Public Employees Bankrupting the US

President Obama and the Democrat Socialist that control Congress are indeed bankrupting the United States with Trillions of dollars of deficit spending; but let me count the ways. First, there are many pork barrel projects that have been funded by the SwindleUS Plan. And, then there all the bail outs that represent political pay offs; but that is not the worst of it. Public employee unions like SEIU have extracted packages from the states and the federal government that provide them unparalleled perks, benefits and salaries way beyond what is typical in the private sector.

It used to be that people worked in public service sacrificing higher wages for more job security and better benefits. Today, government employees get paid more, have better fringe benefits, retire with larger pensions (remember many are not on Social Security) and have rock solid job security. In other words, government employees have it all at taxpayer expense. In 2008, the average base salary for a federal government employee was $79,197. The average base salary for a private sector employee was $49,935. Hence, the average federal government employee makes $29,262 more than the typical employee in the private sector and this does not include the fully loaded cost of benefits. And, maybe it would not be so bad if Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, the Post Office, the FDIC and Amtrac were not bankrupt, or if the service we get from federal employees was not often mediocre at best.

Bankrupt California is another case in point. If someone is elected to the California State Assembly or Senate and remains in office for just five years and is 50 years old or more when leaving office, they receive full health care benefits for life. If the former elected representative dies, the spouse or partner would get the same benefits for life. Even before age 50, some California state employees have three health care options that require no employee contribution at all. The state pays the entire premium. If that were not enough, California Assembly and Senate employees get free dental and vision care, free life insurance, paid leave up to three months for a new mother or one month of paid "parental bonding leave" for a new father, massive pension benefits, 12 - 15 paid holidays, 12 sick days and up to six weeks vacation. What a sweet deal for a state that is bankrupt. This state compensation package is far in excess of anything typical in the private sector.

Teachers are another story. Teacher always complain that they are underpaid. First teachers typically get all the benefits listed above. And, all should remember that teachers basically work nine months a year with lots of paid holidays; not the eleven months after vacations that the rest of us work. So, on an annual fully loaded basis, for nine months work, teachers actually do pretty well in many school districts. And, teachers with many years of tenure do very well receiving pensions that are 80% or more of their last year salary, way beyond the highest level of Social Security benefits since teachers are not on Social Security. Finally, the United States spends more on public education than most other countries, yet student performance in math and science is below many other countries that spend significantly less. In fairness to teachers, all the video games and other such distractions given to kids by their parents that take the place of reading books may have a little something to do with this problem, as well.

And, lets not forget the Members of Congress and the President. Congressional salaries are around $200,000. I think the President gets around $400,000 annually. But the annual benefits and perks amount to hundreds of thousands of dollars if not millions of dollars for the President. Sitting on the other side of Baltimore International Airport is Andrew Air force base where all the private government jets sit at the disposal of the Members of the House and Senate. And, of course every one knows about Air Force One, the President's home away from home. The President also gets the White House and Camp David fully appointed and staffed for FREE at tax payer expense. If this was you or I, we would have to report all of these perks as taxable; but not our elected representatives. Federal elected representatives get all of these perks for FREE and then have the audacity to point fingers at corporate executives for their pay packages and perks.

Should we laugh or cry? What is wrong with this picture? At the same time that we have 17% real unemployment in the United States and people are being laid off daily, President Obama and the Democrat Socialist that control Congress want to raise taxes in one way or another to redistribute our incomes to their PEEPS, which include government employees who are the real FAT CATS in our country. Forget about the small percentage of people making millions and focus on the millions of people in government living off the fat of our land. These government union employees and groups like AARP and ACORN are behind HealthScare, CAP and TAX, the Bail Outs and the SwindleUS Plan because they stand to benefit from all these Socialist schemes. We are working for them instead of the other way around. Clearly, we must take back our country to end this enslavement.

We need government employees at reasonable costs comparable to the private sector; just not so many of them that would otherwise deny us our freedoms by regulating every aspect of our lives. President Obama and the Democrat Socialists that control Congress and their union allies support big government and high taxation to fund the exorbitant pay packages of government employees. These pay packages are the pay off for huge union political contributions. Together, public employee unions, President Obama and the Democrat Socialists that control Congress are bankrupting our country. Just look at the falling value of the dollar against other currencies and you will see the end result of all their deficit spending.