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Go West Young Man, To The "New Normal" Dream Job: California State Workers Earning $822,000

Tyler Durden's picture




 

There was a time when working on Wall Street, either on the sell or buy side,  was the dream of every able-bodied worker who could do simple addition in their head and wasn't afraid to cut the occasional corner in exchange for a bottle of Bollinger and a sizable year end bonus. That, however, was so 2006 and with the long overdue conversion of the banking sector into a utility the stratospheric compensation payments from the peak of the credit bubble are long gone. So what is the New Normal dream job? Become a California state worker, preferably one who deals with neurotic and/or crazy people (i.e., a psychiatrist), and rake it in. The following chart from Bloomberg shows just how generous the otherwise insolvent state of California is when it comes to paying its public servants, and the 100%+ increase in California employee state pay since 2005. Needless to say, this is a rate of increase in compensation that 99% of workers in the private sector would die for.

Some other stunning observations from Bloomberg on the best job taxpayer money can buy. The best paid job: psychiatrist. At this pace, they will have lots and lots of patients.

Psychiatrists were among the highest-paid employees in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan and New Jersey, with total compensation $270,000 to $327,000 for top earners. State police officers in Pennsylvania collected checks as big as $190,000 for unused vacation and personal leave as they retired young enough to start second careers, while Virginia paid active officers as much as $109,000 in overtime alone, the data show.

 

The numbers are even larger in California, where a state psychiatrist was paid $822,000, a highway patrol officer collected $484,000 in pay and pension benefits and 17 employees got checks of more than $200,000 for unused vacation and leave. The best-paid staff in other states earned far less for the same work, according to the data.

...

Mohammad Safi, graduate of a medical school in Afghanistan, collected $822,302 last year, up from $90,682 when he started in 2006, the data show. Safi was placed on administrative leave in July and is under investigation by the Department of State Hospitals, formerly the Department of Mental Health.

Another perk of public workers in Cali? $200,000 in accrued vacation pay:

The disparity with other states is also evident in payments for accumulated vacation time when employees leave public service. No other state covered by the data compiled by Bloomberg paid a worker more than $200,000 for accrued leave last year, while 17 people got such payments in California. There were 240 employees who received at least $100,000 in California, compared with 42 in the other 11 states, the data show. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie calls such payments “boat checks” because they can be large enough to buy a yacht.

 

Topping the list was $608,821 paid to psychiatrist Gertrudis Agcaoili, 79, who retired last year from the Napa state mental hospital after a 30-year career. Agcaoili said in a telephone interview that it was her right to take the payment.

Can California afford to pay those wages? Of course not:

Across the U.S., such compensation policies have contributed to state budget shortfalls of $500 billion in the past four years and prompted some governors, including Republican Scott Walker of Wisconsin, to strip most government employees of collective-bargaining rights and take other steps to limit payroll spending.

 

In California, Governor Jerry Brown hasn’t curbed overtime expenses that lead the 12 largest states or limited payments for accumulated vacation time that allowed one employee to collect $609,000 at retirement in 2011. The 74-year-old Democrat has continued requiring workers to take an unpaid day off each month, which could burden the state with new costs in the future.

 

Last year, Brown waived a cap on accrued leave for prison guards while granting them additional paid days off. California’s liability for the unused leave of its state workers has more than doubled in eight years, to $3.9 billion in 2011, from $1.4 billion in 2003, according to the state’s annual financial reports.

Some are furious. What is shocking is that nobody else is:

“It’s outrageous what public employees in California receive in compensation and benefits,” said Lanny Ebenstein, who heads the California Center for Public Policy, a Santa Barbara-based research institution critical of public payrolls.

 

“Until public employee compensation and benefits are brought in line, there will be no answer to the fiscal shortfalls that California governments at every level face,” he said.

 

Among the largest states, almost every category of worker has participated in the pay bonanza. Britt Harris, chief investment officer at the Teacher Retirement System of Texas, last year collected $1 million -- including his $480,000 salary and two years of bonuses -- more than four times what Republican Governor Rick Perry received. Pension managers in Ohio and Virginia made up to $678,000 and $660,000, respectively, according to the data, which Bloomberg obtained using public- record requests. In an interview, Harris said public pension pay must be competitive with the private sector to attract top investment talent.

It seems magic money trees don't grow even in Cali, because more money paid out here, means less money availabl there. There being investing in the all important future via education

The result isn’t only a heavier burden on California taxpayers. As higher expenses competed for fewer dollars, per- pupil funding of the state’s public schools dropped to 35th nationally in 2009-2010 from 22nd in 2001-2002. Californians have endured recurring budget deficits throughout the past decade and now face the country’s highest debt and Standard & Poor’s lowest credit rating for a U.S. state.

And so on.

Is this ridiculous compensation arrangement sustainable? Of course not. But just like everything else in the New Normal economy, by the time it crushes, it will be someone else's problem. And it is not like anyone expects that the 120% debt/GDP which the US will so proudly be boasting in 2016 will ever be repaid: one can at best hope it will continue to be rolled, until one day, it can't when future generations, saddled with the benefits of current and prior greed, realize they have had enough.

 

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Tue, 12/11/2012 - 11:44 | 3051897 fonzannoon
fonzannoon's picture

no chance of that.

Tue, 12/11/2012 - 12:00 | 3051965 1100-TACTICAL-12
1100-TACTICAL-12's picture

It appears we have a useless down arrow dipshit roaming the hedge.

Tue, 12/11/2012 - 12:28 | 3052082 fonzannoon
fonzannoon's picture

Ha, poor Timmy G humor lost.....

Tue, 12/11/2012 - 11:45 | 3051899 EscapingProgress
EscapingProgress's picture

Extortion pays.

Tue, 12/11/2012 - 11:45 | 3051903 TahoeBilly2012
TahoeBilly2012's picture

Meanwhile...the average contractor in Sacramento fights for $20 an hour (covers wages, fuel, vehicles, tools, training, marketing, medical) WHEN they can get it. The majority of work is now done by illegals at $15 or less.

Fuck you Jerry Brown!

Tue, 12/11/2012 - 11:46 | 3051904 darteaus
darteaus's picture

Land of the fruits, nuts and flakes.

Spoiled...overpriviledged; full of opinions yet empty of wisdom.

Tue, 12/11/2012 - 11:50 | 3051919 mark mchugh
mark mchugh's picture

Are you TRYING to make my head explode, Durden?

Tue, 12/11/2012 - 11:51 | 3051928 Silverhog
Silverhog's picture

Thanks for the junks Monkey Fuck.

Tue, 12/11/2012 - 11:53 | 3051936 cherry picker
cherry picker's picture

And they give away free cell phones to the homeless so they can use GPS to track the poor fools and find out where therir sources are.

Makes you not want to pay  taxes anymore, doesn't it.

It is about time these governments were shut down for a bit and new ones formed to even it out.

Those sucking on the teat of Big Bro would go to war to protect their rights.

 

Tue, 12/11/2012 - 13:47 | 3052347 MsCreant
MsCreant's picture

"And they give away free cell phones to the homeless so they can use GPS to track the poor fools"

Holy conspiracy fact Cherry Picker Person! I should have seen that on my own. Fuckers. California dreaming is an Orwellian apocalyptic nightmare. 

Tue, 12/11/2012 - 11:54 | 3051937 edifice
edifice's picture

It's probably due to some kind of stipend program. My father did this, in Colorado; he taught for 27 years, bought out his last 3, and qualified for a stipend they were issuing at the time (1999). PERA benefits are based on one's top earning years. The stipend program gave him an immediate 50% raise his last year, which bumped his PERA benefits, too. Catch was, he had to retire that year. it was quite a deal.

Tue, 12/11/2012 - 11:56 | 3051952 infinity8
infinity8's picture

totally OT but, is anyone else getting the "I pooped today" t-shirt ad on big boobs? hilarious and delicious.

Tue, 12/11/2012 - 11:57 | 3051956 Uncle Remus
Uncle Remus's picture

Homey don't do ads.

Tue, 12/11/2012 - 11:56 | 3051954 Uncle Remus
Uncle Remus's picture

Fuck secession - I say we throw the socialist bastards out.

Tue, 12/11/2012 - 12:03 | 3051978 infinity8
infinity8's picture

a painfully slow death is going to be the best entertainment Cali has put out in a long time.

Tue, 12/11/2012 - 11:57 | 3051958 game theory
game theory's picture

How do you stop this fraud? Exposing it clearly isn't helping.

Tue, 12/11/2012 - 12:54 | 3052181 semperfi
semperfi's picture

rope & chains

Tue, 12/11/2012 - 13:50 | 3052355 MsCreant
MsCreant's picture

semperfi, you shock me. Too tame. YOU can do better. Revise, resubmit.

Tue, 12/11/2012 - 13:48 | 3052350 seek
seek's picture

In time all of this is self correcting, since it's not sustainable. It will collapse, and after that no one will be collecting a dime.

It may go so far as for CA to go full retard (100% socialist or even communist) but it still won't prevent all those highly paid state workers from reverting to the mean -- and the mean is going to be way, way lower in the future.

As has been a rising chant here -- the reset can't come soon enough. The sooner/faster it happens, the better off everyone will be.

Tue, 12/11/2012 - 12:06 | 3051992 slackrabbit
slackrabbit's picture

I have to say this.

I have lived in allot of countries including the EU and former communist ones and the US is looking way more socialist than they ever were.

This is way beyound anything I have ever seen!

Tue, 12/11/2012 - 12:08 | 3051997 GMadScientist
GMadScientist's picture

(BudgetGap / BloatedCompensation) * CostOfHitMan

I'm gonna go write me one of those ballot initiatives!

Tue, 12/11/2012 - 12:12 | 3052005 Max Cynical
Max Cynical's picture

9,111 retired California government workers receive pensions in excess of $100,000 from CalPERS

http://database.californiapensionreform.com/

Calstrs (5,259) and UC (1,642) are listed on other tabs as well.

Tue, 12/11/2012 - 12:13 | 3052016 GMadScientist
GMadScientist's picture

We could take em; most would expire from cardiac arrest in an ironically pathetic attempt to run for their lives.

Tue, 12/11/2012 - 12:45 | 3052145 NotApplicable
NotApplicable's picture

Especially the ones living in the canyons of the LA basin. Uphill will someday provide the only refuge from the oncoming hordes from the lowlands.

Tue, 12/11/2012 - 14:14 | 3052459 GMadScientist
GMadScientist's picture

All trying to pile into the rampart, squashing the slow.

Priceless.

 

Tue, 12/11/2012 - 12:13 | 3052010 FubarNation
FubarNation's picture

Gotta love Dr. Afghani pulling in close to a mil and then put on leave.

 

Classic.

 

Allahu Akbar!

Tue, 12/11/2012 - 12:44 | 3052138 forwardho
forwardho's picture

Knowing how the system works, I'd hazard a guess its a PAID leave.

Just a hypothesis.

Tue, 12/11/2012 - 12:14 | 3052022 infinity8
infinity8's picture

oooo. .....serial junker(s) in full-force today. JWinFL? Trav? fuck you guys.

Tue, 12/11/2012 - 13:57 | 3052373 MsCreant
MsCreant's picture

I could say plenty of stuff about Trav, but he is not a pussy. He would not be a silent junker, he loves being an asshole too much. If there is one thing I can count on with him, he will dial direct and it won't be on an Obama phone. There is too much to criticize him for to water it down with something unjust.

Tue, 12/11/2012 - 14:07 | 3052425 infinity8
infinity8's picture

lighten up, lady - it was a joke. scuse me for the good mood i'm in. funny i gave myself 2 days off because i can (okay, i also gashed my right hand down to the knuckle with a box knife cause my head wasn't where it shoulda been). the ringers are off and i'm filled with glee yet, here i am on ZH like i'm trying to get depressed.

Tue, 12/11/2012 - 14:19 | 3052472 MsCreant
MsCreant's picture

I thought I was being funny. Sorry about that.

Sorry about the hand too. My husband bought me kevlar gloves because I cut and burn my hands so much. I am not permitted power tools. Long stories led us to this decision...

The power edger that caught fire which shot to the sky, randomly in my hands...

The weed wacker I borrowed from my neighbor (to edge the lawn after the power edger went to the curb) that did not have a guard on it (shins looked like ground beef)...

The time I took off the pad-tip of my forefinger with the power hedge trimmer (doc sewed it back on [Fucking Owwwww!] and we took back the bloody hedge trimmer)...

Good times...

Tue, 12/11/2012 - 14:26 | 3052514 infinity8
infinity8's picture

It's all good. I like you MsCreant - saw a funny greeting card once that had a virgin mary image and underneath said "our lady of misspent youth" that you and your avatar always reminds me of. And YIKES, keep those kevlar gloves on! Hand pain sucks.

Tue, 12/11/2012 - 12:16 | 3052023 alien-IQ
alien-IQ's picture

how does "A"  (singular) state psychiatrist making 822k translate into state "workerS" (plural) earning 822k?

 

Is this a case of catching an anomaly, using it as a headline and running with it for the shock value?

 

Tue, 12/11/2012 - 12:45 | 3052148 NotApplicable
NotApplicable's picture

As always, Tyler's merely ahead of his time. ;)

Tue, 12/11/2012 - 13:22 | 3052257 alien-IQ
alien-IQ's picture

So, using that methodology to justify the headline, I guess that makes Roger Ailes a time traveler from the future?

Tue, 12/11/2012 - 12:17 | 3052035 otto skorzeny
otto skorzeny's picture

where are the assholes on this site that like to yell-go get a job or start your own business if you are out of work-why? to pay 50% taxes to support these govt jagoffs?

Tue, 12/11/2012 - 12:20 | 3052042 Stuck on Zero
Stuck on Zero's picture

If you want to get the exact figures on wages for state employees here is the place:

http://www.sacbee.com/statepay/

Five state employees earned in excess of $1.5 M. 

 

Tue, 12/11/2012 - 12:36 | 3052108 alien-IQ
alien-IQ's picture

While that is true that 5 earned that much, it would also be fair to point out that the top two were "Head Coaches" (not that I agree with it but such salaries are not uncommon for College Sports programs) and the average state employee salary was $67,929.59. A far cry from the millions you point out and the 822k in the headline.

Tue, 12/11/2012 - 12:54 | 3052182 alien-IQ
alien-IQ's picture

By the way, of the other 3 on that list:

One is Head of UCLA Department of Surgery

Another is Chief of Pediatric Cardiac Surgery at the University of
California San Francisco and Surgical Director of the Pediatric Heart Center.

Not exactly what one would call "unskilled" labor...don't you agree?

Tue, 12/11/2012 - 15:00 | 3052615 Stuck on Zero
Stuck on Zero's picture

The titles are great.  Can you give me one good reason why they earn so much?

 

Tue, 12/11/2012 - 15:20 | 3052673 alien-IQ
alien-IQ's picture

What do you think is fair pay for a Chief of Pediatric Cardiac Surgery? Or to put it in simpler terms, what is the market value of a man who's only skill is performing open heart surgery on infants?

Perhaps you see this as a 50k per year profession?

Tue, 12/11/2012 - 20:18 | 3053772 squexx
squexx's picture

Yeah, but those 5 have to bring their own beer to state functions!

Tue, 12/11/2012 - 12:23 | 3052057 Vooter
Vooter's picture

The government workers making all this money actually understand the true meaning of "capitalism" in the United States--good for them...

Tue, 12/11/2012 - 12:34 | 3052102 Seasmoke
Seasmoke's picture

The government workers making all this money actually understand the true meaning of CRONY "capitalism" in the United States--good for them...

 

Fixed it...

Tue, 12/11/2012 - 13:12 | 3052226 NotApplicable
NotApplicable's picture

Well, at least the ones with access to a revolving door...

Tue, 12/11/2012 - 14:32 | 3052534 Vooter
Vooter's picture

That was my point--note the quote marks around "capitalism"...

Tue, 12/11/2012 - 12:25 | 3052063 Vuke
Vuke's picture

Let's hope they buy gold and silver with all that paper they receive.

Better yet, let's hope they don't.  That would be justice deserved.

Tue, 12/11/2012 - 12:29 | 3052088 optimator
optimator's picture

Does your father work?

Nawww, he's employed by the State of California.

Tue, 12/11/2012 - 12:32 | 3052098 amadeusb4
amadeusb4's picture

Way to work the caveman crowd, Tyler. Should be good to fill the holiday adsense revenue gap. Enjoy the time off.

Tue, 12/11/2012 - 13:10 | 3052222 Jim in MN
Jim in MN's picture

Zackly right.

Tue, 12/11/2012 - 12:37 | 3052103 forwardho
forwardho's picture

until one day, it can't when future generations, saddled with the benefits of current and prior greed, realize they have had enough.

Been there, got the t-shirt, yet the road goes on and on forever.

Tue, 12/11/2012 - 12:51 | 3052165 NotApplicable
NotApplicable's picture

That's the beauty of an asymptote approaching zero.

I have no doubt that all benefits will be paid to all claimants, IN FULL. Thing is, nominal amounts of BennieBux will have the exact same purchasing power as dictated by the asymptote.

Once they define their balance sheet as infinite, well, then the "rescue" can begin in earnest.

Watch for increased government spending in a locality near you! (think TBTF)

Tue, 12/11/2012 - 14:52 | 3052548 Liquid Courage
Liquid Courage's picture

"That's the beauty of an asymptote approaching zero."

You mean: That's the beauty of a function approaching zero as an asymtote.

"...BennieBux will have the exact same purchasing power as dictated by the asymptote."

Not until time t = infinity. Talk about your "long run".

But it seems to me that hyperinflation is parabolic, and thus the value approaches zero faster and faster, not slower and slower as it would asymtotically. This demonstrates the difficulty of applying exact mathematical concepts in the discipline of Economics. Hyperinflation is really a cascade of perception through a population and is not definable by an exact mathematical function. viz Hayek and von Mises.

Tue, 12/11/2012 - 12:46 | 3052149 q99x2
q99x2's picture

I'd go to Afghanistan to get my medical degree for $822,000 per year. I was planning on UCLA but hey Afghanistan is fine.

Tue, 12/11/2012 - 12:49 | 3052157 TWSceptic
TWSceptic's picture

LTER probably has that job.

Tue, 12/11/2012 - 12:49 | 3052160 SmoothCoolSmoke
SmoothCoolSmoke's picture

Yes, these Socialist retirements are outragous.  What the world needs is more Captains of Capitalism, like these guys, to make things right.....

  1. Michael D. Eisner — Disney.: Eisner stepped down as CEO in 2005 after the media-dubbed "Disney War," in which stockholders and board members squared off against Eisner and other members of the company. His 2004 letter detailed his plans to depart the company in 2006, but due to the corporate drama, Eisner decided to cut his stay short by a year. It is estimated that Eisner accumulated over $1 billion in bonuses, salary and stock options during his 21 years at Disney.
  2. Henry A. McKinnell — Pfizer Inc. : When Henry A. McKinnell decided to throw in the towel at Pfizer in 2006, he left with a $213 million parachute with the possibility of more, contingent upon company stock. In his time as CEO, the Pfizer's stock went down 40 percent, costing shareholders $140 billion. At a company meeting held in Lincoln, Neb., a plane was seen flying over the building with a banner that read "Give It Back, Hank!"
  3. Jack Welch — General Electric Co.: Jack Welch said his goodbyes in 2002, taking a modest $9 million. Per year. For the rest of his life. This pretty little pension comes with perks like charge accounts at his favorite restaurants, use of the company plane, maid service at his multiple abodes and other parting gifts. The exact specifications of Welch's departure gift basket were murky at best, even to key shareholders, which prompted the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) to ask for further documentation.
  4. Charles Prince — Citigroup Inc.: Charles Prince retired with a $42 million package in 2007, contingent on the company's stock performance. Add this to his 1.61 million shares of stock, which are currently worth about $53 million, and his nest seems to be fairly feathered.
  5. Stanley O'Neal — Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc.: Stanley O'Neal retired with a solid $161.5 million in 2007. His departure was influenced by the company's loss of $2.3 billion in Q3 of that year, followed closely by a pesky $8.4 million government charge for botching credit and mortgage investments after the U.S.'s subprime mortgage crisis.
  6. Robert Nardelli — The Home Depot: Robert Nardelli decided to part ways to the tune of $210 million in cash and stocks in 2007. Nardelli was hired in 2000 to beef up company profits, and while the company's revenue and profits nearly doubled in his first five years, they fell short of his projected goals.
  7. Dick Cheney — Halliburton: When his vice-presidential ticket was punched in 2000, Cheney stepped on to the White House lawn and quietly gave up his title as CEO of a little government-contracting company named of Halliburton — with a $34 million rip cord on his golden parachute. Cheney was kept on the company's payroll after retirement, however, and was paid deferred compensation for his years of service. He also retained around 430,000 shares of Halliburton stock, which eventually led to questions about his business ties to a company that seemed to have benefited quite well from the War on Terror.
  8. Angelo Mozilo — Countrywide Financial Corp.: It is never fun showing up for work if you've been labeled as the man who is responsible for a national crisis. But instead of hiding away in an undisclosed location while his public-relations people apologized, Angelo Mozilo — former CEO of Countrywide Financial — showed up and faced the music with class. As head of one of the nation's leading mortgage companies, Mozilo was at the forefront of the subprime-mortgage bubble that began to burst in 2007. Mozilo turned his back on $37.5 million in severance pay and perks, as well as a $400,000 annual salary. He instead opted to testify on the whole mess before the Congressional Committee on Oversight and Government Reform in March 2008. After the housing-loan episode, Countrywide Financial agreed to be bought by Bank of America Corp. to the tune of $4.1 billion. Don't go feeling sorry for our hero though: Mozilo's bare-bones retirement package, which he received for his years with the company, totaled around $23.8 million.
  9. Robert Toll — Toll Brothers Inc.: On the other side of the subprime-mortgage coin, some CEOs are receiving bonuses regardless of the industry's current public image. Luxury-home builder Toll Brothers Inc. announced in March 2008 that chairman and CEO Robert Toll will receive a scheduled $17.5 million bonus, along with his current 2 percent annual draw from the company's earnings before taxes.
  10. John J. Mack — Morgan Stanley: In 2006, John J. Mack received a $40 million bonus, as Morgan Stanley's stock went up 42 percent. His monetary reward set a Wall Street record as the largest bonus of its time but was promptly topped the following year.
Tue, 12/11/2012 - 13:06 | 3052190 TWSceptic
TWSceptic's picture

You have this copy/paste ready for these occasions? If companies want to pay this money to their CEOs that's their problem, no tax payer is on the hook. As a stock owner you can sell your stocks and leave the company behind if you disagree with the salaries. If it hurts te company, the free market will punish it (unless government bails them out). This is an essential part of capitalism FYI. Government on the other hand is based on coercion. I can't stop paying taxes if I disagree with paper pusher salaries, or I'll go to jail. Learn the difference.

Tue, 12/11/2012 - 13:07 | 3052216 SmoothCoolSmoke
SmoothCoolSmoke's picture

What, were you asleep from August to December 2008?  And HAL.....naw, thry neveer spend no taxpayer money.  Wake up pal.

Tue, 12/11/2012 - 13:12 | 3052230 TWSceptic
TWSceptic's picture

No but looks like you never woke up.

Tue, 12/11/2012 - 14:59 | 3052606 Almost Solvent
Almost Solvent's picture

I think his point is that many of those companies would have gone out of business if not for bailouts in 2008 or would have gone out of business since then except for the ZIRP/QE/TWIST/FU of the FED, all of which is ultimately backstopped by you and I (aka taxpayers) which you do reference in your earlier post.

 

I think you two were talking over each other - each of your points is valid and not incompatible with the other.

Tue, 12/11/2012 - 12:55 | 3052185 Watauga
Watauga's picture

I have to tell you Hedgers, there is a whole lot of BS written on this thread.  I have worked in both public and private sectors.  I have worked in several different capacities and jobs in each.  And I can tell you, flat out, the ONLY difference between them is in the risk/reward analysis.

In the private sector, both the reward and risk potential is UNLIMITED.  No constraints on reward imposed by law on salary or wages.  But little support should you fail.  So, in the heyday of the 90s and early 2000s, most people looked at govt employment and said, "Screw that--that is a sucker's game.  Work all day and get so little for it.  I'm going to invest and build a business and make my millions now, while I'm young."  These people were happy to leave the steady, secure govt jobs to other, "little" people--the non-risk takers.  Some of these go-getters were rewarded in a big way.  I know guys who retired at age 35, by cashing in on the whole dot.com thing at its peak.  They made millions and millions.  Have not worked since.  And they still make millions on their investments.  They work out, deal with investments, take a nap, go to dinner, and go to bed and get up whenever they want.  Others failed miserably, lost everything, and get up every day to get onto ZH to bitch about how messed up govt employees are and how the wealthy are running scams to steal the money of the ZH readers.

In the public sector, both reward and risk are LIMITED--by law.  You can't get rich in govt employment, unless you are at the very highest levels of politcal power.  Your standard, mark I, mod 1 GS-14 or GS-15 professional is going to make $140K per year.  He knows that.  You know that.  Comparable private sector professionals make two or three times that, easy.  Your standard, mark I, mod 1 GS-7 staffer is going to make $50K per year.  She has little or no college education and does grunt work all day.  She makes about what she'd make in the private sector.  And she will make it next year, and the year after that.  So, the reward is very limited, but it is a known quantity.  The risk is also limited.  Do your job and you have a job.  You normally would not lose pay.  You can, in normal times, count on a 30 year career and then retirement.  In retirement, you can expect to receive your DEFERRED wages (you took less pay while working to ensure your retirement pension later).  This will be some percentage of ordinary pay--usually 50% or less when all is said and done.  Do not believe the lies about 100% govt pensions and such--at least not in federal GS employment.

So, the bottom line is this--sometime over the last 30 years people made conscious choices to take jobs in the private sector or public sector.  Their choices then, are playing out now.  Some of the private sector go-getters won big--way, way beyond anything a public sector employee of similar talents could ever expect to earn--in ten lifetimes.  Others did not do so well.  They ended up too far on the risk side of the calculation.  And now they want to whine about public sector employees.  Those employees chose deferred income and job security--they lowered their risk and accepted fewer rewards.

The ONLY thing that can interfere with a rational outcome, given all of this, is an irrational, emotional reversal of national attitudes and policy toward federal employees.  They are being scapegoated and criticized constantly by the same morons who elected the idiots who make decisions to spend money to hire these folks.  If you want to stop the expansion of the federal govt, if you want to cut the deficit and dig into the debt, if you want to enhance private sector opportunity, then STOP VOTING FOR the Obamas, Reids, Pelosis, Boehners, McConnells, and their like.  These people have run the U.S. into the ground and yet YOU RE-ELECTED them just this year in most cases.  It is insane.  Don't blame the guy who administers the contract to build a new administration building at Yosemite--or whatever--blame the monsters who AUTHORIZED and FUNDED the project--YOUR ELECTED OFFICIALS.

Tue, 12/11/2012 - 13:02 | 3052200 Seasmoke
Seasmoke's picture

there is more BS in your little post than all of ZH today.....but lets say you correct, bottom line is , if private sector cannot/will not pay for public sector ....so full circle comes around to SUCKERS !

Tue, 12/11/2012 - 13:09 | 3052223 NotApplicable
NotApplicable's picture

A.k.a. "dollar holders."

Until people refuse to accept BennieBux in exchange for goods and services, there is no end in sight.

Tue, 12/11/2012 - 13:11 | 3052224 Watauga
Watauga's picture

You make the point gloriously.  Instead of a rational analysis, you emotionally engage in hate and misplaced blame.  Of course, if the RULE OF LAW were to completely collapse, govt employees would have no defense against unlawful sea changes in civilian personnel laws and regulations. IF Congress and the President changed the laws, stopped funding jobs, and were able to avoid legal protections for civilian employees, then yes, in the end, the govt worker would have been the sucker, for he would have been cheated out of this deferred wages (his pension) and his security.  But again, that would be based on IRRATIONAL and likely illegal actions.  It would also depend, as noted, on a complete 180 degree change in how Congress, the President, and the federal courts look at all of this.  You also seem to ignore the reality here: YOU elected the monsters who AUTHORIZED these positions and FUNDED these positions.  STOP ELECTING them. 

Tue, 12/11/2012 - 13:38 | 3052314 Seasmoke
Seasmoke's picture

yes i know it was all for the children,,,,,they are all just named Benjamins

Tue, 12/11/2012 - 15:42 | 3052763 centerline
centerline's picture

The public sector has grown to where it is because of the same bullshit, runaway, ponzi financial system.  And, it has avoided the damage done to the private sector solely because the government can at will transfer the load to the taxpayers.

Using risk/reward for the average person in terms of "playing one's cards" is near complete bullshit.  Most people follow the patterns of getting educated and/or working hard, learning a trade, etc.  They find there way through open competition for jobs in the market (which is a mix of private and public to them) and do the best they can with what limited foresight they have.  In some cases, career choice simply determines the direction anyhow.

Leading to some conclusion about cards playing out is completely disgusting to say the least.  It is almost tantamount to sanctioning the ponzi financing when looking at it from the side that benefited.

Tue, 12/11/2012 - 13:38 | 3052311 toomanyfakecons...
toomanyfakeconservatives's picture

You forgot to mention public sector perks like immunity from prosecution and sex with teenage prostitutes.

Tue, 12/11/2012 - 14:24 | 3052498 CaptainObvious
CaptainObvious's picture

There is so much bullshit in your post I can't even be bothered to comment on it all, but this?

"So, the bottom line is this--sometime over the last 30 years people made conscious choices to take jobs in the private sector or public sector."

Reality check, party of two!

30 years ago, there weren't half as many public sector jobs as there exist today.  So we now have twice as many gubmint employees, earning salaries that beat the private sector, with bennies that kick the private sector's collective ass, with job security you can't find anywhere else, all of which is paid by my tax dollars, and you don't think I should point a finger at the gubmint workers who have attached an umbilicus to my paychecks?  Fuck that noise.  I will blame anybody who sucks the teat of the tax dollar, be it the gubmint workers, the welfare queens, the bailout bunch, or the elected assholes who are supposed to be leading this nation.  Well, I guess I should give credit where credit is due...in a way the assholes are leading this nation.  They're leading it straight down the shitter.

Tue, 12/11/2012 - 18:19 | 3053393 blunderdog
blunderdog's picture

     we now have twice as many gubmint employees, earning salaries that beat the private sector, with bennies that kick the private sector's collective ass, with job security you can't find anywhere else, all of which is paid by my tax dollars, and

Yeah, a *lot* of folks in a lot of positions really have no idea how good they've got it.  It doesn't necessarily make them bad people or anything, they just don't have the experience to know what they're talking about.

My father's been retired from his longtime position for quite awhile, and he still forgets now and again what working is like these days--he slips and says stuff like, "Well after 15 or 20 years at that company you should be in a pretty comfortable position."

I roll my eyes and he usually catches himself, but it just goes to show how deeply certain patterns of thought become ingrained in people.

Tue, 12/11/2012 - 13:07 | 3052217 SanOvaBeach
SanOvaBeach's picture

I'm shocked, just shocked!  All the rednecks I know said it was welfare, illegal immigrants, the black people, latino's, lazy people'and stuff like that.  You mean there are State and Federal employees that are overpaid, lazy, and just have their mouths at the public trough!  My tax dollars are being used to feed these leaches!  You mean to say that these scumbags are just working the system to feather their nests on my tax dollar?  Gosh golly, I did'nt know that.  What would happen if I just stop paying taxes?  What would happen if I don't pay that parking ticket I got yesterday?  This is not like I was taught in HS.  I thought these people are supposed to be working for the public good!  My faith in humanity is going out the window.  Over 150 sworn officers walked-off the job during Katrina.  That was when we needed them most.  You mean to tell me that people are just looking after themselves and don't give a hoot about anythging else but themselves!  I'm shocked, just shocked!

Tue, 12/11/2012 - 13:29 | 3052278 pirea
pirea's picture

calm down,they are paid with money created from thin air, not your tax money.

Tue, 12/11/2012 - 13:36 | 3052304 SanOvaBeach
SanOvaBeach's picture

Your right!  I took a couple of deep breaths and feel beter now.

Tue, 12/11/2012 - 13:08 | 3052218 Jim in MN
Jim in MN's picture

 

I just have to post this again...it's on earlier as a reply to something else....and I say this as a multi-year ZHer....partly because the Bloomberg article says it's part one of SIX and I bet they all suck as much as this one does.

The article is a disgusting hatchet job, and the ZH headline is an embarrasment.

According to the actual data in the article itself:

Cali workers make $60K on average--not very much.

Lump sum pay is up--because of layoffs and buyouts.

Overall pay is down--for five years straight.

Oh, and the big headline $822K?  That guy is being investigated.  And there is only one of him.

Blah.  It's getting too easy around here.  No balls any more.

Tue, 12/11/2012 - 13:16 | 3052236 alien-IQ
alien-IQ's picture

I share your sentiments on this story. Very disappointed in how ZH has chosen to "present" this. But the tone here has shifted in the last few months. Perhaps this is a sign of the new direction this may be going.

The headline here is...well, let's be generous and call it...misleading.

Tue, 12/11/2012 - 13:34 | 3052297 blunderdog
blunderdog's picture

ABC Media may be the same company that produces Limbaugh's show or something.  The editorial tone has definitely changed.

Tue, 12/11/2012 - 14:40 | 3052560 Northeaster
Northeaster's picture

"But the tone here has shifted in the last few months"

More like the past year. It used to be industry pro's of all persuasions commenting here with some insightful input, now we get "bitchez".

Tue, 12/11/2012 - 14:21 | 3052491 Oldwood
Oldwood's picture

We really don't need to show the exception to prove the rule. Governments are spending more money than they take in and have had for many years. The real point of the article is to point out the madness and while some public employees are making a killing, the real issue is that these very same governments are broke and no one, not a single official capable of changing anything, is willing to do a damn thing about it. In a world where so many are suffering, it is the height of in insensitivity to have these types of things happening while the taxpayer is being beaten about the head by Obama.

Tue, 12/11/2012 - 16:57 | 3053037 Cathartes Aura
Cathartes Aura's picture

agree with all points mentioned, and raise you. . . the return of Robo & Trav, simultaneously, out of the. . . blue?

entertainment, 123, ABC. . .

Tue, 12/11/2012 - 17:44 | 3053270 ceilidh_trail
ceilidh_trail's picture

Don't forget nharry wanger and leo k...

Tue, 12/11/2012 - 19:45 | 3053673 Cathartes Aura
Cathartes Aura's picture

whoa, are they back too??

must be a 2012 wormhole activated. . .

Tue, 12/11/2012 - 17:22 | 3053135 sschu
sschu's picture

It is easy to cherry pick the data both ways.  Here is an article that talks about pay as a percentage of state revenue.

http://unionwatch.org/what-percent-of-californias-budget-is-employee-compensation/

When you add this all up, personnel costs for California’s state government are not somewhere barely above 10% of their total expenditures, as Prevatt asserts, but, doing the math, $41.9 (direct employees) + $18.1 (K-12 employees) = $59.96 / $89.6 = 67%. That is, using data taken directly from the state’s payroll records, combined with overhead calculations courtesy of an exhaustive study commissioned by an (arguably) sympathetic academic institute, along with very reasonable assumptions regarding transfer payments – not even considering transfer payments to localities for line items other than K-12 education – taxpayers are seeing at least 2/3rds of California’s state budget used to pay employee compensation.

***

I did try to decipher the state funds spent on employees, it takes and accountant to determine that. 

You are not trying to make the case that state employees in Cali are underpaid, are you?

sschu

 

Tue, 12/11/2012 - 13:16 | 3052240 Hubbs
Hubbs's picture

Some what off topic, but Tyler, answer this:  What's with the taxpayer profit on the treasury sale of AIG stock?

http://news.yahoo.com/u-treasury-exits-aig-bailout-profit-22-7-123152397--finance.html

Tue, 12/11/2012 - 13:39 | 3052313 caimen garou
caimen garou's picture

ever been lied to before?

Tue, 12/11/2012 - 13:18 | 3052244 ekm
ekm's picture

For 80% of the gov workers, there is no difference in principle between being on welfare or working.

Going to work is basically walfare but at working income. They do nothing.

 

As in communism, the other 20% that actually works, will catch up pretty soon and stop working. They're not stupid.

Tue, 12/11/2012 - 14:54 | 3052598 surf0766
surf0766's picture

You dare take on Imelt and his communist views?

 + 100 for you.

Tue, 12/11/2012 - 13:20 | 3052253 ReactionToClose...
ReactionToClosedMinds's picture

California by far over the edge, then New York, New Jersey, Illinois and Michigan.  What a sorry picture

 

Tue, 12/11/2012 - 13:31 | 3052285 toomanyfakecons...
toomanyfakeconservatives's picture

It's high time for more responsible states to separate themselves from these notorious problem states.

Tue, 12/11/2012 - 13:32 | 3052290 Cangoroo
Cangoroo's picture

They do a good job doing nothing. Problem begins when they start to work.

Tue, 12/11/2012 - 13:35 | 3052302 caimen garou
caimen garou's picture

nothing new here, governments spending what they don't have! And we wonder why americans are so far in debt

Tue, 12/11/2012 - 13:44 | 3052340 Clesthenes
Clesthenes's picture

Trouble is, it gets worse.

When state (special district, city or county) workers retire, they collect pension checks equal to, at least, 80% of their last pay check.

Pension checks come from their retirement system which was built up entirely by taxpayer money.

It’s a little bit of a charade, tho.  On paper, contributions to the fund are divided evenly between the worker and his employer (taxpayers); but in some/many cases the agency involved pays both sides, without knowledge of taxpayers, of course.

Actually, it gets worse still.  In the early 1990’s, a California court ruled that ‘public employee retirement systems’ had to be 100% funded; they were then 75%-80% funded, and the judge was a future beneficiary of such ‘systems’.  Thereafter, many governmental units began issuing so-called Pension Obligation Bonds.  Orange County (Cal), for example, issued $300 million in such Bonds and transferred the proceeds to the retirement system for the County’s workers.  For several years OC bookkeepers couldn’t figure out how to get the bonds off their books; finally, the County expensed the bonds against ordinary tax collections – stiffing taxpayers.

Here’s another level of worse: the money collected by these retirement systems is invested in domestic and FOREIGN (as in, Red China, for example) stocks, bonds, real estate et cetera; when such funds show profits for the year, such profits are hoarded by such state workers.  When funds show losses, guess who gets stiffed again?

Tue, 12/11/2012 - 14:00 | 3052388 Mr Kurtz
Mr Kurtz's picture

"In an interview, Harris said public pension pay must be competitive with the private sector to attract top investment talent."

Wasn't that the same rationale used to justify tax payer provided (TARP) bonus compensations to Wall Street thieves after the economy collapsed in 2008?

Tue, 12/11/2012 - 13:58 | 3052389 pragmatic hobo
pragmatic hobo's picture

no wonder cali is broke.

Tue, 12/11/2012 - 14:24 | 3052488 yogibear
yogibear's picture

California, like Illinois and other states can expect a bailout soon by Obama.

No worry, other state taxpayers will be bailing out the reckless states.

These state workers think they deserve a raise and they will get it. 

Any fiscaly responsible state will get financially raped by the reckless ones.

Obama's mission is to re-distribute weath.

 

 

Tue, 12/11/2012 - 14:26 | 3052507 Oldwood
Oldwood's picture

There should be not unions in public sector employment and yearly expenditures should never be allowed to exceed revenues. Many of these governments are engaged in what the private sector would consider criminal and fraudulent activities. ALL governments should be held to account. Accountability. It is the only answer.

Tue, 12/11/2012 - 14:33 | 3052533 JR
JR's picture

Unenforced policies against illegal immigration have divided California along racial lines -- an earthquake shock to its economic and political systems that could never have been delivered by the San Andreas fault.

In California, a single Federal judge stopped voter initiatives to rein in immigration and, as the Arizona law problem shows, the federal authorities have no interest in seriously policing the borders. But they have every wish to make sure public service, such as Obamacare/teachers’ salaries/police and fire support, is maintained.

In 1994, California voters voted 59 to 41 percent to approve Proposition 187, the “Save Our State” Initiatives that said California residents were not responsible for the schooling and health care of illegal aliens. It also stepped up labor law and border enforcement.

A single federal judge blocked its implementation on the basis of “a balance of hardship” and constitutionality.

Now, the Piper must be paid and in California, 18 years later, there no longer is a “59 percent” majority vote to pass a “Save Our State” initiative. Already the white population of California has fallen to 39.7 percent with the Mexican population gaining on its heels at 38.2 percent.

I expect Prop 13 to be overturned in that the Democrats – comprising California's new state-union/Third-World legislature -- have achieved a two-thirds' supermajority and already are threatening to overturn Prop 13. My property taxes currently are $9000 on a 1200 square foot house. I also expect white flight from California to accelerate to dizzying proportions.

In California -- where 72 percent of students now are of color per the Center for American Progress -- it is game over for taxpayers.

Tue, 12/11/2012 - 14:50 | 3052590 yogibear
yogibear's picture

The smart people are fleeing CA and other tax and spend states because businesses are finding it tougher to make a profit. 

Next will be higher prices for those people that are living on the government. The state (CA, etc) will impose price controls.  Businesses will close and the state will have to open stores. 

Sound like extreme socialism/communism? Next seizing of assets,

Comrades get used to the gradual steps towards communism.

 

Tue, 12/11/2012 - 15:01 | 3052617 surf0766
surf0766's picture

We are past the socialism stage. That has been going on for 40+ years. We are entering the communist stage in stealth. Once the masses realize we are already here, the curtain will be drawn back to show just what they have done to them(us).

Tue, 12/11/2012 - 14:43 | 3052570 stockscooter
stockscooter's picture

Californians are about to pay for it.  In August I wrote of the coming doom.  It's setting up perfectly. This should lead a national avalanche. I've been trying to warn people in California about this and they have an apathetic attitude...everyone of them.  It's coming... the municipal bond disaster.   http://stockscooter.wordpress.com/2012/08/16/the-california-bear-has-its...

Tue, 12/11/2012 - 14:55 | 3052600 surf0766
surf0766's picture

We are toast.

Tue, 12/11/2012 - 15:02 | 3052621 Frank N. Beans
Frank N. Beans's picture

the city of Phoenix has supposedly done a good job of living within its means, but they just gave a 30% or so raise to the city manager so as to make it more "level" with other cities of the same size.  So now he's gonna make something like $300 k. 

there's a lot of outcry.  One person wrote a letter to the editor of the daily paper and said the raise was stupid; we can easily find someone qualified to work at "only" $240k.

I have a friend who just retired from the city and is starting to collect his pension and now he works for the state doing similar work.  double-income! 

Tue, 12/11/2012 - 15:25 | 3052689 rsnoble
rsnoble's picture

By the time it crushes?  Look at your property tax statement recently??

I often walk my bloodhound in a city park, several times i've seen things like 7 guys in 3 trucks show up with 1 chainsaw to trim 1" diameter tree limbs and they take turns throwing them in the trucks(yes all 3 trucks) and spend a couple hours for a few twigs.

Ever heard the joke about taking 3 people to change a lightbulb? I've actually witnessed this first hand in this park. No kidding.  One to get the ladder, one to hold the ladder while the last one climbs it and has the daunting task of actually changing it out. I would assume the 3rd guy gets the rest of the day off with pay.

And here I sit and just had the cops drive by and flash their lights letting me know that they "are on to me" for sending an indescent text to a neighbor that threatened to shoot me because he seen me holding a gun that I didn't have.

FUCK PUBLIC UNIONS  I HOPE MICHIGAN BUSTS YOUR FUCKING BALLS!!

Tue, 12/11/2012 - 15:28 | 3052693 rsnoble
rsnoble's picture

Oh and btw this is one group of fucking morons that absolutely refuse to join the depression and will stop at nothing to continue on like nothing is wrong.  Care to disagree? That's fine will just sell your house to the next renter.  This bullshit and abuse needs to be stopped.

Tue, 12/11/2012 - 15:32 | 3052712 loveyajimbo
loveyajimbo's picture

Yes, they need to do a "Walker" on their state parasites... er... workers.  First, though, how about ending the payment of welfare, foodstamps, healthcare and education to the God damned ILLEGALS???  What other country has enough moronic libs to self destruct like that???

Tue, 12/11/2012 - 15:58 | 3052823 MagicMoney
MagicMoney's picture

What's the big deal. Just raise taxes on the rich, and everything will be paid for. Rich people grow money.

Tue, 12/11/2012 - 16:23 | 3052890 JimBowie1958
JimBowie1958's picture

Production and energy over the next ten to twenty years is about to drop to near $0 annually. People will make most of their own stuff with their own generated energy.

People will only have to work for a few months each year to pay for things they want but dont need, but they wont have to work full time any more.

Me, God Willing, I will keep working till the day I die and they carry me out the door on a stretcher.

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