When the Takers Make More than the Makers

If more Americans knew this, they’d be even more angry. This is clearly an area where most Republican elected officials would rather taxpayers remain in the dark. Here is Gene Van Son writing at American Thinker:

When I was a lad way back in the 60s my father gave me some career planning advice — “If you want to make money go to work in the private sector, but if you want job security go to work in the public sector. The public sector doesn’t pay as well as the private sector but the benefits are good and you’ll never have to worry about getting laid off.”

My father’s advice made sense. Government employees are ‘public servants’ and servants are not supposed to make more than their employers. But that was then and this is now. The times have changed.

With 2.7 million-plus workers (excluding non-civilian military) the federal government is the largest employer in the U.S. But now it seems that federal employees are also the best paid workers in the U.S. And when benefits are added in, the total compensation for federal employees dwarfs private sector pay —

Federal workers’ pay and benefits were 78 percent higher than private employees, who earned an average of $52,688 less than public sector workers last year.

The study found that federal government workers earned an average of $84,153 in 2014, compared to the private sector’s average of $56,350. Cato based its findings on figures from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA).

But when adding in benefits pay for federal workers, the difference becomes more dramatic. Federal employees made $119,934 in total compensation last year, while private sector workers earned $67,246, a difference of over $52,000, or 78 percent.

But it turns out that it’s not just federal government workers who are happily succoring at the teats of the private sector. State and local government workers are also sucking Joe and Josephine Taxpayer dry.

In Democratically controlled Wayne County MI — where the Democratically controlled bankrupt city of Detroit is located — 15 part-time county commissioners are each pulling in $70,000 per year in salaries, a salary that is just $10,000 less per year than the salary that Michigan’s so-called ‘full time’ state legislators earn. And that’s not all:

In 2010, the commission concocted a scheme to take advantage of a loophole in the pension system and allow themselves to qualify for a rich and rapid retirement benefit.

An investigative report last year by WXYZ-TV Ch. 7 revealed some of the pension jackpots. Commissioner Joe Palamara is guaranteed a lifetime pension of $33,660. Laura Cox, a former commissioner and now a state representative, gets $32,000 a year. Retired commissioner Bernard Parker took accelerated payments of $170,000, and then converted to a $27,000 annual benefit. Commissioner Jewel Ware’s pension will be $42,900.

These pensions are not for a lifetime of service; some were awarded after just a few years in office, and can be collected as soon as commissioners leave office, regardless of age.

Read more: American Thinker

Image credit: www.usnews.com.