Writer’s Block
Posted on August 24, 2010
Filed Under GENERAL
Yeah, I know, I haven’t updated the website in a long time. Well, I’ve been busy, and I’ve had writer’s block. So rather than carefully think out a few posts, write and rewrite them until they’re right, I’m just going to type them out, and get this done.
So, what’s happened in the past month? Well, Brett Favre retired. In other news, Brett Favre played in the Vikings exhibition game this weekend. I saw the USA Today had an article out which stated government employees make twice what their private sector counterparts make. The Federal Government through the Office of Personnel Management quickly said this wasn’t true. I’m not sure why the OPM felt it necessary to tell me government workers don’t make outrageous salaries. Especially when they do. But hey, don’t take my word for it, the Federal GS scale is public information. According to the GS Table, a DOT auditor who lives in the Philadelphia area with 15 years experience makes around $90,000. That’s without benefits; from what I remember, the benefits on top of the salary are worth about another $20,000 – 30,000. You have health insurance, they match your retirement contribution into your 401(k) plan up to 5% of your salary, cheap life insurance, etc. Oh yeah, don’t forget the generous vacation and sick time you get.
By comparison, I have a friend, let’s call him Bob. Not his real name. Bob has a bachelor’s degree, Bob has been in sales for 20 years, when the large corporation he worked for laid him off. So Bob starts hunting. Luckily for Bob, he found a job as a human resources director for a large multi-national corporation involved in construction, right before the economy really tanked in 2008. Bob was making $45,000. Bob was in charge of several dozen truck drivers, as well as numerous other duties besides the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Reguations. While working there, Bob completed his masters degree in Business Administration. After 18 months with the large, construction related multi-national, Bob was released, as there was no work, so there was no money to pay Bob. Of course as Human Resources Manager, they made him fire all the drivers and office personnel, before laying him off, and closing the division.
Bob was unemployed for about 9 months, when he got another Human Resources job. This one pays $50,000. I did tell Bob to apply to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration for a job, which he did. He didn’t get the job.
Anyway, the point of this long story is not that government workers are lazy. Some are, but most of them do their jobs. The point is, when compared to what’s going on out in the private sector right now…. they are making wa-a-a-ay more than people in the private sector are making. It’s not debatable. It just is.
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