Gee, all those people that got layed off at Cisco and Nortel should try this. I doubt any state or fed employee has been layed off in the last 50 years.
I have done compensation studies in both the private and public sectors and government employees have benefit packages between 37% and 50% of base pay. The private sector typically is 25% to 33% max. Public sector productivity runs 65% to 75%,while private sector is 10% to 15% higher. The reason for this is primarly poor management and the politics of keeping your head down.
A bureaucracy's purpose is to expand, not to provide a service or solve a problem(then they wouldn't be needed). There a lots of good people in government, but they tend to be low risk takers, and, hey, look at the benefit package and job security.