Taypayer Handouts and Ripoffs

All government jobs are paid for with tax dollars. Government jobs are a drain on society and the cause of unemployment when tax bills can no longer be met.

"The man who produces (taxpayer) while others (federal workers) dispose of his product is a slave." - Ayn Rand, 1963

When taxes are too great, the private sector goes out of business or sends their factories out of the country to places where taxes are less so that they can compete.

Government worker's pay has to come from NON-government workers' taxes... which removes that much money from the non-government workers' discretionary income.

EVERY new government worker hired REDUCES the consumer's after-tax ability to spend... thus harming the economy.

Government doesn't PRODUCE anything! It doesn't sell things because it has nothing to sell. It produces absolutely ZERO wealth!!! It TAKES what it needs from the citizens who DO produce wealth.

To "spend," the government must either take the money from the citizens (taxation), borrow (which will have to be paid back at interest -- so to pay it back the government must take MORE money from the citizens than it borrowed which means MORE taxes), or simply print up more money to pay for what it's spending (which reduces the value of the dollar, which causes inflation which is in effect -- a tax, albeit, a sort of hidden one.)

The government CANNOT help an economy by spending. That idea comes from the theories of John Maynard Keynes.

"It's just too bad that government workers are a deadweight loss, as they produce no profit from their labors with which to pay their bloated salary and benefits packages, and they produce profit-lowering costs for those who must obey their commands, sort of a lose-lose situation."

Most Transitioned NSPS Workers Got Pay Hike. How About You?

71 percent of employees moved to the General Schedule pay system saw an average salary increase of $1,363 per year

June 15, 2010

Federal Computer Week - A large majority of civilian Defense Department employees who have been moved out of the National Security Personnel System (NSPS) so far have received a pay hike when they transitioned to the General Schedule (GS) pay system, according to the leader of transition process.

John James, director of the Defense Department's NSPS transition office, said that of the 53,057 employees who have been transitioned through the pay period that began on May 23, approximately 71 percent received a pay increase, with an average hike of $1,363 per year.

“About 8 percent remained at their same rate of pay because their salary matched a step within their new GS grade,” James told the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee's Federal Workforce Subcommittee.

James said that the remaining 21 percent earn salaries that exceed the maximum rate for their position’s GS grade and were subject to some form of pay retention, which usually limits their pay raises to one-half of the annual pay hikes until their GS grade catches up to their salary.

The pay retention group “is concentrated at the GS-12 and above levels, where many NSPS employees were advantaged by pay rate ranges that exceeded the rates for GS equivalent jobs,” James said.

“Recognizing the potential salary implications to the employee, components are taking steps to mitigate the impact of pay retention.” Patricia Niehaus, president of the Federal Managers Association, testified that the pay retention rules were unfair and that DOD should be encouraging transition officers to use existing authorities to make sure employee future pay hikes are not affected.

If the final proportion of employees hit with pay retention is about 16 percent, it will mean that about 36,000 transitioned employees will see their future raises cut in half.

“The irony in this is that if you were an under-performer, returning to the General Schedule will actually lead to an increase in pay,” Niehaus said. “Employees who fall beneath Step 1 pay-wise will automatically move up to Step 1.”

The Privileged Public Sector

With perks like pensions and health care, do these workers deserve a bailout, too?

February 2, 2010

Forbes.com - Under the now thankfully departed Treasury secretary, we got the first bailout for the undeserving--essentially, members of his own Wall Street class.

Now comes the Democratic codicil to the P. Principle. It's a massive bailout and expansion of the public sector workforce as well as quasi-government workers in fields like heath and education. Not so well-rewarded--except for expanded unemployment benefits--will be those suffering the brunt of the downturn, such as construction and manufacturing workers, whose unemployment is now heading north of 10%.

Indeed, a close look at the current stimulus plan shows that as little as 5% of the money is going toward making the country more productive in the longer run--toward such things as new roads, bridges, improved rail and significant new electrical generation. These are things, like the New Deal's many construction projects, that could provide a needed boost to our sagging national morale.

Instead, we are focusing once again on those who have been getting the best deal for doing the least. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports state and local government workers get paid 33% more than their private sector counterparts. If you add in the pensions and other benefits, the difference is over 40%. In New York alone, public sector wages and benefits since 2000 have grown twice as fast as the average private sector worker.

Egregious stories of overpaid public workers are legion. In suburban Chicago, for example, some school administrators are making over $400,000 with benefits and incentives. Recent reports out of Boston suggest hundreds of firefighters and police officers make well in excess of $100,000 a year. And of course, there are the California prison guards who can make upwards of $300,000 a year with overtime.

Of course, most public sector employees are not so lucky. But, for the most part, these workers enjoy protections, like health care for life, that most others could only dream about. Many also have pensions that allow them to retire in their 50s, while some of us will be hod-carrying well into our 70s.

‘Energy efficiency and GHG emissions reduction are top priorities for the Obama Administration,’ says industry analyst Marianne Hedin. ‘These initiatives will fuel strong demand by federal agencies for carbon management tools and services, creating significant opportunities for software vendors and service providers.’

Hedin adds that government agencies will favor carbon management software in 2010, but in 2011 and beyond, services will capture an increasing portion of the market, with the services/software split reaching 60/40 by 2017.

Pike Research’s analysis indicates that the competitive landscape in this sector is a mixed picture. Niche players such as Enviance are competing with the country’s largest technology and services companies including Accenture, CSC, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Northrop Grumman, and SAIC. Hedin says that the most important competitive assets in this market are strong relationships that companies have built and nurtured over time with federal agencies.

Excerpt from the Executive Summary

Carbon management is an early and emerging market, especially in the United States, so it is relatively small. Until fairly recently, it has also been a rather insignificant market for software and services vendors in the U.S. federal government. However, this will soon change as an increasing number of federal agencies will request external assistance from vendors to help them meet the GHG emission reduction directives of President Obama’s Executive Order (EO) 13514 and the mandatory reporting rule by the Department of Energy (DOE). Momentum for carbon management can be expected to pick up significantly this year, followed by strong growth in subsequent years. Pike Research forecasts that spending for carbon management software and services will reach about $36 million in 2010 and grow by a 46% CAGR through 2017 to reach almost $300 million.