Romney-Ryan would target federal workers

[maddezmom]

Source: CNNMoney

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Federal workers' jobs will be under fire if Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan win November's election.

Both Romney and Ryan have made it clear that they think federal workers are one reason the nation's deficit is too high, and have talked about shrinking payrolls and cutting benefits.

In stump speeches, Romney says he wants to cut the federal workforce to "stop the unfairness of government workers getting better pay and benefits than the taxpayers they serve." Ryan, a House Republican picked this weekend to be Romney's running mate, has a detailed budget plan that targets federal workers.

Unions, in particular, say they're concerned about Ryan, saying he has a record of "undermining" federal workers.
"Rep. Ryan's budget resolution showed a significant lack of understanding and appreciation for the important role federal workers have in protecting our borders, safeguarding our food and medicines, protecting consumers in financial markets, and providing so many other vital services to our nation," said Colleen M. Kelley, president of the National Treasury Employees Union.

Read more: http://money.cnn.com/2012/08/13/news/economy/romney-ryan-federal-workers/index.html

[LibDemAlways]

1. Ryan has been feeding from the public trough for years with

excellent taxpayer paid benefits and a generous retirement plan. I assume he has no interest in cutting Congressional salaries and benefits. Self-serving hypocrite.

[sinkingfeeling]

2. And where exactly were these people while G.W. Bush ran things?

[lovuian]

3. Federal workers wake up ...they are coming for you now

It was Ok when they slashed our pensions and medical care and Unions
and it was probably many Federal workers who voted Republican

but now they come for you
because you are a UNION

I see in the crystal ball that you will join us in the Social Security and Medicare and OBAMA care
and welcome to IRA and 401Ks

Please bring the Congress in the group hug too

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

18. WRONG!! I know of no federal employees who vote Republican, other than some in the

Defense Department.

Please refrain from attacking federal employees. We get enough shit from Republicans and the lies that they tell that have brainwashed the minds of people like you.

We are well aware of what the Republicans are trying to do to us. No need to condescend.

We're on the same side.

[byeya]

24. I retired from the federal civil service with 32 years service and in the department I served

many, if not most, were conservatives and voted Republican. This was mainly a land management department and there were Republicans galore.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

28. You speak of the Department that you served, but that doesn't mean that ALL departments are the same

Don't demonized federal employees.

[1StrongBlackMan]

27. And the Border Patrol ...

And DHS and Federal Law Enforcement ... and more than a few sprinkled throughout the federal system, including the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department and HUD.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

29. I work at HUD. Not true at all. I'm sure there are a few Republicans throughout federal government

But I can't agree that there is a sizeable number outside of Defense.

[Drahthaardogs]

39. There are lots of federal employees who vote Rethuglican.

The Corps of Engineers is full of them.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

42. I don't understand what th e point is. I never denied that there are Republicans.

Trust me, I know they're are. But I get the sense that this rush to promote the idea that the Federal government is overun by Republicans is being used as an excuse to demonize Federal workers, and I will not sit by and let that happen.

As I wrote upthread, I am well aware of the presense of Republicans. Sure there are. Does that mean that ALL Federal workers should be punished and targeted?

[KamaAina]

4. Aaaaaaand Virginia moves into the Obama column

[JaneQPublic]

6. +1 (nt)

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

21. Yep! All those federal employees who live in Virginia will be in for a rude awakening, however...

Many of them are Defense employees. They won't be touched. Only the federal employees like me--who work at HUD--and especially who work on behalf of the poor and downtrodden....

WE will be the targets of Romney-Ryan.

[1StrongBlackMan]

30. As I alluded to above ...

I know of more than a few gop voting conservatives in, both, HUD and the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department.

I was part of a team that gave a training for HUD employees (maybe 20 years ago ... right after C. Thomas was appointed to the SCOTUS), As a warm up exercise my team did the old, "If you could invite any two people, living or dead, to dinner, who would you choose and why?" exercise.

After the group responded, someone asked who I would invite. My completely inappropriate response was: "Clarence Thomas because I want to see if that guy is for real ... and if so, my second choice would be the grand-dragoon of the kkk; so Brother Thomas can discover that he is not the only one with a robe."

One of the Training Evaluations specifically took issue with my comment (and I suspose they should have).

On another occasion, I was sitting in a DC watering-hole that is frequented by attorneys that work the hill. I could help overhear a conversation between 2 G-Town grads (from what I could gather, they were about a year out of school). The one was working for one of the Big Boy firms ... sorting paperclips and running briefs/filings to court. The other seemed to be on his way out of his second job. But all was not lost ... his girlfriend's father knew someone that knew an under-secretary that had arranged an interview for this guy that was a sure thing, if he didn't "step on his d!ck." I thought "Okay ... DC is a 'know-someone'" kinda town." Then the guy said, "It's should be okay ... even if it is with the Civil Rights Division at the DOJ."

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

34. Though I understand what you're saying, I still disagree if you're trying to convince me that there

is a large number of Republicans who work for the federal government.

What could have happened is that those Republicans who remain in government were political appointees and burrowed into the agency.

So, we do have a number of Republicans in HUD who became full employees after the Republican administrations ended.

For instance, I know for a fact that there are quite a few Republicans in the Civil Rights Division at Justice and a few other departments because they burrowed in from the Reagan, Bush I and Bush II administrations. And because we haven't had too many Democratic presidents, I could definitely see that being the case. There aren't as many Carter administration personnel left. And there are Clinton appointees who worked at HUD, left when Bush came, then came back when Obama was elected.

So, again, I see what you're saying. However, if you're trying to convince me that there are a great number of Republicans in federal government, you're going to have to do a better job than that.

[1StrongBlackMan]

35. Nope ...

Not trying to convince you of anything.

[Ash_F]

5. OK, start with congress and the Oval office. /nt

[SoapBox]

7. You mean targeting MILITARY?

Hell, aren't they "government workers"?

And, since you RushThugs love the "Top - Down" bullshit so much...start with your own F*ing offices, perks and benefits!

Assholes.

[Enrique]

11. yes, actually

they want to spend money on defense, but they have no interest in spending it on wages. I could easily see them privatizing as much of the military as they can manage.

[SoapBox]

20. wow...never thought of that actually...

They contract out the "workers / soldiers" (maybe to some foreign country...hey, let the former Black Water guy get us our military staff for cheap!) BUT they feed billions and billions to the "defense contrators" to continue making cars, tanks, planes and $1,000 hammers.

The scum at the top get even richer and the rest get nothing.

Oh ya...The 1% vs. the 99%.

[annabanana]

47. The money they don't want to jeopardize is the money that

goes to Lockheed Martin and Northrup Grumman and.. and.. and.. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defense_contractor

[kestrel91316]

8. There will BE no federal workers if these people get their way.

[Trillo]

9. To understand this, the ellipsis is helpful

"stop the unfairness of ... workers getting better pay and benefits...."

[Enrique]

10. this would depress private sector wages of course

hopefully Obama can get that across

[mysuzuki2]

12. When I began working for the feds in 1980, the benefits were about average for workers in largeb

organizations and corporations. The pay was about 25% less. My dad was a mid level white collar guy for Gillette. He got significantly better benefits and pay that I did. What has happened in the last 30+ years is that private sector workers have seen their pay shrink and their benefits chipped away one by one. It isn't that the feds get too much, it is that everyone else gets too little. Now they are coming for the fed workers. They won't be happy until we are all earning minimum wage with no unions or benefits. This whole process started with Reagan and will be continued full force if Rmoney and bat boy Ryan are elected.

[1StrongBlackMan]

31. I make that argument frequently ...

saying how does trying to pull someone else into the mud benefit you? Wouldn't it be better for you to reach out to the guy on dry land so that he can pull you out of the mud?

[Skidmore]

13. Congress member are federal workers.

We hire them to work for the federal government.

[LynnTTT]

14. Let him name which department of workers he wants cut

My Dad was with the Veterans Administration before WWII and then Social Security till he retired. He was a disability consultant, deciding who was eligible for SSD benefits. So let's just approve every applicant.
My father-in-law was in the FBI. Let's not follow up on any bank robberies.
Food Inspections, border control, transportation specialists, CIA, contagious disease researchers, etc.
Tell us Mitt, what federal workers can we do without?

[progressivebydesign]

15. Isn't Ryan a govt worker? And isn't the Federal workforce MUCH lower than under Bush??

God.. they're just like that OTHER shithead in Wisconsin.

[annabanana]

48. Federal workforce IS smaller.. and getting smaller faster and

depressing the economy in the process. There has been a HIRING FREEZE system wide for the past 3 years.

[CanonRay]

16. There are less Federal workers now than during the Eisenhower administration

Take out the Defense Department and associates (DIA, CIA, Homeland Security, etc etc ad nauseum) and there are even fewer. This is a bullshit issue.

Honest and effective civil service is one thing that keeps us from being a banana republic.

[Bertha Venation]

17. This is absolutely outrageous!

Mrs. V. is going to be furious when she reads this.

Does anyone know how much an IT specialist with 28 years' experience would earn in the private sector? This is what Mrs. V. does for the federal government. She's been placed at the cutting edge of every new technology that's come along since she was first told to sit down at a (machine name escapes me but it was that long ago) and told "learn it."

I'd like to be able to refute "the unfairness of government workers getting better pay and benefits than the taxpayers they serve."

[CBHagman]

40. What bothers me is the twin-pronged approach of the 'cans.

The Republicans seem to be banking on the notion that they can foment resentment towards supposedly well-compensated federal employees with good, solid benefits and get away with leaving those employees worse off. Very cynical.

Of course harming federal employees will not help the rest of it, and moreover the Republicans are all about emboldening the bastards who want to get away with paying as little as possible to any employee, public or private sector.

What was it Barbara Ehrenreich said her father used to say? That he could spot a phony because a phony would preach hard work and pay for it in nickels and dimes?

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

43. I'm seeing some of that sentiment in this very thread. It seems that there are folks even

here at DU who are buying into the rhetoric.

[shawn703]

19. This lie that federal workers make more than their private sector counterparts

Is based on compensation of the average government worker compared to the average private sector worker. What they never mention is how the average education and experience levels of government workers are higher than those of private sector workers. There are more minimum wage positions in the private sector bringing the average down. When it comes to comparing salaries for similar positions, the private sector has an advantage. I've looked at federal government jobs in my industry (IT), and they aren't comparable in compensation to what I can earn in the private sector. Compare Obama's salary to the average CEO salary too.

[1StrongBlackMan]

32. Not only more minimum-wage jobs in the Private Sector ...

but the studies don't look at FTEs ... so the part-time employee's salary is counted as a full-time salary.

[Kingofalldems]

22. They have to have an enemy--why don't they

require big business to increase pay and benefits?

[Drahthaardogs]

23. The days of the "overpaid" federal worker are over.

The blue collar workers were paid more when compared to their private counterparts. The white collar workers have always been paid less. This is substantiated by several studies. Unfortunately, there are few blue collar federal jobs left. Ah, the race to the bottom. It is wonderful.

[nanabugg]

25. Well, Ryan is a "Federal worker" Anyway, I think this will place VA in the blue column. nt

[1StrongBlackMan]

33. But even in those few blue-collar Federal jobs ...

those several studies fail to account for length of service and education.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

44. You're so right about this. The lower grade workers who barely making it.

Plus, they've been most affected by cuts in COLA benefits. It matters most when considering how expensive it is to live in the D.C./MD/VA metropolitan area.

[1StrongBlackMan]

26. Since April 2012 ...

whenever I come across the "Over-paid/Over-Benefitted Public Employee" narrative, I refer the mis-informed commentator to this study:

The data analysis presented in Figure 1 indicates that Arizona public employees, both state and local government employees, are not overpaid. Comparisons controlling for education, experience, hours of work, organizational size, gender, race, ethnicity, citizenship, and disability reveal that public employees in both state and local governments earn less than comparable private sector employees. On an annual basis, full-time Arizona state and local employees are under-compensated by 7.8 percent in comparison to otherwise similar private sector workers. When comparisons are made for difference in annual hours worked, full-time Arizona state and local employees are under-compensated by a smaller 6.0 percent.

These results sharply contrast with the analysis presented by the Goldwater Institute in their January 24 2012 policy report, which suggests that public unions caused Arizona state and local government worker compensation to be $560 million above market rate. [3] Their analysis is inaccurate due to poor methodology.


https://grandcanyoninstitute.org/research

As the study points to the flaw in every study that supports their narrative.

[Kingofalldems]

36. They want a repeat of the Wisconsin attack on workers

This was already planned I bet.

[lovuian]

37. Yep and they want Privatization so they can outsource

the jobs so they can do nothing and get millions of tax dollars

I'm not against Federal Workers and I'm sure the Democrat Federal Workers know the scoop

but Republican Fed Workers get a good hard look at your party....because they come for you
like they came for us


They are licking their chops at the Civil Service Pensions ....and licking their chops at Social Security


the money has to come from the people ....not the corporations

that is the Republican Way

[Earth_First]

38. Isn't Secret Service a federal agency?

Jus sayin'...

[blkmusclmachine]

41. Let me fix that headline:

Romney-Ryan would target workers

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

45. I have two Masters Degrees and a Doctorate. I'm definitely not overpaid and have student loans

to show for it. Plus, the cost of living in the D.C. metropolitan area is not low.

The demonization of federal workers--regardless of political affiliation--needs to stop!

[primavera]

46. "Stop the unfairness of government workers getting better pay and benefits"?

I wonder in which of his platinum Rolls Royces he was sitting when he said this. Pardon me while I fall off my chair laughing.