Federal pay ahead of private industry

I get a kick out of things like this. The fact is that the results are skewed. Janitors are union-covered. Most of the occupations listed are, in the civil service arena, union-covered. Unions tend to get janitors higher pay for their work, but IT professionals who work for the government are usually paid about 40% less than their private sector counterparts. Tax agents working for the government make more than those working for private firms. Attorneys for some reason make more money working for the government than in private sector, and librarians make nearly double what non-civil-service librarians make.

The main reason the VA pays their nurses so well is that they have a difficult time recruiting them. People seem to confuse the politics of war with the people who fight in them. I am a veteran, and although I don't believe in war as a general rule, I volunteered to go to the Persian Gulf in 1990. My brother and several cousins are veterans for the same reasons. The difference between a veteran and someone who has been in the military is that a veteran really knows what it is like to risk his or her life for the sake of this country. People who work in VA hospitals are usually veterans themselves because nobody else understands what it is like to have to deal with explosions nearby, or their friends' heads suddenly lying on the floor next to them, or seeing a child run up and put a grenade into a serviceman's lunch pail. Nobody can imagine it. Veterans can, but we wish we couldn't.

Civil service jobs do not pay well, but they are stable, and the benefits are pretty good. As for comments about the administration, which administration are you talking about? Reagan fired the air traffic controllers. Carter let the steel mills start going to Japan.Clinton signed NAFTA. George H.W. Bush carried on Reagan's economic policies leading to a huge deficit, which Clinton turned into a surplus and G.W. Bush turned back into a deficit. Now Obama gets blamed for it when he inherited most of the debt? I recently repaired my credit in 2006 after it had been damaged for over ten years by my mistakes. I am now recovering more and more of my good credit and for the first time in four years have no credit card debt (though I do have student loans, a car loan, and a mortgage).It has taken me fourteen years to get to this point in my financial life, and my debts only totalled less than $6000. We are talking about a $1TRILLION plus deficit and you want it cleared up in a year? Two questions. What are you smoking? Why the Hell aren't you sharing?

This information gives the implication that this has always been the case...not so. Having worked in both the military and civil service for just under forty-five years (retired in 2000), I can assure you this has not always been the case. Don't get me wrong, I am not saying government salaries are too low however, I am saying we need to fix the civilian job market not, rail against those who are finally making a decent salary. The econimic problem is still lack of jobs due mainly to lack of visionand econimic common sense of our current administration. Itis inconceivable to me why they don't understand...cut spending, lower taxes andreturn money to the individuals and small business owners who create jobs.

Mike, Warner Robins, Georgia