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Federal Workers Making Over $180,000 Increase By 2,000% In Past Five Years
For all those wondering how to cut down on government expenditures, here's a thought: cut the skyrocketing salaries! A study by USA Today, using US Office of Personnel Management data, confirms what has been widely known: that the biggest beneficiaries of government largesse over the past 5 years as a worker cohort, are none other than Federal workers themselves. The numbers are stunning: those earning over $150,000 in the past five years have grown from 7,420 to 82,034, a 1,006% increase. More shockingly, those earning over $180,000 has surged from just 805 in 2005, to 16,912 in 2010: a 2,001% increase. And it is on the background of this that Congress is planning on giving 2.1 million federal workers another 1.4% across the board pay raise! Additionally, it appears that the bulk of the gains have taken place since Obama took office. Can someone please stop the lunacy: this country is beyond bankrupt and it turns out that in addition to Wall Street (which everyone knows does nothing but transfer wealth from the middle class to a few choice CEOs and groupthinking Bloomberg terminal operators), the biggest thief is the very government itself, which has perfected the art of giving with one hand, and taking with 10, almost as well as those enclosed in glass corner offices on Park, Lexington and Broad (and now West).
The stunning comparison of what Federal workers were making in 2005 and 2010, spread by income bucket:
More from USA Today:
Federal salaries have grown robustly in recent years, according to a USA TODAY analysis of Office of Personnel Management data. Key findings:
- Government-wide raises. Top-paid staff have increased in every department and agency. The Defense Department had nine civilians earning $170,000 or more in 2005, 214 when Obama took office and 994 in June.
- Long-time workers thrive. The biggest pay hikes have gone to employees who have been with the government for 15 to 24 years. Since 2005, average salaries for this group climbed 25% compared with a 9% inflation rate.
- Physicians rewarded. Medical doctors at veterans hospitals, prisons and elsewhere earn an average of $179,500, up from $111,000 in 2005.
Federal workers earning $150,000 or more make up 3.9% of the workforce, up from 0.4% in 2005.
Since 2000, federal pay and benefits have increased 3% annually above inflation compared with 0.8% for private workers, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Members of Congress earn $174,000, up from $141,300 in 2000, an increase below the rate of inflation.
Jessica Klement, government affairs director at the Federal Managers Association, says the government's official pay analysis shows that federal workers earn less than private workers for comparable jobs. Still, she says, managers are willing to give up next year's raise: "If it will help the country bounce back, they're willing to make the sacrifice."
And just to make sure you get really angry, here is how one Federal Union views the fact that government workers as a whole are now the second best paid group after Wall Street:
National Treasury Employees Union President Colleen Kelley counters that the proposed raise "is a modest amount and should be implemented" to help make salaries more comparable with those in the private sector.
Once again, we get confirmation that Americans always get nothing more or less than the thieves in control they deserve, and elect.
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I coulda been a bus driver and retired now at six digits and perks with my kids still in elem school
Then again, I could'uv been an unelected gov't official and launched a nuclear war or, initiated a massive flood of specie into the economy and I mean massive. But alas those jobs didn't pay that much better.
Where is it exactly where retired bus drivers get 6 figures? Hard to believe.
Dont' be so surprised. There were some news stories ove the summer about teachers, fireman and policemen (and not to mention turnpike employees) getting six figures and more. Some retired in their 40s.
Total bullshit.
well those pot-smokin' pacifists ain't gonna arrest themselves......
lol federal workers.
LOOK AT THE CONTRACTORS. They're paid many times that amount and there are WAY more of them.
The Contractor OWNERS make all the money, NOT its employees. Aside from regular pay, those employees DO NOT get anywhere near the benefits of the goverment workers.
they will to work in the killerweed grow room the prison needs to maintain to survive the coming cuts from lack of taxpayer feedstock.
bobboberson
In the 80's I knew a guy who hooked up with an ex NYC cops wife. The cop was the highest paid beat cop in the city at that time.
Anyway, the cop trick was to make a bust just before quiting time. He would then do the paperwork in overtime because it was "after" his shift. A few years of that and he becomes the highest paid beat cop in NYC.
Then he claims a back injury.
He collects the bennies on that cushy high rate of pay and disability.
Nice retirement.
Freakin parasites. Exterminate them all. Let the paleontologists sort them out.
And there you have it. The country is finished with fuckan doucebags like this. Unethical, immoral, liars, cheats, and overall dickheads...
Welcome to America....
So if a 'worker' figures out how to work the system he is a parasite, when the mortgage brokers game the system and destroy the economy, Clinton "made" them do it.
No federal civil servant gets to retire at 40 (which is what this article is about, federal civil servants). Pop your head out of your ass. Cops and firefighters are getting absurd retirements because localities refuse to hire more cops & firefighters to meet the needs of the post 9/11 world. So, they pay senior detectives & the like "mandated" overtime (usually 36 hours a week of mandates) to patrol warehouse districts, railways and the like. All so the supposed future costs of pension plans will be reduced. Only financial professionals can come up with that kind of logic. That and the logic that says we need more super grade civil servants to fight the intelligence war (read bribe those with the juice to keep quiet)
Take a look ..
http://www.opm.gov/oca/10tables/indexGS.asp
They be running that Ben Dover who made those deals in the late hours of a few key mission-creep contract dates out of town on a rail, and the promises he made just this once taxed home to momma.
Why is everyone complaining about their state/local employees when this article is about Federal salaries? Got a problem with stat/municipality worker salaries/benefits = call the mayor!
Don't forget their pensions and free medical at retirement on top of such extravagance in current income.
Free?
You're kidding, right? Federal plans are slightly subsidized. Nothing close to "free," before or after retirement.
Help me out here: Where do these misperceptions COME from, anyway?
DOE employees, managed by UC, have 100 percent medical coverage, as do their spouses, after 20 years service , for life...
I want a Clawback Amendment.
No more retirement for life...and for every year you run a deficit you lose three years retirement & your pay is cut three percent...bitchez.
Hulk
Do people like Cheney collect multiple benefits and retirement pay for their various positions? He held several government positions. So is he collecting on each?
There are 7 holes in your head, count 'em. Dick Cheney is in there like Flynn.
Very good question. I could have sworn I read something a while ago about a congressman collecting on two or three pensions in California. I Googled it, but haven't been able to find anything.
WRONG. Although I don't know what you mean by "managed by UC."
DOE retirees get the same treatment as other Fed retirees: Social Security/Medicare, a 401K, and CHEAP, but not free, health benefit insurance:
http://www.opm.gov/insure/health/reference/handbook/fehb23.asp
180 plans to choose from, premiums vary.
Federal employees with significant time in the military probably get more, but I know nothing about military retirement benefits and so cannot comment on their situations.
Everyone else out there: When fussing about "government employee benefits" remember:
There are city workers, state employees, and federal employees. Different rules. With city/state workers sometimes benefits vary from city to city. From the looks of things some of you need to call and bitch to your local mayors.
You don't know what you are talking about.
If you don't know what managed by UC means, then you can't comment. Think about it....
15 years working in the Navy's HR, two of them administering OPM retirement benefits, and I don't know what I'm talking about? Oh do go on.
http://opm.gov/
If you don't know what's in here YOU can't comment. Think about it . . .
$80 a month if your single for a plan you couldn't buy on the open market at any price.
$354 /month for a family of four. That's all the health care costs incurred in any single year. Taking care of the govt employees at any expense is job number one at the insurance companies. Never bite the hand that feeds you our asses.
...and it will be a tough sell to change it as the Medical Procedure Industrial Complex (MPIC) will never allow the government to reduce benefits as that would take away too many bodies from their procedure mills.
Wow, which government has THAT? Not the federal one. Those prices look like per-pay-period payroll deductions.
Misperceptions? Are you talking about the general publics, or this Kelley fellows comments like "to help make salaries more comparable with those in the private sector."
I know quite a few retired, or close to retiring government workers. Their salaries were equal to, or higher than their private sector counterparts. Their benefits though, holy mother of dog. Guaranteed pension for life, full health coverage, on and on.
I could send hundreds of links to stories of exorbitant public sector pay and benefits. Pretty much every public sector position has unwritten rules whereby those within a couple of years of retirement get ALL the overtime to paid out their pensions. Some public sector goon 'works' 110 hours a week for 2 years and suddenly his pension is 2.5X what it would otherwise have been. Utter bullshit.
The only misperceptions I see are the ones where the general public doesn't think this is much of a problem, or that it's not a big deal.
As I see it there is nothing wrong with the idea of pensions, but this is bullshit. Add to it that those close to retirement are impossible to fire and their union contract guarantees they get that overtime.
To boot, many in California who have been laid off from the public sector have taken early retirement and are collecting unemployment on top of their pension. I mean, didn't retirement used to mean retirement? Boy, do I wish I had a government job in the state of California...it's almost as good as winning the Lottery!
http://www.sacbee.com/2010/09/22/3047162/laid-off-california-state-retirees.html
Actually, the rules are written. Overtime must be offered to highest seniority employees first.
Benefits for state/local employees are different than those for federal employees. Often cities negotiate salaries, so it looks like some of you need to call your local mayors or get on a city council, stat.
Economist and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman says the only way the U.S. will get its debt crisis under control is by the use of "death panels" and a national sales tax.
The national sales tax, referred to as value-added tax (VAT), which governments across Europe use widely, will help cut the U.S deficit, Krugman argues.
Krugman made his comments on ABC's “This Week with Christiane Amanpour” during a roundtable discussion about the economy and the recent findings of the U.S. Debt Reduction Commission.
Here's the key excerpt:
"Some years down the pike, we're going to get the real solution, which is going to be a combination of death panels and sales taxes. It's going to be that we're actually going to take Medicare under control, and we're going to have to get some additional revenue, probably from a VAT. But it's not going to happen now."
The Obama healthcare plan passed by Congress in 2010 includes government-run healthcare committees with sweeping powers, including the power to engage in competitive pricing and cost analysis, a system Britain uses that has led to rationing of medical care for the elderly.
Critics of the Obama plan, including former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, quickly dubbed the committees "death panels," saying government agencies would decide who would live and who would die. Supporters of the Obama health plan dismissed such suggestions as nonsense.
Krugman apparently thinks otherwise, and suggests that such death panels could be one way the federal government will be able to keep soaring medical costs under control as baby boomers enter retirement.
He continued: If the Debt Commission "were going to do reality therapy, they should have said, ‘OK, look, Medicare is going to have to decide what it's going to pay for. And at least for starters, it's going to have to decide which medical procedures are not effective at all and should not be paid for at all. In other words, it should have endorsed the panel that was part of the healthcare reform.’"
Apparently realizing his comments were inflammatory, Krugman took to his blog immediately Sunday afternoon to “clarify” his comments.
“I said something deliberately provocative on 'This Week,' so I think I’d better clarify what I meant, which I did on the show, but it can’t hurt to say it again,” he wrote. “So, what I said is that the eventual resolution of the deficit problem both will and should rely on “death panels and sales taxes.”
“What I meant is that:
"(a) health care costs will have to be controlled, which will surely require having Medicare and Medicaid decide what they’re willing to pay for — not really death panels, of course, but consideration of medical effectiveness and, at some point, how much we’re willing to spend for extreme care
"(b) we’ll need more revenue — several percent of GDP — which might most plausibly come from a value-added tax
"And if we do those two things, we’re most of the way toward a sustainable budget."
He then provided a link to a June 20 column in which he also described “death panels,” but only in passing and in a mocking way. The column is actually about budget deficits.
What he doesn't say is that he has written at least half a dozen columns repeatedly referring to death panels the last year in an ongoing effort to malign Palin and other conservatives.
Krugman also conceded his solution may be “politically impossible.” But, he added, “I believe that some day — maybe in the first Chelsea Clinton administration — it will actually happen.”
WTF? Come on. What bullshit is this?
Since when do federal retirees get free medical care?
Fuckin' fool.
how do we arrive at the eve of our collapse?It all begins when 'you can only pay your temple tax with a special coin'. government creates the mechanism for control. The creation of centralized government's 'legal tender' opposes competing currencies, including gold and silver, and provides the opportunity for counterfeiting. Only strict laws with capital penalties against counterfeiting curtails any treason against honest production from hard-working people.
However, it is when counterfeiting becomes legal and institutionalized that this manmade system truly begins to favor the existing rich at the expense of the existing poor. the temple siphones wealth upwards at the expense of liberty. This process creates an everburdened working peasantry while simultaneously fueling gluttoneous consumption at the top.
Fractional reserve counterfeiting is best maximized with existence of fiat (faith-based paper) money. The digital age makes it as easy as pressing a keyboard, and the printing takes on the speed of light. The fraud expands exponentially across international borders allowing for incredible leverage for the existing rich against the existing poor who have no such ability to counterfeit. they must run faster or starve. bankers must do less and less to control more and more resources. they can enact environmental laws that favor themselves and restrict upward mobility.
Imagine, if you lend money out directly (buy a bond), the money leaves your hands and goes into the hands of the borrower, who can then either pay this money back to you with interest or lose this money (or some combination of the two).
if you deposit money in a bank, the bank can lend this money out while simultaneously keeping this money in your account. After which, the borrower of this newly created money can then either pay this money back to the bank with interest or lose this money (or some combination of the two), in which case the taxpayer bails out the bank.
In essence, there are two sets of rules. one for bankers, and one for everyone else.
Of course, you do not have to imagine this as it takes place each moment that you are either awake or asleep.
"Modern democracy" is a scam, and so is the 'Welfare State' which allows the wholesale raiding of central government coffers with the promises of carrots on sticks which actually result in no carrots and all stick for the gullible masses who trade their freedom for lies of cradle to grave security.
Break this treasonous international banking cartel before we arrive at marshall law and are being marched off to death camps whilst our farmlands and factories are nationalized by oligarchial fascists who will not give up the government force they both monopolize and use as a weapon of terror against those who wish to 'follow the law'.
sound familiar?
Right now, our 'venom' should be directed at centralized money planning, fractional reserve counterfeiting, and paper money; the greatest wealth destroying schemes of thievery ever known to mankind.
we are livestock to the international banking cartel, even if we work within its ranks.
Again, bankers are individual men that can counterfeit money that other individual men cannot. THIS IS TWO SETS OF RULES FOR DIFFERENT MEN, IS IT NOT?
This is a system designed by bankers to serve bankers. its no wonder they are gobbling up every resource on the globe as the Wall Street Industrial Complex (NYC) and the Wealth Redistribution Center (DC) grow to epic proportions, the latter of which has 7 of the top 10 wealthiest counties.
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/local-breaking-news/dc/7-of-10-richest-...
this system tramples the existing poor to serve the existing rich. DID YOU KNOW THAT MONEY CANNOT EVEN BE CREATED UNTIL IT BECOMES INTEREST BEARING DEBT TO THE CARTEL!!
http://www.economist.com/blogs/dailychart/2010/11/government_debt?fsrc=s...
This scam is best explained by historian John Kenneth Galbraith, who states, "In numerous years following the war, the Federal Government ran a heavy surplus. It could not however pay off its debt, retire its securities, because to do so meant there would be no bonds to back the national bank notes. To pay off the debt was to destroy the money supply."
http://truthinprophecy.com/fedreserve.php
Why cannot our citizens understand what is happening? Our current 'don't worry, be happy' viewpoint is incredibly naive. While it is likely that our compliance with this system has allowed some of us to personally prosper, there comes a day when principal and foundational philosophy must take precedence over short-term gain. For those of us with children, we must consider the world in which we would like for them to compete. Will this world reward machiavellianism and insider dealings? Or, will this world reward honesty, hard-work, intelligence, many of these attributes, or perhaps all three? Or, will it punish these traits and reward the stupid and lazy who possess unjust control through physical and financial violence and terror?
Frankly, i live a great life. I have a wonderful wife and a newborn child. I am independently wealthy through my own personal efforts. In general, my life gets better every single day, even as I see America in economic pain. Further, I am one of millions of Americans whose bloodline on this continent extends back to before we were a United States. This resonates deeply with me as it relates to where i wish my offspring to proliferate and prosper. As a result, in my quiet moments, I am forced to consider the fact that sinister international forces are systematically stealing this country from underneath the feet of those who have settled here for centuries.
Thomas Jefferson once said that "If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their money, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks andcorporations that willgrow up around them (around the banks), will deprive the people of their property until their children will wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered.”
http://quotes.liberty-tree.ca/quote_blog/Thomas.Jefferson.Quote.CA94
vote? I do. however, for every one politician who rises on his/her own merit, there are 99 who are bribed by international power brokers through a two-party system that offers no true choice. The mechanism used to circumvent liberty is always the same. Each politician is offered short-term gain (bribes) for themselve or their cronies in return for to enacting more laws that crush freedom and secure the positions of the ruling elite. Those brave elected officials who do stand for an asset-backed currency and liberty over personal gain soon pay with their lives.
Consider this excerpt from www.john-f-kennedy.net :
"On June 4, 1963, a little known attempt was made to strip the Federal Reserve Bank of its power to loan money to the government at interest. On that day President John F. Kennedy signed Executive Order No. 11110 that returned to the U.S. government the power to issue currency, without going through the Federal Reserve. Mr. Kennedy's order gave the Treasury the power "to issue silver certificates against any silver bullion, silver, or standard silver dollars in the Treasury." This meant that for every ounce of silver in the U.S. Treasury's vault, the government could introduce new money into circulation. In all, Kennedy brought nearly $4.3 billion in U.S. notes into circulation. The ramifications of this bill are enormous.
With the stroke of a pen, Mr. Kennedy was on his way to putting the Federal Reserve Bank of New York out of business. If enough of these silver certificats were to come into circulation they would have eliminated the demand for Federal Reserve notes. This is because the silver certificates are backed by silver and the Federal Reserve notes are not backed by anything. Executive Order 11110 could have prevented the national debt from reaching its current level, because it would have given the gevernment the ability to repay its debt without going to the Federal Reserve and being charged interest in order to create the new money. Executive Order 11110 gave the U.S. the ability to create its own money backed by silver.
After Mr. Kennedy was assassinated just five months later, no more silver certificates were issued. The Final Call has learned that the Executive Order was never repealed by any U.S. President through an Executive Order and is still valid. Why then has no president utilized it? Virtually all of the nearly $6 trillion in debt has been created since 1963, and if a U.S. president had utilized Executive Order 11110 the debt would be nowhere near the current level. Perhaps the assassination of JFK was a warning to future presidents who wouldthink to eliminate the U.S. debt by eliminating the Federal Reserve's control over the creation of money. Mr. Kennedy challenged the government of money by challenging the two most successful vehicles that have ever been used to drive up debt - war and the creation of money by a privately-owned central bank. His efforts to have all troops out of Vietnam by 1965 and Executive Order 11110 would have severely cut into the profits and control of the New York banking establishment."
http://www.john-f-kennedy.net/executiveorder11110.htm
Consider this excerpt from "Thirst for Justice":
"Eventually President Lincoln was advised to get Congress to pass a law authorizing the printing of full legal tender Treasury notes to pay for the War effort. Lincoln recognized the great benefits of this issue. At one point hi wrote: '... (we) gave the people of this Republic the greatest blessing they have ever had - their own paper money to pay their own debts..." The Treasury notes were printed with green ink on the back, so the people called them "Greenbacks'.
Lincoln printed 400 million dollars worth of Greenbacks (the exact amount being $449,338,902), money that he delegated to be created, a bebt-free and interest-free money to finance the War. It served as legal tender for all debts, public and private. He printed it, paid it to the soldiers, to the U.S. Civil Service empoyees, and bought supplies for war.
Shortly after that happened, "The London Times" printed the following:
'If that mischievous financial policy, which had its origin in the North American Republic, should become indurated down to a fixture, then that Government will furnish its own money without cost. It will pay off debts and be without a debt. It will have all the money necessary to carry on its commerce. It will become prosperous beyond precedent in th history of the civilized governments of the world. The brains and the wealth of all countries will go to North America. That government must be destroyed, or it will destroy every monarchy on the globe.'
The Bankers obviously understood. The only thing, I repeat, the only thing that is a threat to their power is sovereign governments printing interest-free and debt-free paper money. They know it would break the power of the international Bankers."
http://www.prolognet.qc.ca/clyde/pres.htm
Now consider this:
The private Federal Reserve Bank prints $1,000 in Federal Reserve Notes ($USD) to be circulated as currency amongst business people and offered to the US Government/IRS as the only 'legal tender' for tax payments.
In order to bring this money into circulation, the Treasury must create a $1,000 bond (which pays interest). As a result, The Fed earns an interest rate as long as there is a money supply circulating. The larger the money supply, the more interest they earn and the less your existing savings is worth.
Those who are first in line to borrow this newly printed money can spend it at today's prices in competition with everyone else. Those who are last in line to receive borrowed money, or those who do not borrow money, will always pay the highest prices for goods and services which have adjusted upward for an increase in the money supply.
importantly, the money supply begins as a loan and expands further through the lending process because 'fractional reserve lending' (counterfeiting) within the banking system is legal. Assume 'reserve requirements' are set at 10%. In this scenario, when an individual deposits 10 FRNs/$USDs, a bank can lend out 9 FRNs/$USDs to another individual while simultaneously still showing the original 10 FRNs/$USDs in the depositors bank account. When the borrowed 9 FRNs/$USDs are deposited in a new bank, this bank can then lend approximately 8 FRNs/$USDs to another individual while simultaneously still showing the original 9 FRNs/$USDs in the first borrowers bank account. In essence, 27 FRNs/$USDs now exist from the original 10 FRNs/$USDs loaned out from The Fed. If the lending bank holds all three bank accounts, then interest is earned on the 17 FRNs/$USDs of the total 27 FRNs/$USDs now showing on deposit. As long as the interest earned and principal returned amounts to 10 FRNs/$USDs then the original deposit can be returned in full (with modest interest). Of course, if the original deposit is withdrawn, then it simply gets redeposited into another private bank in the system and the process begins all over again.
There is also a borrowing market between competing banks in order to manage cash withdrawals. The Fed always stands ready as the 'lender of last resort' to any bank in the system. In fact, many banks currently borrow directly from The Fed in order to buy US Treasury Bonds, which is to say that they lend the money back to the US taxpayer in return for interest. Good work if you can find it.
Finally, if all loans go busts as a result of poor lending practices, then all deposits are ultimately insured by us, the taxpayer (FDIC 'insurance'). Depositors incur no costs for gaining deposit interest payments, and bankers can walk free with no civil liability (or criminal).
Clearly, this is a system designed by bankers to serve bankers. Individual bankers have an advantage over individual men outside of banking. The system favors the existing rich (bankers) at the expense of the existing poor who cannot operate with these advantages.
Of course, this would be impossible if any of this were attempted with 10 ounces of gold, because the same gold cannot be in multiple places at once. Further, if any gold is loaned out poorly, then the gold will be partially or entirely lost forever. In this way, the risk is shared by the depositor and the individual banker who they have hired to find borrowers. In this way, bankers would need to compete on a level playing field with everyone else who lends via the bond market or directly to a friend or acquaintance.
as it is, our system punishes savers and investors, and rewards existing wealthy bankers and excessive risk-taker alike. prices never come down, consumption is always artificially high and driven by the most aggressive borrowers.
Much like the former USSR, our system is unsustainable. Big Government "Solutions" are a broken window fallacy. "Progressive" Democrats and Republicans have further accelerated our demise by undermining State and local government rights and individual liberties in order to concentrate evermore power within both our Wealth Redistribution Complex (Washington D.C.) and our Wall Street Industrial Complex (New York City) which have evolved into vehicles for white collar crime in virtually every facet of their parasitical existence.
The key culprits are centralized money planning, fractional reserve counterfeiting, and faith-based paper money. It is our debt-based monetary system which allows for illegal leverage via fractional reserve counterfeiting that gives the international banking cartel and their cronies significant power and influence over our lives. because we compete against these newly printed Federal Reserve Notes with our existing FRNs that we have earned through providing valuable goods/services, we are subjected to a system which favors the existing rich, hurts the existing poor, and creates strong headwinds to upward mobility in our economy.
If FRNs were not the only 'legal tender', then they could not be counterfeited. you would only need to deal with other honest business people at your own risk, and so would other individuals. in other words, nobody would have an unfair advantage.
The Welfare State, for example, cannot exist without keynesian money printing within a debt-based monetary system. keynesian money printing is dependent upon infinite amounts of loans expanding exponentially. obviously, this is not sustainable. this is a sick, twisted system of fraud, with the promise of "free lunches" all around and a "chicken in every pot". Obviously, these promises are on the eve of being broken and leading us ever-closer to economic collapse by the moment.
A rule of law protecting your property from other monkeys is paramount. 'more government regulation' is not. this is sleight of hand misdirection that only results in making your life more difficult and never results in solutions. namely, end the private federal reserve gosbank, outlaw fractional reserve lending, and open up regional economies to competing asset-backed currencies including gold and silver.
bigger centralized governments are not the solution. they simply succeed in creating large public coffers to be raided by corporate and labor cronies and their lapdog politicians. starve the beast and place our government workers in soup lines immediately so we can go back to being sovereign men and women who are responsible only for not imposing upon the liberty of our neighbors and other global inhabitants.
Further, if Trillions of $USDs were not tied up in U.S. Treasury Bonds supporting the Welfare State, this capital would be in the private sector because it would have no other place to go. The Dow Jones Industrial Average would be at 100,000 and everyone would have a helicopter in their back yard. Hurricane Katrina victims, for example, would not need to rely on central planners who currently have a monopoly on both "force" and incompetence. The abundance of wealth would increase the generousity of fellow Americans to unseen levels, and dwarf financial outpourings towards Haiti's hurricane victims and Bali's tsunami victims by comparison.
Instead, we are paying ever-expanding interest payments on nearly $15 Trillion with approximately $160 Trillion in unfunded liabilities to the further enrichment of The Federal Reserve and extended members of the International Banking Cartel.
I long for the day when these traitors and foreign enemies hang from the gallows for all of the emotional and physical pain and suffering, divorces, suicides, murders, assassinations, and wars that they have caused in pursuit of their own interests at the expense of decentralization, peaceful free trade, and individual liberty.
Peaceful free trade is what happens when parasites get out of the way.
Immediately utilize Executive Order 11110 which gives the U.S. the ability to create its own money backed by silver. Repeal the Federal Reserve Act of 1913. Introduce gold and palladium backed currencies as well. Allow regional economies to create their own paper currencies backed by trusting local business people.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BerkShares
Further, allow competing payments for Federal taxes in order to combat counterfeiting with the forces of decentralized free market trading.
Someone told me there was a 100 word limits? You have been running a little over? Do you like to breaks the rules?
word nazi.
He really should get a room with that. Start a blog.
.
done: http://www.zerohedge.com/forum/how-do-we-arrive-eve-our-collapse
My mouse's scroll wheel broke :(
I hate when that happens. Mine is acting up too. It's wearing out from scrolling on ZH.
+1
If only every American could read just these few paragraphs.
thank you for the positive comment.
you go chopper read!
pls try the marcoeconomic forum at ZH for a lasting reply.
thank you. how do i do this?
"This morning I was awoken by my alarm clock powered by electricity generated by the public power monopoly regulated by the US Department of Energy. I then took a shower in the clean water provided by the municipal water utility. After that, I turned on the TV to one of the FCC regulated channels to see what the National Weather Service of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration determined the weather was going to be like using satellites designed, built, and launched by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. I watched this while eating breakfast of US Department of Agriculture inspected food and taking the drugs which have been determined as safe by the Food and Drug Administration.
At the appropriate time as regulated by the US Congress and kept accurate by the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the US Naval Observatory. I get into my National Highway Traffic Safety Administration approved automobile and set out to work on the roads built by the local, state, and federal departments of transportation, possibly stopping to purchase additional fuel of a quality level determined by the Environmental Protection Agency, using legal tender issued by the Federal Reserve bank. On the way out the door I deposit any mail I have to send via the US Postal Service and drop the kids off at the public school.
After work, I drive my NHTSA car back home on the DOT roads, to a house which has not burned down in my absence because of the state and local building codes and fire marshal's inspection, and which has not been plundered of all it's valuables thanks to the local police department.
I then log on to the internet which was developed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Administration and post on freerepublic.com and Fox News forums about how the government can't do anything right."
ha, ha! because none of this could happen without the centralized government vampire squid. HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, ...HA.
government shill.
And that justifies overpaying the provider of these services how?
Nearly all state & local governments pay their employees far more, especially in retirement benefits that the feds do. Get educated if you dare. Remember, federal employees changed over from a defined benefits plan to a 401K style plan 20 years ago..
http://www.opm.gov/retire/index.aspx
It's not that they can't do it right at all. The issue is whether in the course of providing these sustainable services we bundle them up with being world hegemonists to control spiraling need for world resources due to systems built un-sustainable out of control with their unique environments.
The problem is not necessarily services provided by the government, the problem is when the government makes exclusive deals with "private" enterprise for services that could be done more cheaply and effectively by the government. Some services (garbage collection where I live, for example) can and should be done by the private sector, but other services (police, firemen, probably health care) should not - for the sake of our country, our local government should not hire mercenariesto police our cities, and should certainly not sell the parking meters to a private enterprise!
Keep them separate.
About 80 % of the wonderful things you mention are at present showing
signs of serious wear and tear, a few are broken and some even corrupted.
Electric power monopoly, you said it, fueled by an oil, coal and NG cartel.
Who owns the weather channel now? Carlyle Group.
I bet you don't drink your tap water.
Are you happy with NOAA and their job with the BP spill?
That one about the police department? Are the cops sitting at the end of your road, I don't live in a gated community with private police patrollingthe streets. And when has a cop stopped a crime lately, they may investigate it some times.
HR 5353 Net Neutrality? Lets lobby the FCC!
I don't know if this is too harsh, but I believe you are a "good news spreading troll"
Then again you may have posted this as sarcasm.
A cop stopped me today while I was committing the crime of driving without my seatbelt. $100 more to the oligarchy from me the bad person who was doing absolutely nothing to bring harm to anyone.
And yet...I've never seen a seatbelt on a motorcycle or a city owned bus...LOL.
cops have pensions underwater. I've got to laugh at all the nice cars being consistently pulled over in my city. Its always hummers, porches, etc. If you've got a nice ride, I recommend that you downgrade.
expect more brown shirt jack-booted thuggery targeting little old ladies who jay-walk. the international banking cartel is going to sit back and watch us tear each other to shreads. if only that cop would stop, listen, and think, he may be a useful person opposing the terrorizing forces of centralized money planning and fractional reserve counterfeiting. Right now, he continues to be distracted by bread and circuses (a fictitious pension and his local sports team).
+1
you're not harsh enough.
to add to your post, Dapper Dan. . .
"All your food and drugs are belong to us. You have no chance to survive make your time."
love, Monsanto.
http://current.com/news/92009377_obama-appoints-monsanto-man-as-fda-food...
Enjoyed the read and have been understanding how "their game" works for a few years now.
Other than looking in from the outside, not participating and preparing.. what can be done?
Unless the camel's back gets broken, which in time will break under its own weight and the outfalls be felt far and wide.. the time is near to engage.
How many weeks, months, years in your very honest opinion? We agree, we do not want this charade to continue for another generation. We have a few stake(s) in leaving something better for our own blood.
Looking forward to the reply.
there will come a day when there is no choice but to hunker down.
Is there something that can be done? yes. spread the word, even if everyone believes that you are a raving lunatic.
Politicians and news commentators react to awareness, they do not make us aware. They are mouthpieces and ratings whores, so we've got to do the heavy lifting ourselves until this gains national attention.
If Americans continue to allow themselves to be distracted by the silly political debate, then they will continue to tear each other to shreds over budgets and taxes, and soon we'll be marching off to war with Iran for mirky reasons rather than repealing the Federal Reserve Act of 1913 and opening up barter to such things as silver certificates, gold, silver, and regional paper currencies in order to move towards more economic stability.
consider all of this your civic duty, walkure.
Tell your friends and loved ones in cities where they are about 3 meals away from total chaos to both arm themselves and have an exit plan along with food supplies purchased NOW and then stored OUTSIDE OF urban money centers. At best, store shelves will be cleared out in 2 weeks as millions of people who are dependent upon a handful of food distributors are left last in line holding worthless green paper.
of course, i am following my own advice, which may sound extreme to some right now. In my opinion, you should average into gold and silver over time so that you have something of value that can be taken anywhere in the world unless you are otherwise stopped at borders by government force.
This has always been the most important issue of our lives in America, no matter how many ways we are driven to both distraction and into believing we are free.
of course, we are not. ------ Hereafter is a source to help educate those around you:
more specifically, here is how The Fed is used as a means to frontrun the US taxpayer by the International Banking Cartel.The truth is out there. More people start to understand and wake up that everything they thought they knew and taken for granted is really just a mirage as they get closer and closer to the truth.
Simple people understand simple truth.
Gold's value is infinite. Gold has intrinsic value.
The price for real gold, not paper gold on the equivalent to what is already a black market is much higher than the price a trading board suggests.
Gold and silver are among the few things that are basically entering black market stage already. Similar to the black market that had established in the former USSR.
Great post.
Martial Law (just trying to be helpful, not persnickety)
thank you. i'll correct next time.
There's a 50% $ devaluation coming very shortly. Knowing this, the Feds have taken care of their own by quickly inflating fed salaries.
You've hit it on the head. The point of the article was only partially debating the merit of government employees making so much money.
The real point of the article was that during a time of "Depression" when so many Americans are suffering, why are government employees suddenly being allowed to stuff their pockets with taxpayer dollars?
No amount of argument to the effect that they are overall underpaid vs. the private sector can justify this.
As long as you're a bus driver for the federal gov't, you're right.
This article perfectly illustrates a key economic fact: the first in line to receive new money gets the greatest benefit, as they are able to buy goods at the prevailing price level before the economy adjusts to the injection of this money with higher prices. It doesn't matter whether you're dealing with a hard money economy or fiat. All thru the 16th century Spain received massive amounts of gold and silver from its western hemisphere conquests and set off a massive European inflation as this money filtered out, but Spain got the greatest benefit first. Just like now, the US gov't prints up money out of thin air and buys goods and services at the prevailing price and the compensating inflation will hit later. The laugher is that these gov't weenies are essentially getting their inflation adjustments up front and then will want another adjustment later when prices actually rise.
Down the thread, Rainman writes
on Mon, 11/15/2010 - 19:29#728988
"Shit, this always happens when a republic goes bananna."
110% correct. And that's the canary in the coal mine that no one sees. It's by design. Pay the Fed and State workers fat wages and they'll keep the peasants in line.
this is the next WAR that is coming.....and its coming fast.....public workers vs. private workers who are expected to pay for their local, state and federal bloated salaries and lifetime benefits.....it is unsustainable and people cannot and will not pay for this any more
Then you will be fighting the wrong war. A small percentage of public workers being overpaid is nothing to the amount of money being stolen from you by Wall Street.
The thing is the big thieves will likely bail when when the people finally lost it. The public workers are likely not as smart and will try to keep a lid on the situation. After all the people robbing us are not retarded, why fight after you have already looted.
"Go on take the money and run"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZwLsvO6YTw
Retired municipal workers who can't take the future call on muni budget with them and run will be in for a series of rude shocks.
Why di I get the feeling that the same person junked you five times (at this reading)?
multi-front, considering it all flows where the money does; no need to limit ourselves fighting the "right" war.
And this is the sort of 'foolthink' that gets us deeper in the hole. Didn't your mother ever tell you "two wrongs don't make a right?". Plenty of people here are perfectly capable of being upset about both at the same time.
Too bad we all have to pay taxes to support this lunacy...
I concur, I've said it for before why do these people make so much to wash firetrucks and shit like that. Put all this shit out for bid, post office, teachers,firedept the whole 9 yds.free market
Seen another way, what a classic, society splitting move eh? Make th ehaves and have nots. Make the haves .gov employees. That will double the hate.
Stir Pot!
Old playbook, straining the fabric before plunging the scissor.
Snip snip!
ORI
http://aadivaahan.wordpress.com
Carnage:
Robo as much as I may knock you, this type of information is helpful regardless of up or down.
you goin' wobbly on me robot? i gotta a Bender as a backup ya know...
...Risk off?
It would make sense, as the "Wealth Effect" ain't happenin'. However...
...I wonder where the POMO money is going then..?!
I guess to Robo -10 spoo points is considered carnage...I consider it a t.v. dinner compared to what it should be...
Ur not so bad really
Carnage? Could you be more over the top please?
Shit, this always happens when a republic goes bananna.
LOL!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2R0oECCuN6I
Tragedy of the commons. Everyone get some before it is all gone!
hence the adage: "it's good work if you can get it."
If it is such good work why aren't you doing it? I thought talent went where the money is
LOL! My Dad told me when I graduated, before I went off to college, that if I wanted, I could get a job in some small town as a postman, and retire in 20-years w/ a full pension, bene's, etc....
That's 2 year away....
The only thing that warms my heart is the thought that the state/fed employees will lose everything along with the rest of us and share a place among us on the ash heap. At least we'll have loads of company in hell.
This 100% disabled veteran says FUCK YOU!
"This 100% disabled veteran says FUCK YOU!"
100% disabled? What does that even mean? You're able to participate here just fine, so what exactly does 100% cover?
Posties,what a shameful and pitiful existence.
You obviously didn't take his advice because postal workers can only retire after 20 years if they are old. And just what is a "full pension"?
Wow did I make the wrong move working for a living! Why didn't the guidance counselor set me on the path or state sanction larceny and crime?
Given this new data, it would be malpractice for any guidance counselor to fail to urgently recommend that all students consider government jobs. And for any reluctant students, the guidance counselor should point to the lucrative govt pensions and benefits. Eventually, every student will see the advantages of sucking on the govt teat ...
One of my Uber-liberal best bud California Gubamint workers believes that evil business people always take advantage of the little guy, screwing him incessantly and are deeply corrupt due to conflicts of interest.
Having agreed that governmental salary and benefits are a serious problem, I pointed out to him by extension of his own logic, that gubamint workers shouldn't get to vote, for once elected, they set their own salaries and benefit schedules.
You can imagine how well that worked.
"Having agreed that governmental salary and benefits are a serious problem, I pointed out to him by extension of his own logic, that gubamint workers shouldn't get to vote, for once elected, they set their own salaries and benefit schedules."
We all have an anti-matter DeTocqueville friend it seems ;-)
"anti-matter DeTocqueville friend"
Owwweeeee. Do so love it! Very subtle, many circles within circles.
I have a friend who's mom works for H.U.D in DC. She will get 80,000 a year after calling it quits her boss 110,000.
And shes not that high up the chain...
Does she knows Catherine Austin Fitts?
Colleen should have stated larger salaries allow for additional discretionary purchases further stimulating the economy...like an unemployed, underwater homeowner installing an outdoor pool under the guise of increasing resale value.
Abolutely. San Fran Nan, 3rd in line, believes that extension of unemployment benefits and food stamps are the most effective forms of stimulus the goobs can engage in to promote job growth. It's a fuggin' disease...
It makes straight out thievery seem a noble calling
+1
Where the fuck did Madoff hides his gold? I'm still looking?
Pension Scams, news at 11
What about their pensions...there's the parasitic goldmine...
"...CalPERS economists projected that the Dow would reach 25,000 by 2009, 595,000 by 2049 and 28 million by 2099 — a forecast slightly more conservative than the numbers bandied about on Wall Street."
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/nov/13/creation-pension-monster/
I'm shocked, shocked to learn that when Wall Street plutocrats run the government, the result is... plutocracy.
Still, 82,000 workers at 170K = $3 billion, covered by tax revenues.
Total annual US military spending, an outrageous boondoggle: $1 trillion, borrowed from the BRICs.
Total Wall Street bailout: $14 trillion in guarantees, at least $1.5 trillion in Fed funny money, with another $600 billion on deck ($2.1 trillion total, printed out of a substance formerly known as Thin Air).
Hell, we're not even a banana republic anymore. Just a repo-cracy gone bananas.
"Total Wall Street bailout: $14 trillion"
Does that include zirp, discount window and Ber-nank reach around? which of course if priceless.
Somebody wake me when the burning starts, I'll bring the marsh mellows.
Besides taxes are little people, just ask Timmay.
Forever
Tribute, bitches!
That is shocking, seriously.
--------------------
Amerikans don't care as long as they get their pogie checks.
Should be noted though that the numbers are not salary but "compensation" which would include all benefits, medical and retirement. Gross salary would be something like 2/3 of those comp numbers, I'd guess.
oh ok let's just draw and quarter them instead of hanging them.
Thanks douche. Sounds like you're condoning it.
Note that cost to taxpayers is EXACTLY double salary. A fed worker who is paid a salary of $150k costs the taxpayers $300k.
Song to FinReg, and the regs that weren't:
I'm makin' a list, checking it twice;
gonna find out who's naughty or nice;
Pitchforkers are coming, yeah there a'coming,
to DC town.
Bend over Barney, you too Dodd;
We're gonna get y'all for big time fraud.
Spread'em real wide; we won't be denied;
'til all the assholes are really fried.
So 82k of 2M make over $150k. That is around 4%.
How many are Drs etc…? The government doesn’t directly employ blue collar workers in most cases as those have been outsourced. If you want a gov job check them out at usajobs.gov The Feds don’t have a pension quite like your state and local folks. You get 1% per year and a 401k with a 5% match. Pretty good in these times but it is a pretty crappy plan. Although the fees are low the five choices stink, cash, bonds, SP 500, Dow Jones U.S. Completion TSM Index, and Morgan Stanley Capital International EAFE. Its just a matter of time before it gets raided by congress. Not bad but it is not anything like most people think it is.
Yes I am in the government. I joined 6 years ago and took a $20k pay hit to do it. My friends thought I was nuts at the time. I could still make more going elsewhere but I have a long term view. If you have drive it can be very frustrating but the work can be rewarding. I feel very good about what I do, almost all defense work. I strive to do best by the taxpayers. I am one too you know. I have no illusions that it is a job for life and most folks inside are just as concerned as you are about what is going on economically. I have already braced my family for potential pay cuts etc… We are a pretty easy target for folks who don’t want to tackle the big issues. They always talk about ending the deficit by cutting pay and ending earmarks. Yea, that will get us 1% of the way, what about the other 99%.
Thank you.
- another "overpaid" DoD geek
Come on fess up. You didn't do it as a patriot. You did it so that your "golden years" are paid for by way of pensions and free medical.
Quit with the disinfo: It's not free.
DOE fed employees, managed by UC, have 100 percent medical coverage, as do their spouses, after 20 years service , for life...
Again, no. They get the same benefits other federal employees do.
Unless you are mistaking your STATE employees for federal. Seems to be quite the problem in these threads: Inability to differentiate between public workers at the municipal, state and federal levels.
I don’t think I said I did it to be patriotic. The real reason I did it was that I was a contractor before and I was sick of the decisions I saw being made or rather not made and since I was a contractor I couldn’t do anything about it. So I applied and took the job because I wanted to be the one who could make the right decision for the right reason. Yea I took a $20k pay cut and saw that cut as an investment in the future looking long term. Why do you do what you do?
"The real reason I did it was that I was a contractor before and I was sick of the decisions I saw being made or rather not made and since I was a contractor I couldn’t do anything about it. So I applied and took the job because I wanted to be the one who could make the right decision for the right reason."
Now you are the Government COR who makes all the wrong decisions for the Contractors?
How's that working out?
Its working out really well. Thanks for asking
Its working out really well. Thanks for asking
You're part of the problem not the solution. I can't wait till the house of cards comes tumbling down and you get burned.
Do you think the government should pay contractors big wages or pay their employees big wages? What about Xe and other merks?
As long as they are wages that are determined by the open market. The problem of course, is "no bid" contracts and limited-bid contracts which allow for collusion of pricing and inflated wages.
Then can we agree that the wages for Federal employees are increasing because of the no-bid contracts given to the 'private' sector contractors?
for the sluts
...what a cunt. you're a 'pretty easy target' because you are a parasite.
i look forward to seeing you in the soup line for driving our country into the ground, you self-serving asshole.
Yep...you're the good worm in the bad apple.
Where else is all that money printed going to go? Banks aren't lending.
I'm sure part of the idiot obama philosophy is to bloat gov't paychecks to stimulate spending. Geithner is so dumb, the policy probably came from him. Tyler, you should run a study. How many of these gov't workers bought the latest iFad? I bet 90%.
Lol, Americans too will be able to taste the "fonctionnaire State".
In France, state workers can legally never be laid off, even if they are incompetent, treat badly their students/clients, or commit a serious fault. Yes, that's right: public workers are guaranteed a work all their life, a higher-than-inflation salary increase each year, and have lots of advantages, such as far better retirement pensions for far less contributions.
According to a survey, 80% of French high school students wish to become public workers. No wonder why ;)
Most "fonctionnaires" I've encountered in my life were frankly arrogant.
Looks like the PPT already stepped in to "staunch the losses"...
LOL...
A factoid to throw into the mix: A major reason for the perception that Federal government salaries are "skyrocketing" comes from the government outsourcing everything that can be contracted out. The only Fed jobs that remain are higher-end administrative, and everyone else is a contractor. It skews the data. I'm surprised the Federal unions still have constituents, frankly.
Just sayin: Every time you see another "look at those overpaid government employees!" article just think of it as yet ANOTHER distraction from what the banksters are doing: A lot worse than this "overpaid" DoD geek, longtime tenure, NOT making six figures (yet) is doing to you . . . and my "fat pension?" Social Security, just like the rest of y'all, CSRS pensions died 20+ years ago, Jezuz.
At least most Gov employees didn't blow up the country, discounting banking regulators who TO THIS DAY, hardly anyone knows the agency head's names. The corporate media doesn't give them the Bill O'Reilly treatment.
Neither does Bill O'Reilly.
They can dine anywhere they want without the slightest bit of criticism or recognition.
The corporate media slogan should be...."what we're NOT telling you is the WHOLE story"
Sure. There is massive outsourcing going on. But nearly ever federal contract I have ever seen has preference for "Small Disadvantaged Minority Owned Business". Which I would never have a problem with till I actual saw one of these competitions.
The "owners" of of these "disadvantaged" contractors are often like Tera Reid in the Big Lebowsky. Zipping around NOVA neighborhoods in Mercedes Benz, While the Big Lebowski complains about her toe to the grunts they pay to be servants to the "higher-end" Feds.
These are rules congress puts in place. If you want them changed, take them up with them. We don’t make these rules.
Okay. You do what you are told. You tell me to do what you are telling me. Lets See if congress listens to you by proxy (me).
True...so you won't mind when we fuck you out of those perceived benefits by not paying taxes that pay for your existance...cool...agreed right...welcome to fuckland.
Hey we all live there. I buy gold myself
"congress told me to march jews off to death camps. i have no philosophical foundation. i actively participate in high treason simply for short-term gain. fuck liberty, its all about me."
Dear nazi collaborator, brown-shirt, jack-booted thug: quit immediately, and join the resistance, or be on the wrong side of history.