Not necessarily just politicians, but government workers in general. Low level people like janitors are generally overcompensated compared to their peers, but h

Not necessarily just politicians, but government workers in general. Low level people like janitors are generally overcompensated compared to their peers, but higher positions like programmers, scientists, analysts, managers, etc, typically make far less than their industry counterparts. I personally know a few government scientists who make about 40% of their industry peers. Because of that, I think you see a lot of corruption, indifference, or laziness due to workers "compensating" for the pay differences. It certainly doesn't help morale.