are government cashiers. Plenty of them. All Unionized. Ever stand in line to buy a stamp at the Post Office? I am sure there all sorts of Government Cashiers at General Motors. From the lowly clerk at the cafeteria, taking government vouchers for free lunches in Detroit, to the sales clerk at your local GM Dealership, they are ALL Government Cashiers.
I'll bring the gas and beer….it's gonna be a long night cuttin'….
"poring over"
Imagine that. The bloom was off the rose, the boom turned to bust, and wages became stagnant at best, declined at worst, or further yet, folks were victims of Joe Bidens Grandpop's Depression……..
You are a trivial moronic fool and you have just earned your right to depart this country on the nearest and earliest flight to your partners in the middle east. You have no idea of the wages and sacrifices that the military person EARNS. We are asked to put our lives on the line, without giving a second thought to the protection being provided to the fools that advocate the dismantling of the very entity that allows you to sleep so snugly in you warm bed at night.
Feel free to leave this land at any time. But when you do, don't go running to the American sentries, begging admission into the consulate or embassy when you realize your pipe dreams and radical assertions come crumbling around your feet.
The 50% amount sounds good but what about the pensions? Government worker pensions should be just like the private sector – absolutely nothing paid out beyond the contribution plus a cost of living increase tied to CPI. Since when should we be paying these people money that they did not earn?
Good luck with that Morgan! My guess her lips are permanently attached to Barry’s butt, and she really loves her Barry. Be careful too, you might catch something icky.
This is all part of the big illusion that our Government has been building. They borrow money so they can spend it on worthless programs and special interests. They say there saving or creating jobs. Government jobs that is that raise our tax base and dig the hole a little deeper. They don't have to rely on being productive to succeed. Hell if they want a raise they just vote for it. And whats really sad is OUR Government that works for us, now averages 30k more a year.
I do think that were still in a downward spiral economically. With all the spending and this type of job creation the worst is yet to come. The Illusion will end soon and its going to hurt. But it will hurt people that have worthless jobs the most and that means local, state and federal employees.
just what and the heck is this guy ranting about, and why is Blackwater (now Xe) important? Must've missed something…
Dunno for sure today.
Someone might have told him there was a Jew in the woodpile and it apparently has driven him plumb loco and he is all likkered up and run slap off the reservation……
oh- he's another one of the folk who don't care much for the jews. Forgot…
The 'go to' bad guys. Very convenient, eh?
Muy loco!
Many agencies are top-heavy, with lots of people at the executive level pulling big salaries and many of them don't do very much. The peons in the meantime are the ones who have seen their salaries frozen or cut.
Another problem is with the public sector allowing employees to retire fairly young (50-55) if they've worked for 25-30 years. If you started working with the state or the city or the feds right out of college, work 30 years, and retire with 90% or more of your salary at 52 plus benefits, then you live another 30-40 years, the taxpayer is subsidizing your behind for what, up to 70 years? That doesn't count spouses or children either. As a municipal employee, I'm paying a LOT into a pension system that benefits retirees now but it's likely I won't see the same kind of benefits by the time I retire. It's crazy.
all obsessive behavior is muy loco, Cowboy…
And anyone who can just pigeonhole an entire race of people- particularly ones who can't get along with EACH other much less form a monolithic presence such as he- and his buddy 'the Fonz' seem to think present behind every bush-
is just not aware of reality…
A cautionary note. Much of the data used to justify this argument is attributed to the BLS. Just one problem. BLS does not conduct surveys on federal employees. It cannot publish data it did not collect.
"future increases should be tied to private wage growth": FYI – since 1994, pay for most federal workers has been increased at a rate equal to the BLS Employment Cost Index (ECI) for wage and salary workers in private industry, minus one-half percentage point. How, exactly would you do it?
A web search for federal cashier jobs in DC shows the going pay rate is $8/hour, which is $16,000. How exactly is that "sixteen thousand dollars more per year than a cashier in the private sector?".
On a happier note, that picture is priceless!
Good idea, and those that don't like it, let them quit, and don't
replace them, let the others do an honest days work……
If the leftists cut the military, then the military would have to come home and not be marginalized on the other side of the globe….The democrats do not want our military here at home, it threatens their power too much…so much so, that returning vets are right wing nutjobs that the FBI needs to watch.
Don't worry, their pay will be cut. If the government continues to spend at this rate and make the government bigger, the taxpayers will not be able to pay for it, and thus will not be able to pay for the paper dragon that the politicians keep making bigger.In other words, the government officials do not need to worry about a tax revolt, because their policies are creating one…
[...] » Public Sector Pay: Pucker Up Monica and Bring Your Scalpel – Big … [...]
Considering that military pay per capita is $30,000 less than the average Federal employee, the ones who don't have to protect your ungrateful ass from terrorists, your argument doesn't hold up.
I'm tired of greedy public employee unions and a greedy government that is never satisfied. If a corporation takes my money I can go elsewhere, or make more money so they don't scare me.
I'm afraid of a greedy government, greedy for more money and more power, because I can't make more freedom.
.
"…and in polite company never wets on the carpet as some of us are want to do." That should be "wont."
"So I find myself a bit out of sorts after pouring over…" Please substitute "poring."
Maybe you should not post until you actually earn a wage and get off the dole.
"I’m sure Ms. Monica Potts, is a delightful person and in polite company never wets on the carpet as some of us are want to do."
I just want to point out that the word you want above is "wont" not "want." As in, "as some of us are wont to do."
The ABC Consumer Comfort came in at the -50 level. This is good like cancer is good.
Since I'm too tired right now to lob grenades at Big Union Leadership allow me to switch directions to something that will undo union clout. "It's the economy smart guys" (Yes an attempt at a little civility)
Karl Denninger at The Market Ticker gives a summation that explains the gist of what those on the steep end of the curve may find insightful. If it still doesn't sink in then I advise you to start drinking heavily. And don't ever let Congress sell you an annuity if you have children. EVER.
I work in the private sector and received no pay raise last year and no pay raises are planned this year.
Woooohooo!! Here we go tonight! hasselhoff dropped his c$%k and figgerd out the password on his mom's computer. Let's get ready to rumble!
The outrage from government employees unions is ridiculous. Every other employee whose revenue has fallen has had to make cuts in either the number or the pay, or both, of their employees, why should the government be any different? Why should the government no have to live within their means? After all they are living on our money.
Why all this class envy and class warfare? I thought conservatives are against that. Maybe we Feds get paid better because our jobs are more important. Maybe an air traffic controller has more responsibility than someone managing a fast-food restaurant. Maybe I care more about a safe flight than eating some overpriced, unhealthy McBurger!
Quit being haters! You had the same opportunities that we had. Don't gripe and complain now that your private sector job doesn't provide what you want from life. Quit whining about "The Man" trying to keep you down!
Before we start pouncing on the little (bird) lady, maybe all she really needs, right now, is the name of a good opthamologist.
I love her thinking that the average wage for a cashier is $18K but that is not a livable wage for a family of 4 and thus we should pay them almost twice that despite what that job is worth … I think we should cut compensation by 20% right after we cut the total employee base by 20% … I don't want services from my government. Leave me and my wallet alone.
Okay, Dipstick, now you've shown your teenage angst ignorance and I have had a tough day and I'm taking it out on you.
The military personnel are well aware they are underpaid compared to their private sector counterparts. As a military spouse, I find it ridiculous and inexcusable that so many people (you, too) do not understand how the military works when, for over two hundred years it us all that has been between the people's backsides and fiefdom. Other than the military budget, perhaps 90% of the federal government could be cut without violating the mandate given by the constitution. The military is required. County clerks, nope. You lode on the legal side. The logical side.
Now, buckle up kiddo…
"why do we need this enormously costly military when it can't protect us against an invasion force of 10-20 million foreigners and untold million foreign objects in the name of "Free Trade" which may be harboring anything from more illegal aliens to bombs to disease vectors to lead paint to invasive species?"
…is nonsensical.. It means nothing in the context you have presented. Those are outside the legal parameters of the military. Logic is important if you wish to debate the grown-ups.
My husband is owned 24 hours a day EVERY day. He doesn't have free speech, he doesn't have mobility, he doesn't have the extra 50-75k minimum per annum that his contemporaries on the outside make. He choose this life for his reasons. I chose him because he has a heart and a spine and he is a better man than I. As a first responder, he could be dead anytime. (Then again, he could get run over by a bus.)
He isn't in it for the money. He isn't in it for the kind of do-gooder service the Progressives are pushing these days. I know the difference because I used to be one of those. I wised up. He is in it because he knows the difference between his philosophy and yours and he knows the hell at the end of yours. He does believe in your right to whine and wail like an injured four year old as long and as loud as you like, but he doesn't respect it.
For me, I see that we are treated as second class citizens by people whom I consider immature and babyish–that would be you, and my socialist relatives–and, so far, you cannot cause us harm, so we are fine with it. We know there are plenty of Americans who went all the way through their schooling without getting brainwashed–even the Ivy League survivors. They made it all the way to adulthood without stalling out in arrested adolescence. They know who we are and they know what we do. Even if they did not, my husband would still be putting his life on the line. We are all still living in America and you get to come along for the ride. That is good.
[...] Read more… [...]
I know
…but, he was right!
Quite dumb, too.
I don't understand all the fuss. We simply aren't earning enough as a nation to pay for all these government employees and their promised pension benefits.
That's all. We can't pay them. "Would, should, oughta, mighta" are meaningless.
They have to be fired, have their wages and pensions cut, a mix of all three. It's not an option. Argument is a ridiculous waste of time.
How in the hell do you deal with being so ignorant? I would think you'd reach a point where you'd just put a gun to your head.
Speaking of pizza guys, your mom ordered pizza and it's here. Go upstairs and eat.
Obviously he's busy studying his navel or some other equally fascinating body part.. I won't waste my time reading him, since the title is so obviously out of touch with reality. I think he should get out more, maybe meet the folks. Oh, maybe he's afraid of contamination. Stay away Mark, we aren't safe, and very boring.
Don't have to fire them. Pay with IOUs. Watch them never come back.
I worked in the private sector. Pay raises were maxed at 2% for over 5 years. They cut jobs in every divison for those five years except at my location. Then early last year they said no raises. Then In April, at my location they cut the staff by 10%, me first (I was so very touched by that gesture), and this year, they are closing a manufacturing facility. And it's only February…
OOPS, I forgot. Monica? Kiss my butt. Call it even.
Absolutely. It's called Merit Pay. Depends on your job, that's fair. I remember when govt pay was 60% of private pay if you were lucky. Couldn't ever get good people. Now, I come from a family of pilots, big planes, civilian and military. Got a cousin in Air Traffic. Damn Tough job, especially working on 9/11, and every day since, (in case it's a do over?) You deserve to be well paid. It's national security. Janet Napolitano? UhUh. Not good enough. Military? YEP Pay them, every branch. National Security done well. Every Congressional office has a budget of a million dollars. NO, not national Security. National RipOff. Cashiers? NO.
We're not haters, just not specific enough. We're talking about the waste jobs, Murtha's airport for example… Boston's Big Dig, Plenty to cut. My govt job was cut. It hurt, Reagan did it, he was right. Private industry finds profits. Govt won't ever make money. Bless You and your co-workers. Tough stressful job. We thank you with money, it won't ever be enough for what you do. But we know your worth.
Amazingly, the origins and purpose of all this chaos are predicted and accounted for in the best selling, prophetic, political Conspiracy Thriller book, BLACK ROAD 2012, which I bought on amazon, and was a real goose-bumpy, totally absorbing ride: http://tinyurl.com/amazon-BLACK-ROAD-2012
Being a project manager in the construction industry I feel lucky to still be working even though over the last two years my salary has dipped by between 20% and 25% already. Performance bonuses goodbye, yearly raises goodbye. In this time same time span, the cost of the college education my two girls are recieving has not reduced, our living expenses have not reduced, the costs of utilities and fuel have not reduced. I am not in a minority, I am in the majority but fortunately still in the working majority. Monica, don't tell me that a work force won't sacrifice because the alternative is pretty damn ugly. the rate of underemployed is nearly 20%. This is a reality while all the while the Government roles increase in size and salaries and benefits continue to rise at alarming and unsustainable rates. 1 in 3 working people in Greece work for the Government and look where they are. I'd say about 1 step ahead of where we are headed. Time to get your head out of your ass Monica. Shared sacrifice is what your President called for. Start sharing.
and: "as some of us are wont to do."
[...] the rest here: » Public Sector Pay: Pucker Up Monica and Bring Your Scalpel – Big … Posted in Pay | Tags: a-bit-stunned, assertion, because-most, help-her, here-with, interweb, [...]
Thats great you found one example were the wages are close. I wonder though if you look at the benefits and retirement packages of both private and the public sector how close they would be then? You dont have to respond we know. : )
I love her thinking that the average wage for a cashier is $18K but that is not a livable wage for a family of 4 and thus we should pay them almost twice that despite what that job is worth … I think we should cut compensation by 20% right after we cut the total employee base by 20% … I don't want services from my government. Leave me and my wallet alone.
Red47
Well said!
Faced with a real threat, Dhass. would be behind Mama's skirt.
Cowboy Logic
Oh Cowboy you are so subtle, are you sure you couldn't find a more direct approach?
/s
Cowboy Logic
Where was 'Grandpop' from again, I get confused.
Dhassel– you are aware that it is Monica Potts who first cites the category of 'government cashiers' ?
( "She makes my point by explaining a government cashier earns sixteen thousand dollars more per year than a cashier in the private sector. ")
I also wonder why you seem to doubt the existence of govt. cashiers:Cash Processing Technician-Defense Commissary Agency (operates a world wide chain of approximately 280 commissaries to provide groceries to authorized military personnel, retirees, and their families.)
Why bother with the private sector? The government pays better, has better benefits, better healthcare, union protected job security, holidays galore, and a retirement second to none. Is there anyone out there that went looking for a new job that paid LESS and benefits LESS than what you were making at the time? I didn't think so nor did I.
It says "liberal intelligence" Underneath the title on "The American Prospect" home page. Isn't that an oxymoron?
No more apologizes. We have too much government at all levels. And what we do have has been raping the taxpayers for too long. The progressives want to talk about Wall Street greed. We should be talking about the public employees greed. Where else can you make more than your private sector counterparts in nearly all levels of employement except near the top. Where in the private sector can employees retire with 30 years of paychecks (except the other government run auto companies) with pensions that can equal 90% of their last years earnings and in many cases have cost of living adjustments as well.
It is time that we told the Monicas of this country to stuff it. We don't care what they think nor what they want. We have had it and we are taking it back. NO MORE APOLOGIES!
Yes, let's cut the military's pay. Let's make it even harder for so many families who are already on WIC and federal food assistance harder to make ends meet. Let's cut the size too. Let's make our country more vulnerable to attack. Then some foreign force can come take things over, and you'll have your freedom of speech in which you take for granted now taken from you. See how you'll like things then. The military life is NOT all sunshine and rainbows. We do NOT get a free ride like so many people want to believe. So much of what made military life decent for families has been contracted out to the lowest bidder. The military doesn't take care of things like housing or health care in house anymore. Those, like many of our services, are government contracts that went to the lowest bidder. When it comes to these contracts, it's not about quality, but how much money can the government save and put into their special interest projects. We get just as screwed as the rest of the country. So the next time you feel the urge to complain about the military, maybe wash the sand out of your vagina first and do a little research.
Again, it is that wasteful commie system called the military.
…for over two hundred years it us all that has been between the people's backsides and fiefdom.
You work to enforce the government's mandates AGAINST the will of the people. Case in point would be confiscating weapons in New Orleans and forcing desegregation in schools. Let's not pretend you are the militia – the ones who actually won our freedoms and continue to protect them.
It means nothing in the context you have presented.
If the point of the military is to protect us and they are not it sounds like a waste of money.
He doesn't have free speech, he doesn't have mobility, he doesn't have the extra 50-75k minimum per annum that his contemporaries on the outside make.
Take it up with Morgan Warstler – to him your husband is a "bureaucrat" to be despised. Not to me.
…Let's make it even harder for so many families who are already on WIC and federal food assistance harder to make ends meet…
Tell it Morgan who wants all these "government workers" thrown on the street.
Let's make our country more vulnerable to attack.
What makes us vulnerable to attack are the Globalist nitwits who have redistributed our wealth to China in the name of "Free Trade" and imported millions of secretive "containers" inside our country (carrying diseases, pests, illegals, bombs, etc….) in the name of "Free Trade." They have allowed 20 million foreigners entry to the US whose loyalties are with Mexico and other countries.
Then some foreign force can come take things over,
Again, you mean like the 20 million illegals or the Chinese who have simply purchased the country?
Understand I'm not attacking those in the military, but making a point.
Read was interesting, stay in touch……
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