Bush 'scrooges' big-city federal workers

In order to better fight the Global War on Terror, Bush is going to cut pay raises of TSA screeners at O'Hare Airport, making sure that they are paid less than people in comparable jobs in the private sector. Brilliant! We want only people have have no other option in those critical jobs, right?

Meanwhile the mercenary thugs at Blackwater and Dynacorp continue to pull in hundreds of millions of dollars to shoot Iraqi civilians without provocation.

President Bush is telling federal workers as he gets very Scrooge-like, announcing a reduction in their expected pay raises, in some cases quite substantial, just in time for the holidays.

Merry Christmas from George W Bush and the Republican Party:
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*Billions upon unaccounted for Billions for a civil war in Iraq = GOOD

*Affordable Healthcare and Pay raises for Americans here at home = BAD

....and while the Republicans will tell you that they won't raise your taxes, they won't tell you that they have continued to deficit spend our national debt all the way up to $9 Trillion. I guess they figure it's better that they get elected now and then let our grandkids worry about paying off our credit card loans to communist China that they ran up.

So bushbo believes that a tax cut will put more money in the pockets of consumers, helping them and the economy. But when it comes to actually PUTTING money in their pockets, well, that can't happen. More important to fund the do nothing, take a month long break in August while American soldiers are dying on the streets of Baghdad Iraqi parliament. If consumers really generate 1/3rd of the GDP, earboy is sticking it to American workers, and American retailers, all the while helping president cheney's hellofaburden generate massive profits while American soldiers are dying. Nice. This isn't compassionate, this isn't conservative, it's just pure hypocritical horse doodoo. But that's what one expects from the

worst.vice.president.ever.

But the U.S. government can afford to flush at least $4 billion on an aborted spy satellite program:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/11/washington/11satellite.html#step1

And $38 million dollars on a computerized accounting system for the Iraqi government that nobody uses:

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=3771918

And a $750 million dollar Iraq embassy, "Fortress America" that is on hold due to contractors' shoddy work and poor oversight by the State Department.

So with the cost of healthcare going up, after this "raise", their take-home pay will be lower in 08 then in 07.

"Take one for the team"? Someone needs to tell George America has been taking it up the you-know-where for too long.

Isn't this part of the sacrafice that all you libs were saying we should be making?

Also, gov't workers ahve much better benefits than the private sector and greater job security. After all, when was the last time you heard of a gov't worker losing their job because of a merger or bankruptcy?

Before the bleeding hearts spill all over the floor, remember that the 3 percent metro workers will get is more than the rest of us who do not work for the government. And don't forget also that many government jobs carry with them retirement at 80 percent of pay after 25 or 30 years, a full month of vacation, and every holiday that anyone has ever dreamed up. Do you get that in your job? Neither do I. Don't cry for them, Argentina...or Chicago.

Isn't this part of the sacrafice that all you libs were saying we should be making?

Also, gov't workers ahve much better benefits than the private sector and greater job security. After all, when was the last time you heard of a gov't worker losing their job because of a merger or bankruptcy?

Posted by: Terry | November 28, 2007 8:16 PM
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I believe it was connies that were asking for sacrifice - like dying in Iraq. But never the less, there are people that work for government entities that are losing their jobs. Like all those CTA bus drivers. It's not due to merger or bankruptcy, but if you think losing your job is easier because the governor and legislature are idiots, think again. And there are CTA employees losing their jobs. So spare us the limp wristed questions.

You can always count on Neo-feudalist Terry to show up and tell us how wonderful it is when lower income workers get even less.

Isn't this part of the sacrafice that all you libs were saying we should be making?

Posted by: Terry | November 28, 2007 8:16 PM

Waterboy,
No, "sacraficing" would be leaving Iraq and spending the billions that are being wasted over there by you Wingnuts on people here in America who need it more.

Why bother cutting? Just make more Holidays then you don't have to pay as much.

Example: make 9/11 a National Holiday. Call it Freedom Day. That would save: 20 million workers x 8 hours x $15.00 per hour (assuming the average wage is $15.00 per hour)= 2.4 trillion dollars. If my calculator button is not stuck. That should fund the war another 3 or 4 years.

Here's a clue, Lou. Federal workers get paid for holidays. No savings. Oh, by the way, the rest of us work on most of those holidays the feds get off.

Why feel sorry for governemnt workers most are holdovers going back to Jimma Carter and Bill Clinton.
That's one of the reasons W has had to put up with incompetence--civil service rules limits who can be fired.
This is a cushy policy complete with health care and pensions that don't exist in the private sector.
I applaud President Bush. Jerry White, Springfield, IL

Hey Jerry, Like you we still have to pay for a higher cost of living and like you we still need to put food on the table to feed our families so screw you with your stupid comments. Also, we work just as hard, if not harder than the private sect. And keep in mind my friend that our jobs are also being outsourced to highly paid contractors that in some cases do not know what they are doing. I say a pay raise is necessary for all employees to survive under this wasteful government. Even a moron knows we got an idiot running this country.

Stop hating on federal workers for what you call "Job Security". Our jobs are being outsourced as well. Retirement is not all that when you look at the fine print. TSP..well your lovely president took money from that as well to fund "HIS" war. So a pay raise is really needed. BTW the "benefist" are not all that compared to the "out-of-pocket" expenses... such as medicines. Dental, well hang it up, that's an additional cost. Take a long hard look at the federal benefits and retirement before you consider it "all that". The one who really need to "take one for the team" is bushy himself along with congress. Take a look at what they make. Isn't it funny how they approve their raise in October, but leave the real workers on hold until now. Or better yet tell the workers to "sacrafice" but they on the other hand deserve a $$$$ increase and a month long vacation, oh they are about to take another break... WOW isn't that NICE.

This is a bogus story. The locality pay is going UP .5%. They're not cutting the whole thing. Just tryin to stir it up eh Frank?

The benefits of government workers have eroded over time and our job security is not what it was. Very few employees are under the "old" retirement system which can net 80% retirement benefits after 40 years of service. The "new" system - which every new hire since 1985 or so is under - yield 1% retirement for every year of service. If you work past age 65 you get 1.1% per year. So if I work 33 years and retire at age 65, I will get 33% retirement benefits. Now I am also putting into social security, but who knows how much of that will be around for some of us?. The Thrift Savings Plan is like a 401(k) which is great for those who voluntarily participate. However those who will most need it - the lowly paid dietetics and housekeeping, etc. workers, can rarely afford to contribute much. More and more jobs are being contracted out. And management is finding more ways of firing people when they wish. The only people I see with good job security even with good performance are in high management - they just get pushed to a job where they can't do much harm. I think that's probably true in the private sector too. and by the way, Congress gets all our benefits only more and better.

What people are failing to realize is that the avg federal employee already is being paid less than the private sector- the COLA increase is to at least put them in the area-not equal to-what the private sector is paying for the same type positions. So, if anyone who is working private sector and not being paid their worth or not working a job that they love- I say find another JOB! But don't try and say govt workers already get lots of perks-because truth be told, they don't!

"Also, gov't workers ahve much better benefits than the private sector and greater job security. After all, when was the last time you heard of a gov't worker losing their job because of a merger or bankruptcy?"

Posted by: Terry | November 28, 2007 8:16 PM

Terry, here in Michigan, workers employed by the public schools have been losing their jobs for several years due to privatization. Some big corporation comes in to a school district that can't get the homeowners to pass a millage, convinces them that their costs will go down if they privatize their cafeteria and maintenance departments, and before you know it, jobs that were paying a just-get-by wage are reduced to minimum wage, with no benefits, and hours are cut to part-time. Privatization is the biggest lie ever sold by the corporatocracy. Smaller school districts suddenly find that their cafeteria is being run by a part-time food service director that also runs two other school districts in the region; the private service pushes junk food instead of school meals because they can make more profit on selling kids pizza and candy bars; catering for district employee meetings are charged to make money instead of covering expenses. The district ends up paying lots more, but since it doesn't show up as an extra $25.00 on their property tax bill, they don't really notice it. And as for the maintenance department: do you really want your high school daughter wandering deserted hallways after sports practice when the custodial staff is composed of un-vetted outsiders who are willing to work for $7.00/hour? The human wreckage left behind in the wake of these corporate takeovers of our school districts is terrible. The myth of the fat-cat government employee who can't get fired for any reason short of murder belongs in the dustbin with the fairy story "welfare queen."

AJF,

Are you talking about this poor slobs and these are 2004 numbers:

http://www.opm.gov/feddata/html/paystructure/2004/2004paystru.pdf

John E,

If George Bush doubled the federal workers' "nothing" salaries, how much would they have?

Lisa and LaLaLand,

If you don't like your federal jobs, get out in the private sector and find out what competition is all about.

TLE,

Welcome to capitalism. What the schools are doing is getting out of businesses they are not good at: feeding kids and maintaining buildings.

If the school boards start learning, they may number the overpriced teachers also.

Terry-

You sound a bit jealous. You must not get paid very much if you think those are high average salaries. Maybe if you apply yourself you can make that much someday too.

Interesting that Bush would elicit the phrase “take one for the team”, while his family and oil baron friends continue to taking advantage of the high oil prices. Maybe Bush should consider charging only 3% more each year on a barrel of oil, taking one for the country. Telling federal employees to work harder and expect less will only drive out younger qualified employees, leaving the security of the nation for TSA screeners to advance within the vacancies of agencies such as the FBI, CIA...etc. Don’t patronize federal employees by saying how valuable our role is at maintaining the security of the nation and then ask us to take a rain check.

LTE - I'd like to visit your planet. I've never met an overpriced teacher. Now on a one by one basis there may be some teachers who are overpaid by virtue of the fact that they are not good teachers. Those are the ones that take teaching jobs available because really good teachers take better paying jobs.

As a federal employee, I'm not crying over what I didn't get. I know I'm being paid more that I could earn in the private sector. A little history: Ronald Reagan gave us nothing, zero, zip, nada his first two years in office. In his next six, the small increase was overshadowed by a REDUCTION in gov't paid portion of health and life insurance. George Sr. signed the Federal Pay Comparability Act in '94. One goal was to bring federal salaries in line with their private sector counterparts. Bill Clinton was the only prez who didn't use the "severe economic condition" clause in the Act - once. Every prez since then has found it very useful.