Comments on: "$800K Man" a government hero

By: StevefromSacto

StevefromSacto — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 18:25:00 +0000

“The salary and benefits should be determined by comparison with similar jobs, both public and private.”

There you go, David. You’ve stumbled on the right’s dirty little secret.

The anti-public employee crowd is quick to point to surveys saying that public employees now make more than those in the private sector. Tese surveys take the salary of, let’s say, an auditor at DOT and compare it to a McDonald’s worker and, voila!, the public employee is higher paid.

The real way to prove who gets paid more would be to compare the salaries of people in the public and private sectorswho do essentially the same work. For example, compare the salary of an auditor in state or local government with an auditor in the private sector and see who gets more.

You never see the right come out with this kind of survey. I wonder why?

By: David

David — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 05:13:26 +0000

San Jose is the tenth largest city in the United States, and being its police chief must be one of the most complex jobs in the country. The salary and benefits should be determined by comparison with similar jobs, both public and private. I don’t know where San Jose ranks in that regard, but according to the web, the police chief of San Francisco, a smaller city, was paid $210,000 in 2004.

By: DavidfromLosGatos

DavidfromLosGatos — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 02:50:03 +0000

David, I see government employees that take my money under threat of imprisonment and hand it out to themselves. Don’t bother with the “safety and dignity” BS. If this was about a $60K annual pension starting at age 65, I would be all for it. But in this guy’s case, we’re talking $200K starting at age 53. We’re talking about legalized theft. It does not undermine or weaken my case to complain about being robbed.

The baby boomer I-me-mine generation has managed to run up a tab that cannot be repaid, and the boomer politicians have made (and continue to make) promises greater and great government paid benefits that simply cannot be delivered. Obama could pull a Hugo and confiscate everything from the “rich,” but we will still be broke.

By: David

David — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 18:00:03 +0000

I seriously do not understand people who look at someone with a good pension, and think “we must take it away from him” instead of “we must get good pensions like that for everybody else.” I suppose if you are so rich you will never need a pension, that’s one thing. But otherwise, you are cutting off your nose to spite your face when you attack public employees. You are just weakening your own case for “safety and dignity” in your own retirement.

By: StevefromSacto

StevefromSacto — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 16:52:55 +0000

This just in, from the Wall Street Journal:

“The more generous benefits given to government workers are part of a larger trade-off, according to economists. Unable to match private-sector salaries for their most valued workers, governments instead offer more-attractive benefits packages.”

So much for the right-wing garbage that public employees make more than workers in the private sector who do the same jobs. It ain’t so.

By: DavidfromLosGatos

DavidfromLosGatos — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 03:59:12 +0000

My bad. It’s only $200K a year (plus COLAs and free family medical FOR REST OF HIS LIFE) starting at age 53. How will he manage? Certainly not a retirement with any “safety or dignity” ….

By: StevefromSacto

StevefromSacto — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 22:50:26 +0000

If Rizzo is a hero to gov workers, I would have to assume Bernie Madoff is an icon to you private sector lovers.

Or maybe it’s Gordon Gecko (Michael Douglas) and his “greed is good” anthem. I’m sure you can’t wait for “Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps”, coming soon to a theatre near you.

By: David

David — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 22:09:36 +0000

Yes, David — if John Seiler gets to spread the lie that Rizzo is a hero to gov workers (and that’s what he said), then I guess I can point out that there are abuses on all sides.

The San Jose police chief is retiring after 30 years in a job that puts his life in danger. His current pay is $215,000 according to the Mercury News, after a 10% pay cut, so even at 90% (3% x 30) I don’t see where you are getting “several hundred thousand dollars a year.”.

By: DavidfromLosGatos

DavidfromLosGatos — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 21:25:54 +0000

David, if it was just “some safety and dignity in retirement, after a 30- or 40-year career”, there would be less outrage. That is union-speak.

The San Jose Police Chief just announced he is retiring at age 53 to a several hundred thousand dollar a year pension for rest of his life (plus paid health, etc).

You complain that John has focussed on Rizzo as an “example” of the public sector, and then you use the CEO of BP as an “example” of the private sector?

By: David

David — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 14:30:14 +0000

You are blaming the economic crisis on the size of government? That’s a right-wing fantasy. The crisis was caused by the disastrous failures of the private sector, including people who took out mortgages and loans they couldn’t possibly afford, and greedy, predatory corporations that made those loans without regard for sustainability or the long-term impact on the economy. The near-depression triggered by that private-sector collapse would have been much larger and more disastrous if not for the safety-net programs administered by the very government you so bitterly resent.

The disgraced and dishonest president of BP is resigning after presiding over his company’s multi-billion dollar destruction of the environment, and according to reports he leaves with a million-dollar annual pension. But you go right ahead telling yourself that the real problem in the world is a teacher or a cop who has some safety and dignity in retirement, after a 30- or 40-year career of trying to make this a better, safer country.