I'm not a government employee. The problem with these salary comparisons is they don't compare job to job. Government doesn't have many burger flippers.
True....but that's probably above their real skills level.
Paper-pushing is not rocket science, and a 50% cut in number of Government employees would be a start on eliminating waste........
There is very little respect around here for the government bureaucratic mentality. I think the shoe fits you to a tee.....
Here is the CBO report Rand used for the 16% number:
Comparing the Compensation of Federal and Private-Sector Employees
CBO's analysis compared federal civilian employees with private-sector employees who resembled them in the following observable characteristics:
Level of education
Years of work experience
Occupation
Employer's size
Geographic location (region of the country and urban or rural location)
Demographic characteristics (age, sex, race, ethnicity, marital status, immigration status, and citizenship).
Yeah, and it's not like Bobo's Great Recession has 'accurately' laid off people, some permanently; so let them experience the same thing the same way.
That's true.
But many of those non-burger-flipping federal employees would be more valuable to the American consumer if they were indeed flipping burgers. Since then they would be doing something the consumer wants and not doing things that curtail the consumer's rights or cost the consumer money (either directly via taxes or indirectly via higher prices).
Of course, many of those worthless government employees would be capable of contributing a lot more than burger flipping services if they were forced into free market employment. The fact that they are not so forced robs the GNP of its potential.