Descriptions like this always make me laugh! To determine whether the salary is appropriate, you have to answer a question: "What does the 'average employee' do?" And there is no real answer, because the federal government employs neurosurgeons AND janitors. A few years back, when I actually looked into the federal salary issue, I discovered that many of the higher paid feds (surgeons, engineers, etc) were actually earning less than they would have in the private sector, while the lower paid feds (janitors, secretaries, etc.) were paid more than the private sector (but only a fraction of the $100k figure quoted here).
Anyone actually wanting to get federal spending under control is wasting their time, arguing about salaries. We should be cutting entire departments - shut down Education, Interior, etc., etc., etc, and terminate 100% of their employees. Let the States handle whatever real work they might have been doing, and any of the former feds that want to work can apply for a State job...
The government staff looks out the window and says, "There are ten things in this industry, we can't possibly keep up with private industry for seven of those things but we'd love to do them. The other three are a complete loss, a migraine, and require herculean effort for the slightest gain, but we can't ignore them."
The government ends up with military construction, weapon systems, roadways, infrastructure, emergency management, mental health, urban development, waste management, public safety, toxic cleanups, policing, court systems, prisons, etc. and suffers through them.
At Fort Greely in Alaska they get paid $40.00 per hour to push a brooom around.