certain Bacon’s Rebellion blogger whose initials are “JAB” has just written a book called “Boomergeddon” in which he takes a strong libertarian/conservative /Cato viewpoint to try and scare us into believing that the end is near because of government spending.
And while I dare not name this individual because it would deeply embarrass him, I feel it necessary to post this column (in part because he came after me on immigration) but I do it feel it necessary to bring to the attention of the BR reading public the obfuscations, if not down-right lies, with which we have been presented.
If you read this individual’s book “Boomergeddon” who will be treated to a total trash of the federal worker and Washington. The author says such things as “the Imperial City is well insulated from the travails of the general economy.” He claims that while private sector Americans suffered with layoffs and losses, the number of federal workers exploded. The average pay, the author claims, is about $71 K compared with $40K for the average schmo.
The author does note that federal workers do, on average make less than those in the private sectors. But if we believe his logic (and/or baloney) we are supposed to accept that the national policy of the U.S. is in hostage to a bunch of self-serving, over-paid zealots who all voted to Obama and want to bring us socialism that they control.
Which is why today’s Washington Post is so interesting. Max Stier, president and CEO of the non-profit Partnership for Public Service, writes about the “Five Myths about Federal Workers.” A few highlights:
- Fed workers make at least 24 percent less than private sector ones.
- “Conservative think tanks such as the Cato Institute” (from which much of “Boomergeddon’s” data is drawn) claim otherwise, but they comparing apples an oranges, i.e. the pay of a small practice doc in Iowa as compared to a federal cancer researcher leading 50 people at NIH.
- The federal workforce is not bigger than ever. Less the postal service, it is about 2.1 million or slightly smaller than it was in 1967 even while the nation’s population has grown much more.
- You can fire federal workers.
- Not all feds are paper pushers who die to vote for Obama. Some do real work and have won Nobel Prizes.
- Barack Obama’s unfortunate federal pay freeze won’t do much to cure budget ills. The savings just ain’t there. Just don’t believe the JABs.
My advice? Be careful of people who go over the top in using A-bomb bursts as book cover art to make their point. They are selling a tissue of lies.
Peter Galuszka