Posted on 09/17/2018 10:59:10 AM PDT by John Semmens
Democrats in Congress are calling for legislation to reinstate a pay increase that President Trump canceled by executive order. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md) labeled Trump’s pay freeze “an indefensible attack on the hard-working government employees who keep the country going.”
The reasoning behind the federal pay freeze is that government workers already earn far more for comparable work than their private sector counterparts. According data from Bureau of Economic Analysis, annual wages for federal government employees is nearly $89,000 vs. $59,000 for similar jobs in the private sector. When fringe benefits are counted, the gap widens to $127,000 vs. $71,000.
Raskin contends that the comparison is invalid. “Government needs to retain the best and brightest among the population,” the Congressman said. “We have to pay a premium to woo the elite performers away from the less important functions of the private sector. The actions of private sector workers are more limited in scope—affecting the narrow constituency of customers and shareholders. The actions of government workers crafting the rules and regulations that tell the private sector what to do are much more important and broader in scope. They deserve to be paid more.”
Rep. Scott Taylor (D-Va) pointed out that “a workforce that has become accustomed to higher levels of pay cannot easily adapt to lower than anticipated wages. If they become dissatisfied they are in a position to shut down the entire country. The country can survive if truckers, or steel workers, or construction workers go on strike, but can it survive if the people who write and enforce the regulations go on strike? I don’t think the American people want to find out. It would be better to pay now than be sorry later.”
Meanwhile, St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank President James Bullard credited President Donald Trump with boosting U.S. economic growth in a way that may prove to be sustainable by lifting productivity. “Trump’s impact isn’t the fleeting temporary bump from a government spending binge,” Bullard observed. “The tax cuts and deregulation he has championed have increased the real returns on private sector investment. As long as these returns aren’t undermined by policy reversals economic growth will tend to compound at higher and higher rates over time.”
if you missed any of this week's other semi-news/semi-satire posts you can find them at...
https://azconservative.org/2018/09/16/trump-worse-than-bin-laden/
how about a 30% pay cut?
IMO, a good way to start culling the government worker herd.
or would that be too harsh?
how about a 30% pay cut?”””
Works for me.
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