Federal Workers Need To Be Part Of The Shared Sacrifice

[Geee]

Investors Business Daily:

Campaigning: The Obama budget is a miserably flawed document in so many ways. But it's more than a mere toxic spending package. It's also a political compact the president is hoping will generate support.

Included in President Obama's 2013 budget is a pay raise for federal workers. Yeah, it's only a 0.5% increase. But the federal work force is not one that deserves a raise. It's a work force that needs to be cut.

Government workers, we are told, are civil servants. But the nation's roughly 2.1 million federal civilian workers live more like masters. Their average compensation is twice that of private sector workers (see chart), and in terms of only wages, federal employee pay is about 60% higher — $50,462 per year in private industry compared to $81,258 when working for Washington .

And what does the rest of the country get in return for the generous compensation enjoyed by federal workers?

Nothing, as far as we can tell.

In fact, we'd make the argument that the taxpayers are getting a negative return on their "investment." Federal employees don't create jobs. Nor do they produce wealth.

Instead, a large army of federal workers regulates, administrates, classifies, oversees, coordinates, pencil-pushes and in general gets in the way of this country's economic machine.

And it votes, too. Which is why Obama wishes to reward its members with a pay raise, but moreover refuses to thin its ranks. He wants to solidify for his party the support of a voting bloc and at the same time fish for help in winning a second term using taxpayers' money.