State workers, city workers, teachers, police, and all public employees...

[SHRED]

...are under intense scrutiny now that the economy is where it is at today.
The editorial pages, TV news, and radio talkshows are rife with angst pushing the notion that somehow the public employee is getting a "gravy" deal.

The talkingheads couldn't have cared less about us during the boom times. In fact it was difficult finding qualified people for the public sector then. Potential applicants scoffed at no merit pay raises, no bonuses, no stock options, and the relative lower wage and benefit packages than those offered in the private sector for equivalent responsibilities.

But now the tables have turned, the economy has tanked, and being a city worker I can tell you that the ignorance-based-rage pumped into the minds of the public via the airwaves and print is at an all-time high.
They rail against us and what they think our "sweetheart union deals" are all about (we don't even have retirement medical).
The City of Bell, CA incident for instance is used ad nauseum to blanket us all.
Our sensationalist media takes the exceptions to the rule and portrays these exceptions as if they are the rule while the public who ingests this propaganda and plays right along.

All this whipping up against government employees and meanwhile not a whisper about the real drain on the taxpayers.
The War Contractors.
The enormous waste and fraud associated with the Military Industrial Complex.

Last time I checked General Atomics,SAIC, and any number of government contractors are 100% to nearly 100% tax dollar paid for.
We have General Atomics right here in the City I work for and it is BOOMING. The parking lot is full yet since they are government contracted there is no taxable product produced so there no sales tax revenue generated to help our struggling city.
Not one word, not one story about turning an investigative eye towards this type of government spending.
As the CEOs have their champagne parties and employees brag about their six figure salaries for doing essentially nothing while they wait for other projects (first hand story)...while all this caviar and silk is being enjoyed all on the public dime where are the stories?
Where is the accountability?

Where is the same scrutiny for them that we are getting in our much more accountable-to-the-public careers we have chosen?
This is a twisted up situation when you have those serving the public, choosing a life of public service, and then getting hammered while the true waste, fraud, and abuse runs free.

---

[LWolf]

1. Accountability is only for those who are not making a profit

for the privatizers.

[SHRED]

2. It seems that way for sure

It always amazes me that a 100% tax dollar funded corporation gets a pass.
As if that "profit" is not welfare for the wealthy.


---

[SHRED]

11. Ain't that the truth!

[tularetom]

3. A lot of us public employees had this same experience for years

Because we worked in rural areas where high seasonal unemployment and low wages was the norm.

I'm a retired local government bureaucrat.

My salary was absurdly low compared to people that had the same job with agencies in wealthier areas.

But it was huge in comparison to the median family income in our area. As were all public agency jobs, right down to the entry level clerical and public works positions.

And the local press hammered the agencies for it, relentlessly and on an ongoing basis.

The phenomenon has gone national now, because the crappy economic conditions are no longer confined to poor counties.

[SHRED]

4. The median household income...

...in the city I work for is around $100,000 per year yet most of us that work here cannot afford to live here.



---

[tularetom]

5. I agree that sucks

And my point wasn't to minimize it, just to point out that public employees have been getting beat up in the press for a long time.

I really don't envy you guys still working for public agencies these days.

[leveymg]

6. In the near-future, General Atomics will be at war with SAIC, and we'll scrounge in their wasteland

The U.S. is moving rapidly in that direction. Zardoz meets The Terminator.

[raccoon]

7. First they beat up on the public schools, next they beat up on the public employees.

Who's next?

[Orsino]

8. Sorry, but your labor isn't cheap enough...

...and the jobs you do are simply not as fucking mahnly as is the pleasure of bombing Muslims and shoveling money at CEOs. These latter things are the real business of America, and your lives and those of your families will be cheerfully sacrificed on that altar.

[SHRED]

12. truth infused sarcasm noted

[Overseas]

9. K&R!! /nt

[sadbear]

10. We mustn't desecrate the golden cow

Capitalism, that is.