Federal workers poised to overtake salaries of senators, DC gets highest pay raise (Time to move that government cheese, cut federal employees in a big way)

What many people don’t understand outside of the Beltway is how comfy life is for all too many within (and around) the Beltway. (Granted they have to live in a traffic ensnarled jungle of strip malls and daycare centers.) And we are not talking about politicians or lobbyists, at least not solely. By far it is the bureaucracy that is the fattest pig at the trough.

And remember it is you out in Muncie, Durham, Augusta, and Walla Walla, who finance the cushy lifestyles of the mid-level crony class. Washington DC is BY FAR the wealthiest area of the United States, it is a McMansion sea of hundreds of square miles stretching from beyond the Blue Ridge in the west (deep now into West Virginia if you can believe it), south to the Rappahannock River, east to the Chesapeake Bay, and north, well, to somewhere around Baltimore where DC blends with the Northeastern Corridor. This is a pattern we see in “developing” countries. The wealth of a country is aggregated in the hands of the “court”. While the hinterlands are farmed. It’s a Hunger Games mentality. (And it was not always like this. It really began to change about 25 years ago.)

Decentralizing the government apparatus in Washington should be a priority. It should be taken up with gusto. Agencies should be cut and/or moved. Washington DC should go through the recession it didn’t feel while the rest of the country languished over the last decade.

Of course asking (telling) the court to give up its power is a colossal order. But for the long term health of the country, indeed in the name of simple justice, such an effort must be taken up.

It may seem impossible now. With effort and focus it need not be. The 21st Century should be one that corrects for the antiquated centralized thinking of the 20th Century. Times change. There is no (physical) reason we couldn’t automate 1/5 of all government work over the next 12 months. And then go from there. (It sounds crazy. But really 1/5 overnight could be done. It would meet massive resistance but it could physically be done.)

Of course people will have to be bought off through early retirement and other goodies most of the crony government class probably doesn’t deserve. And even then the government workers will bitch like you’ve never seen bitching once we start getting serious. They, after all think YOU work for THEM. But either deal with their nonsense now or continue going down a dangerous and unsustainable path. I’ll pay the bureaucracy, one time, to generally shut up and go away. How about you?

(From The Washington Examiner)

The Washington area, where the bulk of federal workers are employed, will get the biggest pay raise under the order signed by President Trump before Christmas. There, the increase for General Service workers will be 2.29 percent.

The average federal worker in 2016 earned $86,365. With benefits, the total compensation was $123,160.

The average nonfederal pay in the nation was $58,726, with total compensation at $69,901.

One additional note. For some reason many government workers think that even though they enjoy unrivaled job security (good luck EVER firing a government employee), and even though it is the private sector that pays for their employment, somehow government employees should be paid a commensurate amount with people in the private sector (as we can see now they are often paid far more which it just crazy) with similar “education levels”. As if having a masters degree just means that one should have a higher salary. That we the taxpayers should throw some cash at you because you jumped through that hoop. Why? Is your productivity, value to the enterprise worth more than someone doing the same job with a bachelors degree? Of course not. But in the world of government productivity (reality) means little. It is checking the box that counts. (I defy any federal employee to tell me this isn’t the case. By the way, some of our best readers are federal employees who give us the skinny on occasion. Plus we’ve lived around Washington DC for decades. We know the culture.)

We in the private productive sector pay for this entitled mentality. We should not.

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