Do You Support Trenton's A.C. Takeover? 
REPORT: Public Workers Earn More While Private Sector Employees Suffer
| March 12, 2010 As if we needed it, here's more evidence that Chris Christie is correct to pursue aggressive civil service compensation reforms.
Believe it or not, the Feds released a new comparative compensation study on Wednesday morning (how did Obama's people let this get out?). The report confirmed something that New Jersey taxpayers already know all too well: government worker compensation is disproportionately generous when compared to private sector compensation!
Click here to view the report summary from the Bureau of Labor and Statistics.
The report's key finding is that while economic downturns may have a negative impact on private sector employee compensation, government workers continue to see their salary and benefits increase over time. New Jersey is no exception to the rule, Save Jerseyans, and it's a large part of the reason we're broke. It's not complicated or difficult to understand! If taxpayers are paying less taxes due to declining earned income levels, then how can they also be expected to support an ever-expanding government workforce demanding higher salaries? They can't, which is why New Jerseyans are running for the bridges and far away from Trenton's ballooning budget shortfall.
I've said it before and I'll say it again: our own state's pension system woes aren't the result of "underfunding." That conclusion puts the cart before the horse. The root cause is overcompensation in the first place!
An illustrative chart from the report:
Supplemental Reading: "Gov't Workers Feel No Economic Pain" - (Washington Times, 3/11/10)
I'm a state worker who is TIRED OF THE UNION LEADERSHIP. They're greedy pigs and they're going to get us all canned with this stupid pettiness. I hope Christie sticks'em all behind bars for defrauding the people of Jersey.
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Many Private sector people don’t want to remember when Public workers were paid minimum wages in return for decent compensatory benefits. They forgot the Go-Go days for the Private sector prior to September 2008. They don’t acknowledge how Public sector jobs were scorned for low compensation and difficult and dangerous work. Not to mention that Public sector work is SERVICE work to benefit society as opposed to Private sector benefiting self–interest.
Gee, now that the Private sector is hurting due to the Private sector’s excessive greed and short-sightedness, there is this moaning and whining about how well the Public sector is doing.
Well, could it be because Public sector has had the benefit of union advocacy while the Private sector unions have been eviscerated? Could it be because the Private sector is subject to the Darwinian “survival of the fittest” without regard to the hardships of individual families? Could it be that the Public sector is an easy scapegoat compared to the true villains of this debacle, the irresponsible plutocrats of Wall Street and the incompetent politicians of New Jersey?
Your selection of one statistical graph out of a complex 23 page Summary is simplistic. Also note that it is for December 2009. If you look at the past 30 years of these statistics, you will see the inequities of low compensation over time for the public sector.
For instance, if you research this entire document in regard to the professional categories, it can be seen that total compensation for public and private sector are quite comparable with the private sector receiving more compensation in wages and the public sector receiving more in benefits.
You might consider other sources of pertinent statistics such as the top 1% of our population control 42% of the country’s wealth.
What should be happening is not to lower the average person's wage, public or private, to advantage a greedy corporate bottom-line but rather for the average wage earner to enjoy livable wages, affordable health insurance, and a secure retirement.
The current egregious examples by Governor Christie of public sector abuse are in a distinct minority and these citations are typical examples of their disinformation strategy. (Remember Reagan and his absurd insinuation that welfare mothers drive Cadillac’s? At the time, a single mother lived on a grant of $322 a month. It is worse for them now…30% unemployment among the poor)
Pensions have been under funded or not funded at all for many years because people, while they want public services, do not want to pay for them. This is called impaired reality testing.
Instead of scapegoating public employees, I would like to see members of Congress focusing on appropriate regulation of Wall Street and reformation of campaign finance. In the long run, those are the problems that, once resolved, would be of greatest benefit to the average person.
In the short run, federal aid to the states would certainly be helpful.
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