Yes it is well documented. You must work for government. It's the only explanation for your misguided mindset. I don't think you caught the fact that I know some of these workers personally. Yes they make far more than they would in the private sector and have job security, pension and benefits packages that simply can't be matched in the private sector. The reason these compensation packages don't exist in the private sector is no company that must survive by making a profit can afford to offer them. The government on the other hand can just take more from the taxpayers.
The compensation differential like many things in government is being hidden from the public a wherever possible. The feds and all other levels of government don't want the people to know how they are scamming the taxpayers.
You seem to have forgotten that all federal employees study those rules with a keen eye over many years and know more about them that any private sector person can possibly know.
Did you think those water cooler stories were jokes or something?