These are dangerous times we’re living in. Dangerous times for Americans who want to keep their inalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
Government is growing at an alarming rate and paying itself hefty salaries.
In Grover Norquist’s book, Leave Us Alone, he writes:
“In 2004, the average wage-and-benefit package for a private-sector worker was $51,876. The average federal worker earned $100,178 in wages and benefits. (For wages alone, private sector workers earned $42,635 and federal employees took home $66,589.) Total wages and benefits see federal workers taking in almost twice as much each year.” Besides the wage disparities, government leaders are telling us, the private citizens, what we can do, when we can do it, and what we have to give up.
If we sell our homes, we now have to pay our local government a sales tax on the sale. If we own a car, besides a license and insurance, we have to pay our city for a sticker. If we go to a movie, a theatre, a sports event, a restaurant, a hotel, or take an airplane, we have to pay taxes to the government. There are growing taxes and fees on our phones, cell phones, gasoline, heating fuel, electricity, water, cable television, and everything we need to buy.
We’ve been told we can’t have a gun in our home to protect ourselves, can’t put fences in our yards above a certain height, have to pay a fee to construct a fence, have to pay thousands to get a permit to build swimming pools in our yards, and have to pay growing property taxes to pay for the now exorbitant salaries for school administrators. (If you don’t think their salaries are high, a friend recently told me that his wife, a teacher for fourteen years, was made an assistant superintendent her last year and retired with the equivalent of a $2 million annuity). And your tax dollars are paying for it.
Now the government is talking about cashing in on private industry profits.
We’re hearing a lot of politicians talk about raising taxes on windfall profits and spreading the money around to those who need it. Their talk might sound good to a lot of people, until people begin to look at what such a move means to their investments and pensions. It would mean they’d get a lot less than they thought they would – with the money going from their pensions to people who the government decides need it more. To me, that is socialism. Marxism. I prefer living in a democracy, a republic that is a government by the people, for the people and of the people. I prefer living in a nation where people have the freedom to work, earn a living, and leave something to their children.
If government wants to get into the business of taxing windfall profits, why doesn’t it look at the Teachers Union, the largest in the nation? That Union has money to give untold thousands of dollars to political candidates and funding to a political party. Why doesn’t the government ask the Teachers Union to instead put that money into the schools it says need more money? Elected officials complain that some schools have more money than others. That’s because schools are funded with the property taxes paid by the residents in their areas. Where there are higher property taxes, there are better schools. It’s not a good plan, but it’s the way the government leaders have set it up. Our property taxes are also paying the teachers’ salaries and the superintendents, assistant superintendents, deputy superintendents and support staffs.
Government has been growing at an alarming rate, both nationally, state wide, countywide and citywide.
We’re now working for and paying the government rather than the government working for us. It’s time for Americans to wake up and demand their rights—a full accounting of all government jobs, contracts and expenditures. It’s our right.
These are dangerous times we’re living in.
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Mary Laney is an award-winning journalist who has been involved as television anchor, radio host and frequently-quoted newspaper columnist. She is a regular columnist for the Chicago Daily Observer.
Allen Carlton says:
Executive Order 12871 has made the National Goal to reduce gov't (corporate) and gov't spending. Downsizing as in suicide and executions of gov't employees to reduce gov't cost. Look at some of the collusion decisions being made against valid complaints by gov't employees by law enforcement agencies (subsidiaries)ie. DOJ, DOL, EEOC, OWCP, MSPB etc. Economics over Justice equals Terrorism. (RICO Act)
Jeffrey Barnes says:
This is one of the most ignorant articles I have read in awhile, as is comment #1. Typical of journalists of this day, Ms Laney throws in a few distorted statistice and then takes off on a rant that leaves facts in the dust. I'm not even sure why I read the whole thing.
Evelyn Brown says:
Any statistics can be twisted for specific use. The MYTH of $100,000 average salary was pulled out of sleeve or perhaps taken on the Hill in DC. Maybe she should print government pay scale and note the amount of endless mid and low salaried gov. emloyees. I feel at $36,870 a year I make a very good living for 3 people salary and I also have to pay all the fees, taxes, ...etc just as the rest of the nation.
Don't insult me Ms Laney!
By the way, what is your salary?
V says:
Don't know where your numbers came from for the federal employee but I, as one of those, do not make close to $100,000. Is this more of the leftist, lying journalism???
VA Lady says:
I agree, there are to many directors, and assistants, to the assistant to the directors assistants out the. The gov. is woeful top heavy, and everyone seems to be so old. They all want to do is try to "keep it like the old days", but those days are dead and gone, and so should some of them be. Big pay checks to sleep on the congress floor. I see 'em! Meanwhile some poor clerk that's probably making less than 40,000 a yr is keeping his office runnin like a well oiled machine and doing the work of 4 to 5 people, because they say hiring more people might cut in to "the budget".
bj says:
Good Lord, lady, check your facts first next time! The average governmental salary is NOT $100K. "In March 2007, the average earnings for full-time workers paid under the General Schedule were $65,463. (See table 5)." -- according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics on this page: http://www.bls.gov/oco/cg/cgs041.htm Note that this is for 2007 not 2004 (the year you used).
Even the Washington Post knows better: "According to the Washington Post, the 2008 pay increase will put the median salary for federal employees in the Washington, DC area at $90,698." -- and DC has one of the highest locality pay rates!
Anonymous says:
When throwing around these numbers, the author should have also realized that a lot of lower paying jobs have been contracted out. What is left is, to a disproportionate degree, doctors, lawyers, and other occupations that are paid more in the private sector than in government. There is something called the Relevant Civilian Labor Force. If she had actually looked at the data from the bureau of labor statistics, and compared Federal employees to non-government employees in the same occupations, she would have found Feds are not overpaid. Of course, this may be why she didn't do the comparision. Why allow the pesky truth to get in the way of an agenda?
A Fed says:
I hate to say it, but, according to articles written around 2006 she's absolutely right about Federal wages. One of those articles was posted on Fedtimes by Ralph Smith: http://www.fedsmith.com/article/1002/ who credited Chris Edwards of the Cato Institute with his data, said exactly the same thing. But why, I ask, if we're paid so well is it so difficult to find a well qualified candidate for any technical job I offer? My nephew and nieces aren't even considering working for good ol’ Uncle Sam. Both are opting to use their education and high GPAs in private industry. My only hope is that more well qualified people read this article and decide to give government work a chance. Whether you like it or not, government is necessary evil to provide services (safety and health) most could ill afford without the collective effort of the masses. As the Federal workforce ages (it is rapidly) we’ll need some new people to replace us. Good people with a desire to serve will make it possible for a better government in the future.
Bob Challender says:
Isn't it funny how a work force that has annual pay raises that pretty much match inflation (about 3-3.5%) can take such heat? The real American work force question should be: "Why aren't workers making an 'average wage' in the private sector getting raises that meet the rate of inflation? Too, I am a federal worker paying $5,000 per year for my health benefits (with very limited vision and dental - I'd have to pay more for that). The US health care system is broke. Government workers have access to "affordable" health insurance, but it's not that affordable.
The Brese says:
I totally agree with you. Salaries for school personnel are outrageous. Moreover, we pay those salaries over the course of each teacher's or administrator's lifetime, in the form of a pension. Instead of pensions, new hires (teachers and administrators) at schools should contribute to 401K plans, and salaries (for teachers and administrators) should be capped. Moreover, look at what is being taught in today's schools. We have "Diversity Studies" trumping math and science. That is part of the reason why so many people look for jobs at the Post Office (the largest, oldest, and most inefficient government service which has been proven time and again to be done more cheaply and efficiently by privatization.) Of course, there are some public sector employees who earn their pay and who make less than their counterparts in private sector. But that's not often the case.