> You know what policemen and highway workers get paid? $400,000. Cops and some prison guards and firemen in most of New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Cali

> You know what policemen and highway workers get paid? $400,000. Cops and some prison guards and firemen in most of New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, California, and other poorly managed jurisdictions with public unions average $300,000 to $500,000 in total compensation. To be fair, the job does require a bachelor's degree and not just a high school diploma. And you usually need a good friend who can pull strings to get you hired, obviously. The mid career base salaries are about $150,000 and the pension plan usually are full final-year pay and benefits retirement at 45 or 50. That pension plan costs more in present value than the salary according to sane actuarial assumptions. Furthermore, there are effectively eight weeks of paid vacation, a short work week, generous overtime pay, and pensions are usually calculated based on final year pay including overtime and vacation cash-out so they can be well over official salary. State highway workers get paid considerably more than the market rate paid by contractors but not as much as cops.