May 7, 2010
Want to get rich, asks Mark Tapscot in a Washington Examiner editorial? Work for the federal government.
The Commerce Department has revealed a pay gap between the private sector and federal workers. And federal workers are making more - a lot more. In 2008 - the latest year for which figures are available - the average federal salary was $119,982, compared with just $59,909 for the average private sector employee. In other words, the average federal bureaucrat makes twice as much as the average taxpayer working at a job that produces goods and services people want to buy.
The average federal employee's benefits adds $40,785 to his annual total compensation. The total added compensation in the private sector is $9,881.
The federal and state unions government employees have driven much of this.
Why wouldn't more and more people want to work for government with salaries and benefits like these? The liberals are building a dynasty; no make that a fiefdom. And the rest of us are the serfs.
Cal Thomas is a nationally syndicated columnist based in Washington, D.C.
