Stimulus Plan Caters to the Privileged Public Sector

Joel Kotkin has another great one in New Geography on the special class of workers:

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports state and local government workers get paid 33% more than their private sector counterparts. If you add in the pensions and other benefits, the difference is over 40%. In New York alone, public-sector wages and benefits since 2000 have grown twice as fast as those of the average private-sector worker.

Egregious stories of overpaid public workers are legion. In suburban Chicago, for example, some school administrators are making over $400,000 with benefits and incentives. Recent reports out of Boston suggest hundreds of firefighters and police officers make well in excess of $100,000 a year. And of course, there are the California prison guards who can make upwards of $300,000 a year with overtime.

Of course, most public sector employees are not so lucky. But, for the most part, these workers enjoy protections, like health care for life, that most others could only dream about. Many also have pensions that allow them to retire in their 50s, while some of us will be hod-carrying well into our 70s.

You'll want to read the whole article.