Obama Not Making Friends w/ Federal Employees

• se-alum

  

  First he freezes the locality pay rates, now our insurance premiums will likely go up to subsidize the Healthcare Plan. :@
  
  http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2009/12/07/federal-workers-gripe-about-senate-health-bill/
• icskins

  Well, what did you expect? Someone has to pay for the FREE healthcare.
• CenterBHSFan

  

  Congress needs a pay freeze!
  
  In fact, I think congress needs to be making 10 dollars an hour with whatever healthcare insurance that they want to shove down our throats. Let them also drive their own cars and pay for their own flights using a public airline system. They need to be brought down to reality and pretty quick. No more private jets and/or helicopters. No more limo's. No more chauffeurs. They should have no free access to what the average American doesn't have access to. If they want to fly to DC, let them look up orbitz or priceline.
  They really are too big for their britches!
  <end rant>
• original_sin

  Next he'll have four do the work of three instead of five!
• oldtriple

  I heard some numbers the other day quoted by a US Representative out of Utah. He stated since December 31, 2007 the number of federal employees in theses categories have increased by the following:
  
  1. Those making over $100,000 per year went from 166,000 people in 2007 to the current number of 378,000 people making that much money.
  2.) Those making over $150,000 per year went from about 30,000 people in 2007 to the current number of 66,000 people.
  3.) Those making over $175,000 went from about 11,000 people per year to the current number of 23,00 people ( I think this last number is the correct quote).
  
  In my mind, those are some pretty staggering increases in the federal payroll. That is a lot of tax dollars my friends. Anybody want to ague the point that we just continue to grow government and its interference into our lives?
• LJ

  

  oldtriple wrote: I heard some numbers the other day quoted by a US Representative out of Utah. He stated since December 31, 2007 the number of federal employees in theses categories have increased by the following:
  
  1. Those making over $100,000 per year went from 166,000 people in 2007 to the current number of 378,000 people making that much money.
  2.) Those making over $150,000 per year went from about 30,000 people in 2007 to the current number of 66,000 people.
  3.) Those making over $175,000 went from about 11,000 people per year to the current number of 23,00 people ( I think this last number is the correct quote).
  
  In my mind, those are some pretty staggering increases in the federal payroll. That is a lot of tax dollars my friends. Anybody want to ague the point that we just continue to grow government and its interference into our lives?

  We are going to need a source on this.
• captain_obvious

  Current $1.1 Trillion Dollar bill on his desk will give Federal workers a 2% pay increase, and increases in multiple Federal Programs budgets. Not going to cry for Federal Employees as a group; way to many of them, and way to many of them making way to much money. Are there cases out there that I should feel sorry for? Yes, just like in the Private sector, but not even close to the layoffs, pay cuts, and bonus cuts.
• Manhattan Buckeye

  oldtriple and Captain Obvious are right (thank you Captain Obvious), although I appreciate the difficulties se-alum is facing, I gather that this thread probably took a different turn than what he expected. If anything the federal workforce (and general state workforce for that matter, given that so much "stimulus" funds went to cover local government shortfalls) has become an albatross that was never intentioned. Drudge had a link a few days ago that stated that the average federal government salary was $71,000....ridiculous. We're living in times where the private sector is downsizing, in terms of hiring, layoffs and compensation....I don't know a SINGLE PERSON in the private sector that will make more in 2009 than they did in 2008, and I know plenty of people that took some significant paycuts and took their walking papers. Our government is simply out of control and out of touch. It is amazing how quickly this thing spirals to where one may question if we can ever recover.
• Footwedge

  Raising the wages of Federal employees is a fuckin joke. Excuse my French, but it is. The GDP is relatively stagnant, there has been virtually no increase in the CPI, why should the "non producers" garner any advantage in real purchasing power?
  
  Do these people not have a conscience?
  
  It's a pathetic state of affairs when joining the federal government becomes the most stable of "professions" in Amerika.
• CenterBHSFan

  

  Amerika

  
  I think it's starting to catch on!!!
  
  
• fan_from_texas

  A good friend of mine works for the fed govt. She graduated with decent grades from a tier 4 school. She works 4-10s and has exceptional benefits. While she's certainly competent, she's by no means brilliant. Yet by next year--during which she'll turn 26--she'll break the six figure mark, with outrageous benefits. Her husband is a sharp guy CPA at a big 4. They've calculated out that it will take him almost a decade to pull even with her, even though he works twice as much, travels constantly, and has no life outside of the office.
  
  I'm very happy for her, as she has a great gig going. But it certainly makes one wonder.
• queencitybuckeye

  fan_from_texas wrote:
  I'm very happy for her, as she has a great gig going. But it certainly makes one wonder.

  This. I'm happy for her as your friend. I'm offended as a taxpayer.
• CenterBHSFan

  

  queencitybuckeye wrote:

  fan_from_texas wrote:
  I'm very happy for her, as she has a great gig going. But it certainly makes one wonder.

  This. I'm happy for her as your friend. I'm offended as a taxpayer.

  
  Indeed! :dodgy:
• LJ

  

  fan_from_texas wrote: A good friend of mine works for the fed govt. She graduated with decent grades from a tier 4 school. She works 4-10s and has exceptional benefits. While she's certainly competent, she's by no means brilliant. Yet by next year--during which she'll turn 26--she'll break the six figure mark, with outrageous benefits. Her husband is a sharp guy CPA at a big 4. They've calculated out that it will take him almost a decade to pull even with her, even though he works twice as much, travels constantly, and has no life outside of the office.
  
  I'm very happy for her, as she has a great gig going. But it certainly makes one wonder.

  Many DoD professional employees are far behind the private sector. What branch does she work for?
  
  I know that starting salary for an accountant at DFAS was about 8k lower than an entry level accountant at Nationwide.
• fan_from_texas

  LJ wrote: Many DoD professional employees are far behind the private sector. What branch does she work for?
  
  I know that starting salary for an accountant at DFAS was about 8k lower than an entry level accountant at Nationwide.

  I'd rather not give too much info, so as not to make her feel uncomfortable if (God forbid) she ever came across this. Generally, she has a communications degree and works in employee benefits for a federal agency.
  
  She does complain that her job is boring and monotonous, but I think I could handle the monotony for awhile to work four 10s and make six figures with actual vacation time and a huge pension when I retire.
• Tinkertrain

  Quit bitching we get pers
• Footwedge

  fan_from_texas wrote: A good friend of mine works for the fed govt. She graduated with decent grades from a tier 4 school. She works 4-10s and has exceptional benefits. While she's certainly competent, she's by no means brilliant. Yet by next year--during which she'll turn 26--she'll break the six figure mark, with outrageous benefits. Her husband is a sharp guy CPA at a big 4. They've calculated out that it will take him almost a decade to pull even with her, even though he works twice as much, travels constantly, and has no life outside of the office.
  
  I'm very happy for her, as she has a great gig going. But it certainly makes one wonder.

  This...Exactly this. Go to college. Get a gobblement job....keep your nose clean (a tinge of brown is OK though) and work your 30 years. Retire a millionaire and tell the millions of unemployed private sector people who lost their jobs to the Malasians, Indians, Chinese, Vietnamese that you "feel their pain".
• Footwedge

  LJ wrote:

  fan_from_texas wrote: A good friend of mine works for the fed govt. She graduated with decent grades from a tier 4 school. She works 4-10s and has exceptional benefits. While she's certainly competent, she's by no means brilliant. Yet by next year--during which she'll turn 26--she'll break the six figure mark, with outrageous benefits. Her husband is a sharp guy CPA at a big 4. They've calculated out that it will take him almost a decade to pull even with her, even though he works twice as much, travels constantly, and has no life outside of the office.
  
  I'm very happy for her, as she has a great gig going. But it certainly makes one wonder.

  Many DoD professional employees are far behind the private sector. What branch does she work for?
  
  I know that starting salary for an accountant at DFAS was about 8k lower than an entry level accountant at Nationwide.

  Starting pay for accountants will be around a buck and a quarter once the Indians (no not the American Indians) catch onto to the American accounting codes via internet and all.
  
  "Free trade" is such a wonderful thing. Until the white collar guys start parading down to the soup kitchens here in Amerika.
  
  A tad off topic incomparing IT versus accounting....but the idea is much the same......
  
  From...The War of Wealth written by Gabor Steingart. Page 159....
  
  "Until 2004. the US was the world's largest exporter of information technology (IT) products. This distinction has since gone to the Chinese They now export high-tech products worth a total of 180 billion compared to the United States, which now exports 150 billion worth of the global economy's premium products. The US share of global IT exports has declined by half in the past 15 years. To attain its leading position worldwide, China has quadrupled its share since 2000 alone."
  
  Wanna be a CPA? Prepare to move your family to India circa 2017.
• Footwedge

  CenterBHSFan wrote:

  Amerika

  
  I think it's starting to catch on!!!
  
  

  With all due respects, I in fact caught on several years ago.
• oldtriple

  LJ...
  The best I can do for you as a source for the above is:
  Congressman Jason Chaffetz from the Utah 3rd District stated these figures on the Glen Beck radio show on Friday December 11, 2009. These figures were given during this radio interview.
  
  Since Congressman Chaffetz is a member of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform including the subcommittee dealing with the federal workforce I am going to give him the benfit of the doubt that his numbers are accurate.
• LJ

  

  Manhattan Buckeye wrote: Drudge had a link a few days ago that stated that the average federal government salary was $71,000....ridiculous.

  plz link
• queencitybuckeye

  http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/05/12/business/econwatch/entry5007862.shtml
  
  $75K next year
• LJ

  

  If you take a look at the GS pay scale you can figure out why the average is what it is. You earn a "step" every year up to 5, then 1 step every 3 years 6-10
  
  http://opm.gov/flsa/oca/09tables/html/col.asp
• JTizzle

  I'll ask my buddy for some of the paper work and actual numbers on federal employees, It's astounding! The papers came from one of our Congressmen so they should be reliable and a good source.