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News Flash: Obama IS a Politician!
This article originally appeared in The Daily Capitalist.
Politics has a charming way of bringing reality to lame-duck politicians. The Republican gains in the House and Senate have apparently prompted President Obama to do the unthinkable: freeze the pay of civilian federal workers for two years. His constituency is very upset by this apparent betrayal by Obama:
"I am really ticked," said John Gage, national president of the American Federation of Government Employees, AFL-CIO, which represents roughly 600,000 federal employees. "I never expected that this administration would look at this problem and think the solution was cutting wages." He called the move a "panic" by the White House after the midterms, and said it was a "symbolic, political, public-relations stunt."
Note Mr. Gage's use of the words "this administration" referring to a very pro-labor Administration. You can only imagine what the leaders of the SEIU are saying in private.
John Irons, research and policy director for the "progressive" Economic Policy Institute, a think tank socialist propaganda boiler room supported by labor unions and George Soros said: "It's an economic recession, and this is the time you want to be raising wages, not cutting wages." Wow, John, what a great idea to bankrupt the government and cause unemployment. Why not raise everyone's wages to get us out of the recession? Why not raise the minimum wage to $50 per hour? Wait! Herbert Hoover tried that and it resulted in massive unemployment, one of the major causes of the Great Depression. What a bunch of hacks.
I really dislike union types. They stand for the worst principles, i.e., get the government to force the rest of us to pay more than they are worth or protect their monopolies on labor in closed shops. They use violence and intimidation when they try to unionize or force unionization in open shops. But this is part of Obama's base.
So I've got to give Obama some credit for reaching out to his newly empowered Republican adversaries to open the doors to "frank" negotiations on the budget and taxation.
What is great about what he is doing is that it is one of the proposals from The Cato Institute on how to balance the budget. Chris Edwards, Director of their Tax Policy Studies, has written an excellent piece on how to balance the budget in ten years without increasing taxes. I urge my readers to download it and read this thought provoking piece. I support it completely.
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"So I've got to give Obama some credit for reaching out to his newly empowered Republican adversaries to open the doors to "frank" negotiations on the budget and taxation". I think I`m going to get sick!
Gee wages frozen at all time highs. Nice. Why aren't federal employees wages tied to the same COLA standards as SS recipients which haven't had a bump in two years due to the lack of inflation?
Federal employees get step increases and (some of them) performance bonuses - unless these are frozen too, the only "freeze" is on across-the-board annual increase. This seems like the occasional screaming about budget cuts we hear when what is being cut is the rate of increase per year.
Thought provoking piece? I still looking for one of those $190- laptops...
the only person Obama hasn't betrayed is George Bush
Very true. And that's because Obama is the Manchurian Candidate.
When he capitulates to the Republicans by voting to extend tax cuts for the 1%, his base will wish he was born in Kenya.
They are Key Swapping friends ;)
Wish someone would freeze my pay while everyone else is getting cuts, or layoffs
Love the line from the AFL-CIO head about cutting salaries. Greedy bastards complaining because he's not getting a raise next year. Faux outrage to cover Obama's preemptive strike at protecting their salaries. Guaranteed current levels instead of taking a pay cut from this years salary.
By the way Econophile, does Cato Institute have any ideas about cutting money to federal contractors?
I'm all for Fed employees not being paid more than private employees. Govt should be prudent with money, so I don't think we should $500 hammers nor $150 file clerks, nor $150k KBR truck drivers in Kuwait.
Having said that, just for comparison, given this is ZeroHedge....
Obama's freeze of 2 million Fed employees raises will save about $28 billion over FIVE years. Wall Street firms, most of which would not exist without our bailout 2 years ago nor the free money the FED lent etc..., they will pay $64B worth of bonuses for one year, 2010
Ya gotta start somewhere.
Wow - Econophile, your the first non-Dem person I have seen give Obama props for doing this. Most conservatives and hammering him on not doing more, calling this a pittance etc. So I'm glad to see an objective analysis on this move.
Obama is not much of a politician tho, because if he was, he would have used this as one of many bargaining chips to get other things his base might like. Also, I don't know the partisan affliation of Federal employees (some polls seem to indicate government employees in general, local, state and Fed lean somewhat Democratic) but the public unions are certainly a big basis of support for the Dems, so he likely is losing support from his base, losing votes while gaining probably nothing from the right or independents and gaining no other concessions from Republicans on other issues popular with his base.
And predictably, most conservative commentary is just using this move to skewer Obama on why he has not done more, how they should be cutting Fed employees by 25 percent etc.
Obama seems more like he is governing more than he is politicking in this move, as even conservatives would have to concede he probably gets zilch new support from this and loses support from his base.
"your the first non-Dem person I have seen give Obama props for doing this."
Their bonus' are unaffected (because they have done such a wonderful job you see)...their STEP program is unaffected.
It was and is a rotting fig leaf which is not doing a very good job hiding the sores on the genitalia ;-)
You made the smartest comment here. What did Obama gain for this? Nothing. It shows you how dumb this really was. And yes, it is a base depressing move. Why he does this on the road to '12, I don't know. Whether or not it is the right thing, it is stupid politically. Spitting in the eye of your base isn't a very bright move unless you give them something in return, and he hasn't. There is no trade-off.
Why is it assumed that the President should be looking after government employees first and why should their compensation for public service be at his discretion?
Agreed that Obama will gain nothing from conservatives, but the important voters are the swing voters in the middle, and one of the most important things Obama can do to win over independents, is to do things that offend his progressive-liberal base. This is Clintonian triangulation, and Obama is smart enough to learn from the master.
"---smart enough to learn from the master." Not unless he made him a pencil drawing and explained it very slowly.
fire them all! do'ers do , those who can't get a government subsidized monopoly...I understand the need for unions to exist to bust corporate fascist monopolists but when government employee's get in a union, I think government employees need to all be fired you want unions go to the private sector because we don't need union's "breaking" the taxpayer.. anything the government can do private individuals and communities coming together can do better...and more cost efficiently....If teachers, police, firemen, and all other workers who contract with the government get cuts , they get what they deserve If they were worth they're paycheck they would own they're own company in they're profession. especially the PHD types...
Yours is a fascinating perspective, however unrealistic it might be. I suggest you go to work in the federal government and see what these employees do before you make your sweeping generalizations. While, as I noted above, I would slash about 70%+ of all of federal government, I would do so based on Constitutional purposes, not because I am angry that they have jobs.
I guarantee that in many, many fields, federal employees make much less than their civilian counterparts. Let's take top executives, for example. SES employees in federal government have been demonized for making $180K per year. Their counterparts in large civilian corporations are making tens to hundreds of MILLIONS of dollars per year. This sort of discrepancy, while smaller in scale, is true down the line for federal workers. It is a myth that federal employees are overpaid and underworked. When was the last time you went to Afghanistan for 6 months? If you did so, congratulations. If you didn't, then, as the old Vietnam Vet saying used to go, Shut the Fuck Up!
See the problem is government has no cost efficiency check, in the private market you can deny services and goods as a customer, the producer/service giver will have to adjust prices to it. Large civilian corporations add value about the only service that the government adds value in is military and even then if you have standing armies it turns into a blood machine. I'm actually horrified by what our government has done with our military over the last 100 years because every war basically has been a bankers war for natural resource domination, but with government no cost check so the counsel on foreign relations goons will walk away with 180k+ check all night and day..I really see nothing the government does that the private sector can't do other then raising an army (we could probably do that ourselves) and setting up courts so people can settle disputes of property. Because basically every dispute can be settled with that simple question. and we don't even need judges but, you know people now a days are to busy with their gadgets to stick up for they're brothers.
and try going to school and getting a teacher messed up on oxy's and xanies....government unions are nuts?
you should listen to this it's pretty good.
http://mises.org/media.aspx?action=category&ID=87
Govt spends our money for political return, not economic return.
@Federal workers..
huh ..usual tactic to shift the view and suckers
like you eager to TALK.. BLUH BLUH BLUH..
how many of them .. 2 mln.. whats the cost 100.000 per yar..
200 bln per annum.. its only 5% of federal budget.. not worth even to mention it..
hey sucker .. wann be a journalist ?? write about Pentagon..
about 1 trln $ in expenses ( incl wars))..
of course you wont.. you;re pussy afraid to be named unpatriotic..
alx
Oh come on.... the Federal Government gets bigger by the minute, it's employees have seen their pay skyrocket over the last five years, they're lapping the private sector and now they have their salaries stopped out at all time highs for two years on top of gold plated benefits for life, 99.99% job security and an exemption from Obamacare.
Yeah, Obama really cut them off at the knees to help save America. What a stud.
And Cato/Shmato - start disolving entire federal agencies overnight if you want to impress me.
Exactly. Cancel the DEA, the EPA, the CIA, withdraw from the UN, evict them from their office building and rent it out, etc. The problem is easily fixable if you actually wanted to fix it.
Add the SEC to the list. They are a toothless watchdog. Worthless and redundant.
Unless something changed, there is still a commercial property surplus ;)
The reduced prices will help startups.
Oké, I'm convinced.
Proceed with the operation.
As with most things, there is much mis-information about federal employment and federal employees. I am one. I served on active duty in the Navy for nearly 25 years. I have worked as a civilian federal employee for 3 years. I brought to the civilian position an expertise the DoN could not have found in the private sector. I am paid approximately half of what I could make on the outside--yes, even in this economy. My benefits are probably similar to what I would make on the outside. Why, then, do I work for the government? Many reasons, from family interests to geographical interests to liking to work within the DoN doing what I think is good work with good people. However, one other key factor in my decision was this--I am willing to accept my 50% pay cut in order to have what I thought was going to be good job security. Now I question the wisdom of that decision.
Politically, I am an independent, affiliate with no Party and no politician. Honestly, I deplore 95% of politicians and tolerate the other 5%. I have never voted along Party lines. I think both Parties are woefully, irreversibly corrupt.
I also believe that the federal government has so overreached in its power grab that it is bringing down what was once the greatest nation on Earth. Lincoln's War let loose the hounds of Hell--the Statists. Ever since, but especially with Wilson's grandiose plans for one-world government and FDR's plans for Statist absolutism and LBJ's evil plans to insure Democrat victory for 100 years, and ObamaReidPelosiFrank's plans to destroy the economy to rebuild it in their Statist image, the federal government has done all it can to expand power at the expense of The People.
The problem is that The People let them--they allowed themselves to be bought off with their own tax dollars.
So, yes, I believe in the immediate and drastic reduction in the federal government. But I cannot agree--and not for personal reasons--that it should start with an across the board wage freeze. It should start, rather, with having the guts to immediately cease payments to the likes of NPR, NEA, NEH, and so forth. Stop paying foreign governments money to keep themselves in power. Stop funding the Dept of Education, HHS, and so forth. Well, then, what government is left?
We must restore the Constitution of 1789, eliminate all government entities and programs that fail to directly set and carry out policy with respect to National Defense and interstate commerce. What is left? The State Dept, in much reduced form, DoD, which also takes over border security, the CIA, assuming it is limited to the role of intelligence support to national security, Commerce and Transportation, provided they are limited to the promotion of actual interstate commerce, and Justice, in a hugely reduced form.
Congress can also cut out 1/2 or more of all Congressional staffs. Moreover, Congress can undertake to freeze all lawmaking but that which is absolutely required until Congress reduces the U.S. Code by about 90%.
What else? No personal income taxes as currently structured. Allow for a 5% or so flat tax--no exemptions and no credits. No corporate income taxes. Minimal taxes, period.
Also, with the reduction in federal government and reduction the U.S. Code, there should be little left to hinder the positive expansion of business and employment. Finally, the economy can grow again.
In short, I believe that the federal government should get out of the way of The People.
Again, national defense is one of the very limited purposes of the federal government. DoD and other support agencies MUST exist and must be robust enough to secure our borders.
So, how does all of that square with working for the federal government. Well, the Navy is part of the DoD, which is one of the very few agencies that should exist. I have always been able to square my military service and federal employment with my political views because I have chosen to work for an branch and agency whose existence and powers are Constitutionally mandated.
I agree we need to cut alot of our federal government. But we need to do so in ways that are consistent with the Constitution and which actually help to restore the Constitution.
An across-the-board wage freeze does not do that. It sates the blood lust of alot of unthinking people who are looking for someone to blame for the woes of America. I say, if you want to blame someone, blame first yourself, because you probably are not doing all you can to fight corruption and evil, next, blame the politicians themselves and that you elected, next, blame the big-money whores on Wall Street who have made oodles of money on your back while laughing all the way to a Swiss bank, and then blame Big Media, for getting in bed with the cabal. The average federal employee--even those working for agencies that hurt our nation--is a good, decent, honest, hard-working person. He is you. He is not to blame anymore than you are to blame.
With all due respect, that is the biggest load of bullshit I have read on this message board in the entire time I've been reading it, and I've been reading ZH since it was on blogspot.
I dare you to post your job description, your pay & bennies, and a job listed on Monster or elsewhere that's even at PAR in the private sector.
I guess I should have said so up front but I consider military personal to be in a separate category when I bitch and moan about federal employees. I'm sure there is much wasteful spending and activity in the armed forces and Adm. Mullen's bowing and scraping to political correctness after the Ft. Hood shootings was disgraceful but the bottom line is we have to have a military and we still have the best in the world so I generally give them a pass. I just wish they were utilized more effectively. Thank you for your service.
I agree with what you've written here without much qualification although "good, decent, honest, hard-working" are not the adjectives that typically come to mind after having just dealt with one of Uncle Sam's functionaries but I can appreciate that this is a skewed sample of public facing workers. Also, I will admit that there are certainly at least a handful of federal, non-military jobs that are pretty damn cool and impossible to duplicate in the private sector.
The only part of the US government that works is the Military. It works because there is discipline and accountability. Concepts that are completely lacking in the rest of Government.
EXACTLY what I was going to write.
He has made more $150,000 per year employees to pay of AFSCME than any president in memory.
The crocodile tears of the union leadership are all for show. They're going to throw him a party for raising the comp levels while the rest of the people who pay the taxes to fund the government have seen their incomes fall by 5 times the amount they received in raises so far.
What total bullshit.
In case of Civil unrest, he needs the loyalty of the government employees.
Army, police, clerks....
and money provides this.
For money, everybody surenders.
Only the cops and military count.
Wait until their pensions are destroyed by inflation.
Then you'll see some change, I bet. :p