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The danger of arguing about these proposals - they may very well be worthy of separate appraisal - is that one accepts the basic principle that in times of rece

The danger of arguing about these proposals - they may very well be worthy of separate appraisal - is that one accepts the basic principle that in times of receding tax revenues it's ok to cut benefits for the taxpayers but not to downsize the actual legislature or governing body with its employees as well. It's a perfect smoke screen on the part of the legislature.

hga 17y ago
Hmmm, maybe you shouldn't try to couple the two? I.e. accept "benefits" cuts in times of "receding tax revenues" (never let a crisis got to waste :-) and on a separate tack work on the much harder problem you and everyone else who's sane is worried about. Although ... my narrowly divided purple state of Missouri is not having serious problems with public sector employees, and how much do you want to bet that Utah is having even less?
euroclydon 17y ago
I was doing some work for the Office of the Speaker of the House in California, which is huge and employees hundreds of people. They are paid by the state. A guy there told me that when the is a gov. shutdown, they get IOUs for months. Plus they do get laid off also.
- hga 17y ago
  Do some searching and you'll find that California is one of the worst examples of the capture of a state government by public sector unions ... worse at least in that it's probably closest to the brink financially (New York at least has the excuse of the collapse of the financial sector). However legislatures tend to be a special case, e.g. the employees of the Congress are not covered by all the employment laws that are enforced by the Executive.
- dsplittgerber 17y ago
  "According to a 2007 analysis of data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics by the Asbury Park Press, “the average federal worker made $59,864 in 2005, compared with the average salary of $40,505 in the private sector.” Across comparable jobs, the federal government paid higher salaries than the private sector three times out of four, the paper found." There is an eye-opening story in Reason magazine on how public servants have it much better than private sector workers: http://reason.com/archives/2010/01/12/class-war http://reason.com/archives/2010/01/12/class-war

hga 17y ago

Hmmm, maybe you shouldn't try to couple the two? I.e. accept "benefits" cuts in times of "receding tax revenues" (never let a crisis got to waste :-) and on a separate tack work on the much harder problem you and everyone else who's sane is worried about. Although ... my narrowly divided purple state of Missouri is not having serious problems with public sector employees, and how much do you want to bet that Utah is having even less?

euroclydon 17y ago

I was doing some work for the Office of the Speaker of the House in California, which is huge and employees hundreds of people. They are paid by the state. A guy there told me that when the is a gov. shutdown, they get IOUs for months. Plus they do get laid off also.

hga 17y ago
Do some searching and you'll find that California is one of the worst examples of the capture of a state government by public sector unions ... worse at least in that it's probably closest to the brink financially (New York at least has the excuse of the collapse of the financial sector). However legislatures tend to be a special case, e.g. the employees of the Congress are not covered by all the employment laws that are enforced by the Executive.
dsplittgerber 17y ago
"According to a 2007 analysis of data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics by the Asbury Park Press, “the average federal worker made $59,864 in 2005, compared with the average salary of $40,505 in the private sector.” Across comparable jobs, the federal government paid higher salaries than the private sector three times out of four, the paper found." There is an eye-opening story in Reason magazine on how public servants have it much better than private sector workers: http://reason.com/archives/2010/01/12/class-war http://reason.com/archives/2010/01/12/class-war