Dear Arthur T,
 
Approximately 3,500 federal employees in just TWO “small” government agencies earn more than $170,000 each year – excluding overtime and bonuses.

How about you?  Do you make $170,000?  

What has happened to your salary since the start of the recession?  How about your job security?

Do you even still have a job?

At a time when America has just shed over 7 million private sector jobs, the number of Federal jobs has exploded, and so has their pay.

The average federal civilian worker’s pay is pegged at $71,206 versus $40,331 for private sector workers . . . almost double.

And add insult to injury . . .

As a private sector worker  - YOU - are paying for those salaries out of the taxes that the federal government pull out of your wallet.

And for all this money what do they do?  

When bureaucrats try to explain their job, the average American taxpayer has a hard time understanding what they do.  Ironically, they often have a hard time understanding what they do.

All the while you are forced to work harder to pay the salaries of workers who may make twice what you make, to support jobs that can’t be explained.  

In DC, a married couple, both working for the federal government, each making over $100,000 in base salary with 40% in benefits - and liberal vacation time - can cost the taxpayer in excess of $300,000 per year.  

These federal employees hold secure jobs (resignation rates are a mere .2% for good reason) and live in the tony suburb communities of Bethesda, Maryland or Alexandria, Virginia.  Living in beautiful homes, driving expensive cars, sending their children to elite private schools . . . All paid for by you.  

A recent study from the Heritage Foundation concluded that federal employees, even with taking into account “better education” and “more experience” are paid 22% more than their private sector counterparts.

While I don’t necessarily agree with government workers being more experienced (what percentage of bureaucrats have had to worry about making a payroll?) the bottom line is that we’re overpaying federal employees by AT LEAST $47 billion a year.

The conclusion drawn by the Heritage Foundation is that the government needs to convert to a performance-based pay scale.

However, a new merit-based system deployed by the Department of Defense led to across-the-board increases in civilian pay – even Congress objected and voted to end the performance pay scale in 2012.

While I have my opinion on this, I would like to hear from you.

Reduce pay, change the pay scales, or . . . ?

In a few days, Liberty Guard will follow up and get your opinion on government worker pay.  While we would all like to logically see a smaller government with fewer employees, it may be possible to chip away at bloated bureaucracy by taking on excessive salaries, benefits and pensions – federally and locally.

In the meantime, feel free to send me your thoughts by emailing,comments@libertyguard.org.

P.S. If you’re aware of the pay, benefits and pensions of your local or state government, I would like to hear from you.

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