PLUNDERING STATE COFFERS

The economy is struggling. People are without jobs or their income has been reduced with prices rising. Yet one group of workers and retirees are doing quite well, thank you very much. They are the state and federal government employees.

Police, firefighters, teachers, transit and highway workers through their unions and pressure groups have had their way with legislatures and city and county councils with taxpayer funded pensions until bankruptcy is the only remedy. Courts can't and won't change the retirement provisions already granted.

California and nine other states are insolvent and can't pay their pension obligations

with current tax receipts, plus the majority of the remaining states are struggling to make ends meet. Early retirement feature and reduced number of work years to vest eligibility have added to the paid retirement burden. Some plans allow retirement at age 55 after working only 10 years and pay for life 75% of the highest salary earned. All public safety officials in California receive 90% of their final year's pay for the rest of their lives and the life of the spouse also. Orange county, CA firefighters receive an average pay and benefit package of $175,000.

In former days, public employees earned lower wages than employees in the private sector, but they had higher retirement benefits. Today they get higher wages, better retirement, reduced work schedules and more days off. Legislatures and councils have passed employee protection packages that almost prohibit the firing or discharging of public employees for whatever reason .

Federal employees are quite well paid. In fact federal employees earn in total compensation twice as much as workers in the private sector. What's more, the gap between government and private workers is growing. In 2000 the average federal civilian compensation was $76,187, while private sector employees earned $45,772. In 2008, while those not embraced by the comfortable, recession-proof arms of the federal government have seen their average compensation grow to only $59,909, federal workers now take home a whopping average of $119,982.

While up to 1/5th of private enterprise employees have lost their jobs, the federal government is still hiring and their payrolls plus cost of living increases is growing exponentially.

Something has to change. "The unsustainable cannot be sustained"

With Love and Kindness,

THE HATMAN