The times, they are a changin'

I see that Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker has kept his job, defeating a recall election spearheaded by unions and others upset with him because he took away teachers and civil servants collective bargaining rights.  As I understand it that effectively limits their ability to get pay raises and more benefits.  What I didn't know until this morning is that there were also successful referendums in San Diego and San Jose, CA to roll back retirement benefits for civil servants there.  Will this become a nationwide trend?


I think people are just now realizing how generous civil servants pay and benefits are.  I've read that government employee's pay and benefit packages together give them about 25-33% more buying power than those in the private sector doing the same type job.  For example, it is common for them to get 3 weeks vacation their first year on the job, not after 5 years as is standard practice in the private sector.  Are they more productive?  Do they deserve more than the rest of us?  And just this morning on the local news they reported that the Dallas ISD is now paying their Communications Director $180K (+ benefits), at the same time they're laying off classroom teachers.  Hmmmm.....  


The times, they are a changin'.


S

It's a sweet gig if you can get it!

The headline on the USAToday story read, "Gov't paid $600 million to dead employees".  My question:  How can you tell a dead government employee from a live one?


It was a story about how retired or disabled government employees received benefits even after they were dead if their demise wasn't reported to "the system".  In one case benefits were paid for 37 years after the guy went stiff.  (Oh....so that's how you can tell the difference!)  The Feds discovered this flaw in their system in a 2005 audit report, but didn't want to be bothered with fixing it until now.   Too much effort, and besides, it's just money.


I'm not making this up.  ;)


S