[americanophile]

It's an odd comparison in one sense, since states set their chief executives’ pay, and the federal government, a separate sovereign, sets its employees pay, but the larger point about the relative levels of responsibility and bloated federal salaries is duly noted.

[PittsburghAfterDark]

In all fairness to this argument...

How can entities like the CIA, NSA, FBI or DoD get anyone remotely at the top of their field vs. private security, defense contractors, Google, Apple, MS etc. if they don’t pay an above average salary.

Old argument at NSA was most of their best brains could make more money making the new Halo or Madden than doing national security work.

Now of course we will probably agree with that sentiment. However you can’t tell me SS, Agriculture, Education,HHS, Energy, Interior etc. aren’t completely filled with useless bodies.