Maximize Your Income: Get a Government Job

First things first... yes, it's been quite a while since I last posted. However, I've wanted to crank the blog back up for quite a while, so hopefully this will be the start of it.

As for government jobs, it's been widely publicized over the past few years that government workers earn far more in salary and benefits than those in the private sector. In fact, the Heritage Foundation has found that "federal employees get paid 22% more per hour on average than private-sector workers." I've seen other studies on this subject that put the number as high as 50%. For those of you who are screaming "The Heritage Foundation is part of the extreme right wing, and their figures cannot be trusted!" I will go ahead and include the Huffington Post which cites a report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showing government workers make an average of 44% more in total compensation than private sector workers. Take all of this data and the fact that under President Obama the number of federal workers making more than $150,000 per year has doubled, and the following information should not surprise you.

I came across a post in The Wealth Report on WSJ.com today that shows the top ten earning counties (ranked by median income) in America. It just so happens that four out of the top ten earning counties are suburbs of Washington D.C. Yes, you read that correctly. Our government workers are so incredibly well/over paid that the suburbs of Washington D.C. make up 40% of the top ten richest counties in America. President Obama has often criticized the "fat cat" bankers of New York City for ruining the economy, but the fact that there are more D.C. suburbs on the top ten list than there are from NYC makes you wonder who the real fat cats are.

The solution: Get government salaries and benefits in line with those of the private sector. The first step in this process should be to abolish public sector unions. These unions are largely responsible for the dire fiscal situation that permeates our government, especially at the state and local levels. Public sector workers should not be allowed to unionize, because the government is a monopoly. In the private sector, a union may drive a company out of business or into bankruptcy, but the pieces can be picked up by a competitor. The government has no competitors, and the public sector unions have spent their lifetimes extracting obscene benefits for members and demanding higher and higher taxes to pay for them. It is unsustainable and must stop.

What are your ideas for bringing government salaries and benefits in line with those of the private sector?