A reality check finds that, minus fringe benefits, the gap is $81,000 to $50,000.
Several studies have found that an apples-to-apples comparison of job categories substantially reduces — but doesn’t quite eliminate — the divide between public and private pay. The Washington bureaucracy is well paid because it is full of scientists, doctors, engineers, lawyers, accountants and a whole lot of Ph.D.s.
Obviously, the per-person payroll at NASA far exceeds the manpower costs at Walmart.
At the same time, lawmakers who dismiss Paul’s shared-sacrifice approach must come to grips with the fact that government is mostly a collection of people providing services.
The Pentagon buys a lot of stuff. Social Security and Medicare are huge pass-through entitlement programs. But the price tag for a massive federal bureaucracy mostly consists of body counts and per-person costs.
After a long political struggle, with liberals and labor unions accepting the new realities, in Michigan we have seen the state and the cities and the schools downsize. For the most part, they have managed to provide the same for less.
Unlike the feds, state and local officials can’t borrow money from China, so achieving a balanced budget has meant re-evaluating personnel costs. In particular, Washington should pay attention to the gains made across Michigan by eliminating government jobs through attrition. What’s more, furlough days ease the sting of pay cuts without significantly inconveniencing the public.
In this economic climate, would federal departments and agencies lose a lot of talented people if pay was ratcheted down by 10 percent? I doubt it. If the overall work force was gradually reduced by another 10 percent, would Washington grind to a halt? Not a chance.
In this age of austerity, those inside the Beltway must learn to live the same altered lifestyle as those of us on the outside.
Taken from The Macomb Daily
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