Reason.tv: 3 Reasons Why Public Sector Employees Are Killing The Economy
by Nick GillespieAs unemployment stubbornly sticks near 10 percent and any sort of economic recovery seems a long way off, think about this: The one part of the economy that’s going gangbusters is government work.
Indeed, since the Great Recession started in December 2007, over 8 million jobs have been lost in the private sector while the public sector has added at least 100,000 positions. It’s time to recognize that public-sector employment is killing the economy for at least three reasons:
1. They cost too much. As USA Today recently noted, federal employees make on average almost $8,000 more than their private-sector counterparts. When you add in benefits, the gap spreads to about $30,000. State and local government workers make around the same as private-sector counterparts, but their health and retirement packages mean they make significantly more in the end.
2. We can’t fire them. The private sector has shed positions in response to slackening demand and the economic downturn. That sort of adjustment is painful but necessary, as it allows the economy to adjust to changing circumstances and workers and employers to move into new activities. Because it is guaranteed certain amounts of tax revenue and has a non-market mind-set, the public sector is largely insulated from such forces and keeps or even adds workers despite changed conditions. The result? We keep paying for things that we don’t use, need, or want.
3. They create a permanent lobby for expanded government and higher taxes. Look at California, where teacher unions have spent over $211 million dollars on elections in the past decade. One result is that 40 percent of California’s budget must be spent on education, regardless of the number and needs of students. Over the last 10 years, taxpayer contributions to public-sector pension funds has increased by 2000 percent! Such sort of tax-based gladhanding is just getting started. For the first time in history, the number of public-sector union employees is greater than those in the private sector, so expect to see even more lobbying for the sorts of mandatory raises and permanent job security that most of us can only dream of.
Because the public sector gets its pay and benefits from tax dollars and public debt, every thing it gets means there’s less for the rest of us to save, invest, or pay workers with. With the federal government and most states already neck-deep in red ink, it’s time to cut public-sector pay and payrolls and return more money to the private sector. That will help spur the sort of investment and innovation that will get the economy moving and end the recession far faster than paying more and more money to government workers.
“3 Reasons Public-Sector Employees Are Killing The Economy” is produced by Meredith Bragg and Nick Gillespie, who also hosts. Approximately 3 minutes. Go to Reason.tv for iPod, HD, and audio versions.
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482 Comments
Sarah Palin had some interesting thoughts on this very topic.
http://twitter.com/llcoolj/statuses/11344726168
I am a retired gov't em;oyee. You can be fired for cause and can be layed off as over 400 of my fellow employees here in the county found out last 2 years. Probably more next year. Federal employees can be fired but layoffs probably not as the Federal Government does not have to balance it's books. We do get low pay but that is made up with in kind benefits. We contribute to our retirement in most cases and pay for our healthcare both while working and when retired.
My friends in the private sector, doing basically the same jobs, made much more than I did in salary. Hopefully they invested it properly. I went with the relative security of governement work. My benefits equaled my friends in the private world.
Yes, there are some sweets positions, but it is not all what it seems.
Teachers etc are different then the average civil servant. Please separate the two when thinking of benefits and pay.
They used to serve a purpose but the Unions (especially the bigger ones) have become a parasite on the economy. If they did what they were supposed to do (protect the worker) it'd be okay but now they are just lobbying firms and money launderer for the Democratic party.
I'll just echo Glenn Reynolds' comment on your video this morning:
"I think public-sector unions should be illegal."
I've been saying this for years, but having someone with the stature of prof Reynolds agreeing with me feels pretty darned good.
We're looking more like the Soviet Union every day.
I have to agree.
Bob, I live in California, so I have some knowledge of the State and local government employee pay and benefit structures.
For California, the compensation package is outrageous. Certain laws in the state prevent a municipality that files for bankruptcy from re-working city union contracts. A police chief in this small city make over $200,000 year plus bennies. Retirement for this same chief is 2/3 annual salary of the avg. of the last 3 years of state employment. For the rest of his/her life. I believe this formula kicks in after 25years of service.
State employees game the system, and work their ass off for the last 2 years and get paid overtime that matches their regular salaries.
Unfunded employee pension liabilities for Californis is over $200 billion .
Watch out the thug in chief is coming after your pension funds to feed the government monster more of your hard earned money in the name of "fairness" and "redistribution"
http://www.seiu.org/2009/03/seiu-coalition-partne...
Google "Retirement USA" for more links!!!
One can wonder how may bureauweenies are collecting fat pay and benefit packages to collect & file away the name of every male citizen by the cubicle monkeys of the Selective Service System even though the draft was abolished nearly 40 years ago.
Government bureaucracy is a hideously expensive non-productive dead weight that saps our society and is rapidly destroying the USA. B+ Obumbler and his allied brutal criminal thugs of the SEIU are relentlessly seeking to enlarge the numbers and economic largesse of the supefluous parasites inhabiting this nation's dysfunctional, corrupt, arrogant. incompetent, and economically destructive legions of deadweight unionized government employees.
Every morning I wake up now and the first thing I ask myself is which words were burned in the constitution this morning!
Every dollar they pay you is a dollar less savings for the private sector to grow. Every dollar they pay you is a dollar less spent in the private sector that can create jobs. Every dollar they pay you misdirects resources and distorts market signals that are needed to direct the private sector.
Whether you like it or not, you are just like every other public sector employee.
Why all the class warfare? Why the envy of people that have good-paying jobs? We work for and earn our pay and benefits!
Unions are nothing more than a pack of predators that are killing the golden goose. They will turn on each other when the host finally dies, and they too, will die.
The public sector does not create anything usable to the taxpayer. It consumes, it does not create. Like the lilies in the field, they consume much, and offer nothing in return. While lilies may actually have a use, such as decoration, government produces nothing but misery( unless you are a moocher or slacker or illegal alien). Where is the return to the average taxpayer? I was born in the US, and all I got was this lousy t-shirt,a tyrrannical government, and an ever increasing tax burden.
We need cut the number of government employees by 70% to get their over bloated budgets under control before their pension funds eat the rest of America alive!
Moreover, all tho9se bureaucrats have to find something to do to justify their existence- and what they do is create unending oppressive and nitpicky regulations, boss the defenseless citizenry around and interfere in their lives. This is how in England a great-grandmother was sentenced to a whopping fine and electronic monitoring for… wait for it… selling a goldfish.
As Ayn Rand said, "The difference between a welfare state and a totalitarian one is a matter of time."
Until you guys start criticizing the WELFARE we pay Israel – your credibility when criticizing Americans who work for a living is nil.
"Work" and "earn".. Yeah, right. I have held jobs in the public sector, twice. I say "held jobs" because I showed up for most of the time and collected a check- I certainly wasn't expected to work, or produce results, or earn that check. High school study halls produce more man-hours of work than the offices I was in.
And this comes after a sleepless night! It's sheer maddness ~
Government employee = teats on a boar-hog
Ditto
Gee, I wonder why "gubment" union hacks, welfare and food stamp losers all vote Democrat. "Wees gosta gets da M@F@ gubment check or wees be roitin!"
Whatreallyhappened…………….."Gubment" union hacks work for a living? Really? ROTFLMAO REV Wright
OK Bob. Explain to me why and how retired municpal employees in Las Vegas can earn $130,000.00 for retirement at age 55, $90,000.00 at age 50. That's in a defined benefit plan that the employee does not contribute to.
I'm waiting Bob.
Whats up with these commies like Barry and there pink/purple bracelets? Must be the liberal, socialist and union connection!!
Hey, UNC – why so envious of the rich then? Why the insistence on taxing them into oblivion? They're just hard-working folks who've earned their checks…
Yes. I am sure you work very hard. But your employer's are broke! And everytime a pay cut or lay off is mentioned your unions go off half cocked. The public is threatened with the loss of essential services such as police and fire and not the non-essential paper pushers who do very, very well.
Right now your benefits and pay are being paid for by massive debt and uncontrollable budget deficits.
Other than that everything is A OK!
Consider also these points:
1. Public employees are, for the most part, not learning skills or a work ethic that translates into the real world. Very few public employees ever leave their jobs for the private sector, where they will have to work harder for less money and feel lost with equipment and programs they have not learned how to use. Unless of course they leave to become lobbyists.
2. A person who has worked in the government system has no idea how real businesses, in the real world, are run.
3. These people will very rarely better our economy and country by starting their own businesses or becoming worthwhile employees for other businesses.
4. In the government sector raises are all about how long you've been in a job, not merit, so employees never learn how to survive in the real world. They don't have to though do they? While the rest of the country is laying people off, the government is hiring. It's the only way the current administration knows how to create jobs…because they've never run a business and don't understand it, because they are government employees.
Could it have something to do with the fact that you are being paid FROM MY SALARY???
Bob how dare you speak from experience! *votes down*
so let me get this straight, you are not sending your kids to public schools….driving on public roads….?
Yes the public sector has to be fixed. But to say it doesnt create anything useful is just false and extreme.
In all fairness, the Selective Service System is kept up to date in case it is needed. My father was in the Army reserve in Selective Service. At the time, there were about 1500 total in that group, half were Army, the balance was USAF, Navy and Marines.
But the rest of the union world I have little use for as they have long outlived their usefulness.
Most teachers are unskilled baby sitters who lack the necessary skills needed to productively participate in private enterprise. They went to teachers colleges and/or possess teaching diplomas unrelated to any legitimate academic discipline. The incompetent product that they turn-out is fit to do only one thing–teach.
Not sure where you are getting a $200,000 figure for a chief's salary. There is no chief making that kind of money in California. I'm a retired law enforcement officer and well studied on cop salaries.
This should be the dictionary definition of "government employees":
The only kind of employees who can unionize and use the threat of government force to steal more money from the people who pay them.
Or, worse, (shudder)…France!
Everyone is being paid from someones salary. Every time you go to the supermarket and buy food you are paying the people who work there from your salary.
NG: Awesome video. I agree with you 100%!
The Public payroll has gotten WAY out of control. But I think it's NObama's plan to do this. He's bringing EVERYTHING into the gov payroll and he won't stop until he has near 100% gov control over our lives.
I'm a government employee and I endorse this article.
CA courts have consistently ruled that retirement pay and benefits are vested, meaning the state cannot eliminate or even reduce them, regardless of the financial situation of the state. The combination of greedy unions that always want more, even when there is less money coming in, and whorish politicians that give away the public money in return for labor union support at election time have created a situation that cannot be pushed aside until next year. I enjoy watching the collapse of the corrupt gravy train that is government employment. They will not surrender quietly, though. Look at what is coming for Prop. 13: They always want more.
I was thinking on this for a while, but wouldnt it be better if we could drop the whole public school all together and privatize it. Since, when things are privatized, they usually end up being more productive and you wont have to worry about those worthless unions getting in the way.
I know its asking alot, but the gov't just needs to get its hands off of the free market, education and so on.
They are LEECHES and are SUCKING US DRY!!!
Currently about
8 million Public Sector
8 million private sector
I was looking for that number.
That's our challenge to take back America. We may even have double that , is there 32 Million votes available in November ? Educate everyone you meet.
Jim, try looking up Newport Beach = $195k base salary, not including benefits, car, living adjustments, etc. By the way, Newport Beach, albeit well off, is a small community. Please don't come on this blog and use what you believe. Facts only – thanks.
This is absolutely true. We here in California are living this nightmare. The public sector union is draining the citizens pocket books because no raise is to big for them. The rest of us suffer with sky high taxes.
http://www.PoliticalCentrist.com News and views for independent voters
Did you say something?
I was distracted by the fairy tale music and sight of those criminal teachers protesting because they want to leech our money even more.
please, please, please. someone help me find a private sector job so i can get out of this public sector insanity. you have no idea how crazy this is.
[...] Nick Gillespie offers three reasons why public-sector unions are helping to kill the economy [edited for brevity]: 1. They cost too [...]
Actually, the Arizona powers-that-be have been moving away from the civil service idea of having employees who are covered (i.e. can be fired only for just cause.) In other words, we're moving back to the spoils system. As an ex-state-employee, I saw the effects. Incompetents were rewarded for being boot lickers while hard-working employees feared for their positions. Star employees left. Pay has gone up drastically for the "in crowd;" everyone else is still making less than the private sector.
Related parody: Government Celebrates Takeover of Stimulus Bill http://optoons.blogspot.com/2009/11/government-ce...
Check this….
http://apathetic-usa.com
They wouldn't need to be babysitters if parents did their job.
Why does a teacher need to have business skills? Some basic understanding is important, but they don't need the skills to run a business. They don't have time for that, teaching is hard enough.
You're actually quite ignorant. A bigger issue in education is teachers learning a subject in depth but NOT having the skills to teach it. In particular using technology and modern techniques to foster academic rigor, compared to our traditional form of education that is just lecture and exams. Teacher colleges focus too much on theory and subject-matter, they need to do better at teaching the skills of teaching.
I hire people every day for a living and neither I, nor my colleagues, will hire a former government or university employee. Throughout my career I have found out the hard way that the majority are lazy and incapable of being productive, timely and accountable to their employers. Private sector employees are, by far, superior.
Wow an out of work Obama thug posting non-contextual nonsense, what a refreshing change.
Not all government employees are overpaid, most though are underworked, and if not underworked work in meaningless jobs
Eliminate 1/2 of the government positions, state or local, exlcuding fire, law, and dot and no one would notice or care, except of course for the government employees and wards of the state.
The benefit part is BS though, you all have gold plated retirement and pensions that will be paid by the taxpayer not your dues, pensions funds are subsidized by us, just like everything else in the government.
No, we pay your salary, you just consume like the vampires that you all are, living off the backs of others.
Unless you are a cop or fire fighter I have no use for anything you do as a government employee.
Hey Anon how are you doing, or is it Miki, or JPA
Hard to keep the juu haters straight, give us another clue please
Fine, paid from my salary without my consent as in it's not my choice to fund your incompetence, it just happens.
Terrible metaphor on your behalf.
Are you DHasselhoff's brother?
The Sheriff in Pima County, Arizona makes well over that. He actually makes more that the POTUS.
Within the County and City government for Tucson, there are over 100 people making over $100,000 annually.
There are many on the sheriff and police force that exceed that and one janitor that made around $160,000 (with overtime). Go figure…
When your roads need fixing or your drainage system falls apart, just who do you plan to call?
Yes, but Israel is not only the biggest recipient but the biggest recipient per capita by a LONG shot. The Israeli apologists like to talk about how great Israel's economy is doing yet they still want their welfare from the American Goy (while they spit on Christians in Israel.)
So, why aren't you still there if it was so good?
Yeah, giving TENS OF TRILLIONS to banks is not worthy of an article but bashing Americans is. Good ol' Breitbart.
Guess the pay isn't that great.
ECHO ECHO ECHO
If MY drainiage system needed fixing I would be doing it, not depending on the government.
If you are talking about city sewers then I suppose the city would be responsble, in a previous post I put DOT in the mix, probably should have added public works I suppose, though in reality that should be farmed out to the private sector to avoid unions and keep costs down and competence up.
I would as soon take back utilities of any type (power, water, roads) from the government since they constantly overcharge and underperform.
Answer your question?
If we would cut our enormous military that would help a lot. Our military should be used to protect the US which it isn't doing by serving Israel's interests in the Middle East. How many illegals do we have here now?
Who provides your trash pickup, your mail delivery, the clean water to your house, the facilities to deal with your crap, the guys that put out your fire, save your life, protect your ass, fix your roads, keep your air clean, ?
Are you kidding me? What is your statement based off? Early morning feelings?
it's just factual. You have to elaborate for the point to be true. as far as incompetence goes, one don't paint me in that brush i dont work for the public sector, two those are extremely broad strokes you paint with. Is the public sector broke? Sure? Should it be outlawed? Thats just absurd. Do you use roads? Do you expect to put out fires yourself or do you call the fire department? Are you going to hire private security or do you expect help from the police?
I have a sense of pride, unlike you liberal layabouts.
I love the way you actually think that that environment was "good." A job is "good" if you get paid for doing nothing?
Typical leftist sponger.
I choose to purchase groceries. Safeway doesn't extract funds from my paycheck without my consent.
Actually,
1. That is incorrect. Most government jobs still relate to private industry jobs.
2. Totally incorrect. Most managers come from the public side. The problem is that on the private side, you can hire and fire a hell of a lot easier than in public.
3. Wrong again. While a lot of public sector employees do retire from the government, many more leave to find work in the private ssector.
4. To say that I have no idea how to survive in the real world is laughable. Not only could I find a job, I have had several offers for more money. I like what I do at my public job and provide a valuable service. My wife also works on the public dime and works her ass off as an advocate for people just like you and me.
Sure, there are lazy asses working for the government, but there are plenty in the private sector too. Been there and seen that.
All of the points you gave are extreme and false.
Try again.
One word – Greece
Thanks for your comment.
So are you saying that only 16 million people have jobs? Out of 300 million?
Hmmmm….
In this county, those jobs are done by private contractors.
Trash pickup and road repair are handled by private firms. Water and sewage – well and septic tank. Fire? Volunteer fire & rescue squad. Protect my ass? You mean the police?: yes, policing is a legitimate government function- but they don't "protect" me. I protect me, and the cops come around a quarter-hour later.
And of course, you haven't mentioned the worthless crap that accounts for the other 70% of public-sector spending. Weatherizing? Cash for clunkers? Puppet theaters?
"The incompetent product that they turn-out is fit to do only one thing–teach".
Nope. Unfit for that too.
your gonna need those names when we get attacked after the economy collapses.
You want to shrink government? Offer a 1% bounty to Congress. They get to keep 1% of of every budget item they cut. Brother, you would see Big Government disappear right before your eyes! Entire Departments would be de-funded overnight. Hundreds of billions of dollars in waste and fraud would come to light as if by magic! We know they could do it…they just lack the incentive.
1. Just because they "relate" doesn't mean anyone wants to leave for lower pay and higher expectations.They may "relate" to private sector jobs, but they use outdated methodology and programs. The management skills required have some similarities but there are a lot of differences between public and private sector skills in this area. Statistically once you start a public sector job you don't leave.
2. Statistically you are incorrect, and lol, yes the inability to fire inefficient and just plain bad employees is one of the biggest problems in government employment.
3. Statistically you are incorrect
4. So you'd rather live off of my salary then actually add something to the US economy. It's telling that both you and you're wife draw your salaries out of my earnings.
What happens when the unstoppable force meets the immovable object? We're about to find out, aren't we?
Good for you. At least you haven't had your soul sucked out …yet.
Bob, I'm a current Fed employee and what you said is true. The real waste in government that I've seen over my 25 year career is management ranks and invented staff positions. They grow like weeds. There is a culture in the government ranks ( at least of my professional trade ) where you routinely have career employees actually doing work, and then you have a whole group that move up to management and staff support roles and make more money than the "worker bee" but their actual worth to the operation goes down.
It is problematic and I think it is systemic in the Federal Govt. Made-up positions here and there and special projects for this guy or that gal and they simply continue on and on. And since they're position just bloomed, it is hard to kill.
There are certain Federal sector jobs that are necessary. The waste is the required supervision of those employees and the huge amount of waste in the upper management and staff ranks…. and at least in our Dept, the management has a very strong association/union protecting their rights… to soak the taxpayers and dither until they can retire.
Go back to your KKK rally, loser.
You are a rare and exceptional person. I applaud you.
The ability to see reason is clouded in many by where their paycheck comes from. The more people who draw their salary on the backs of others and work for the government, the more people who won't see the problems within the government. I think that's the plan.
Well then, do you fly? If so, then you use the services of air traffic control. If you don't like our pay, then apply to work as a controller and show us how you do it with less money. I actually think you would not come back to work because you wouldn't be able to handle it.
Actually, Sam, many of us Feds are former military. I think we know more about productivity, timeliness, and accountablity than you will EVER know! Private sector employees may be superior at getting fat or kissing ass, but not superior in any other way!
If you fly, then you need us VAMPIRES!!! Quit your whining! We get paid for WORK that you couldn't handle!
and the next time your house catches on fire the fire department can wait for your consent to put out the flame?
Do the airplanes in the US get to their destination safely? Yes, they do, so we must not be too incompetent. Air Traffic Control pays well. If you think you've got the skills, then TRY to join us and make good money!
my point is it should be regulated yes. Is it broken sure. But to toss the thing is absurd.
My husband is a cop in a large city. He makes a lot less than others with the same education (4 year degree) and responsibilities. Many are retiring (he is eligible but is trying to stay a few more years) which means that the rest of the cops are working more overtime (but they are not allowed overtime, only comp time – and when that gets to the 240 hour mark they are required to take off, even if they don't want to, leaving less troops on the street). Retirees are not being replaced. The average cop is overworked and underpaid. After 25 years he FINALLY got a Saturday off! It's the brass (do nothing bureaucrats) that are having their departments expand along with salaries on top of it.
Yes those are private firms. But you want to see how high your prices go up when the local government isn't contracting them and they have fractured routes? I sure don't.
But fine as to your point with the police. Okay tell you what, you show me proof that you forgo all police protection in the name of self reliance and i'll admit im wrong.
I'm not envious. You guys are the ones preaching class warfare on here. "Waah, waah, feds get paid too much!! I'm jealous!" The same opportunities are available to you. Join the Marines, serve your country, learn a valuable skill, put it to use. Very simple action plan that I followed. You, too, can follow a similar plan, or you can just whine on here about the MAN keeping you down!
I have a choice whether and which store to buy from. I have a choice in which businesses I support. I have no choice with the government. I give them money which they spend as they please.
When power was in State and local government an individual had a lot more say in how their taxes were spent. The more the Federal government takes over, the less say we each have in how our money is spent. I have a choice which state to live in even. If I wanted health care I could move to Mass. If the federal government decides we should have socialized health in the whole country, where do I move to get good health care? Cuba?
Please do tell what this job was that you just showed up for and collected a check. Do you need your boss to micromanage you in order to be productive? You had the CHOICE to take initiative and be productive. If you didn't choose to do that, then that says a lot about your CHARACTER!!
I so agree with you. I see it over and over, when they want a tax hike they threaten the schools or to release prisoners, they don't threaten to have the museum open only 3 days a week, not fund the guy with the forked tongue painted green who slithers in the grass and calls it art, or to not study the frogs.
I'm sure you CHOOSE to fly. If so, then that is why you pay taxes for the GOVERNMENT to ensure that you get to your destination safely!
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