Public Sector Workers Are NOT the "New Welfare Queens"

[natrlron]

Contrary to the outrageous charge by Governor Christie, neither teachers nor any other public sector workers are the “new welfare queens.” Teachers, firemen, agency personnel … all of these people provide a valuable service to the state and to the community.

Anyone who says that they are overpaid has not looked recently at salaries in the private sector where many, not just the top dogs, earn substantially more while providing questionable benefit to the community, other than shareholders. And that brings me to a point totally forgotten in both the Republican attacks and the workers’ defense.

The reason why workers in the public sector generally have better benefits than those in the private sector is not because their unions have a cozy relationship with government. It’s because government executives felt that in order to attract good people to government employment, strong benefits were needed to offset the fact that they could never hope to achieve the type of salaries and bonuses that were available in the private sector if you were a strong performer.

Granted, not everyone is a strong performer. But benefits, as opposed to wages and promotions, have never been tied to performance either in government or private settings.

For more on this issue and others, see my blog, http://PreservingAmericanGreatness.blogspot.com

[polichick]

1. Seems to me the true "welfare queens" are corporations who get subsidies...

...they don't need - the same corporations that don't pay taxes.

[wtbymark]

2. Like the Koch Bros. n/t

ooops, spelled that wrong lol

[natrlron]

4. Your so right

on that. If anyone deserves that title, it's them. And yet it's something that most people just don't know about. Doesn't such subsidies smack of socialism? Conflict with the capitalist free market? But I don't see any Republicans objecting to it.

[brewens]

3. I'd sure hate to see public sector employees take any of this out on

people they know to be Repiglickin's. That would really be a shame.

[Skip_In_Boulder]

5. To the Teabaggers and Freepers they are

And that is who this is targeted for.

[natrlron]

6. That may be

but if Dems don't respond aggressively to this type of negative spin, it will stick with more than just the Teabaggers and Freepers.

[Skip_In_Boulder]

7. Absolutely, Dems need to be going on the attack over this

kind of stuff but unfortunately they have historically been more concerned about offending someone than they have been about winning the war. Until Democrats can learn to overcome this liability we are going to keep getting what we have been getting.