Record numbers of Americans are out of work, struggling to avoid foreclosure, and watching their retirement savings evaporate. Meanwhile, 2.1 million federal civil service workers have never had it so good.
The number of these government workers making more than $150,000 per year has more than doubled since President Obama took office, and it has increased tenfold since 2005, according to USA Today.
In 2005, the Defense Department had nine civilian employees making more than $170,000. When Obama took office, the number had risen to 214. The number is now 994 -- an 11,000 percent increase in five years.
Obama has exacerbated the problem by creating 141,000 new federal jobs since he took office -- and that total doesn't count temporary census workers, the postal service or the uniformed military. Democrats are already talking about using the upcoming lame-duck legislation to grant the federal work force yet another pay increase, this time of 1.4 percent.
Never mind that federal pay has increased 3 percent annually since 2005. Never mind that inflation has been nonexistent during that period, or that total compensation for federal bureaucrats has increased nearly four times faster than in the private sector.
National Treasury Employees Union President Colleen Kelley told USA Today that the pay increase "is a modest amount and should be implemented" so the federal work force can stay competitive in the job market. But in many occupational categories, average federal compensation is double that of the private sector.
Moreover, federal union representatives have some nerve demanding pay increases to "stay competitive" when unemployment stands at 9.6 percent. As for being "competitive," the government is the nation's largest employer.
Read more at the Washington Examiner
The number of these government workers making more than $150,000 per year has more than doubled since President Obama took office, and it has increased tenfold since 2005, according to USA Today.
In 2005, the Defense Department had nine civilian employees making more than $170,000. When Obama took office, the number had risen to 214. The number is now 994 -- an 11,000 percent increase in five years.
Obama has exacerbated the problem by creating 141,000 new federal jobs since he took office -- and that total doesn't count temporary census workers, the postal service or the uniformed military. Democrats are already talking about using the upcoming lame-duck legislation to grant the federal work force yet another pay increase, this time of 1.4 percent.
Never mind that federal pay has increased 3 percent annually since 2005. Never mind that inflation has been nonexistent during that period, or that total compensation for federal bureaucrats has increased nearly four times faster than in the private sector.
National Treasury Employees Union President Colleen Kelley told USA Today that the pay increase "is a modest amount and should be implemented" so the federal work force can stay competitive in the job market. But in many occupational categories, average federal compensation is double that of the private sector.
Moreover, federal union representatives have some nerve demanding pay increases to "stay competitive" when unemployment stands at 9.6 percent. As for being "competitive," the government is the nation's largest employer.
Read more at the Washington Examiner
And where did this begin? With your good friend dubya - Put the blame where it should be - the NSPS program created and implemented by the Bush administration is the reason why so many DOD federal employees pay exceed $170K. Its the same republicans that help to push NSPS through that never considered the consequences before that now a whining about the "problem" typical conservative flag waving without substance. Joe, I challenge you to post an article on NSPS if you even know what it is...
ReplyDelete937-Just because it began under W didn't mean it needed to be continued under Obama.
ReplyDelete10:08, I think 937's point is to highlight the hypocrisy of the critiques on the right. They want to pin the blame for all that ills this country on Obama when most of this has been brewing for years. We might find some solutions if people would stop campaigning and start governing.
ReplyDeleteI just wanted to add this to the argument. Just because "W" "started it" didn't mean that Obama had to continue it. When he came to office, he shouted from the mountaintops that he "inherited" a financial mess from Bush. One way he could have started to fix it would have been to start cutting the Federal Payroll. He made a conscious choice not tom but instead he chose to GROW it. It may have "started with Bush" but it has certainly porked up under Obama. Fact is fact.
ReplyDeleteJust make sure if it's a cut, it's a cut across the board. I know for a fact that the post masters in this area received bonuses last year while the staff took pay cuts. I'm not trying to knock the post office. It's just and example of the federal government in general. I think you start by cutting Congress salaries. You start at the top. No exclusions for managers or bonuses for them either. The only ones who would not receive any cuts would be the military. They make enough sacrifices.
ReplyDelete1:09 you don't have a clue...the post office does not receive tax revenue or federal funding at all so leave them out of the conversation
ReplyDeleteAlso, Obama alone can not launch an executive order to lower federal employee's salaries across the board. Neither the house or Senate is going to 2/3 vote to cut people's salaries, themselves included. Obama can not over-ride the democratic process.
and they have found all this money to want to give them all a pay raise..but yet all of the people on social security who could use a pay raise to keep up with the economy was told you are not getting one for a second year in a row...whats wrong with this picture
ReplyDeleteUm, 2:24, If the post Office is losing 8 Billion a year, how do they stay in business and make payroll every week?
ReplyDeleteJust askin'...
not all federal workers are making that kind of money. If they are making over $100,000, a 10% cut, over $150,000 a 15% cut, over $200,000 a 20% cut, and this would go all the way to the top. Remember the prez is pulling in what $400,000 a year.
ReplyDelete