Republican Small Government A Sham

Tennessee Republican elected officials want small government, one that can regulate a woman's reproductive system instead of letting her do it herself. They want small government that can keep tabs on who owns a gun and who doesn't. They want small government that keeps our state sales tax the highest in the nation; and doesn't make the rich pay their fair share with a state income tax. They want small government that can justify paying parttime state representatives a full time pension while other state employees lose their jobs or suffer pay cuts. They want small stone age government that opposes energy reform and conservation in much the same way their ancestors spoke out against fire and the wheel.
They want small government that lets lobbyists write the laws and scares people at election time. Their small government has no room for action, just talk; like a steer, all crap and bellow.

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Comment by Eric Pearson on December 13, 2009 at 11:04pm: More Federal Workers Make Six Figures in the Recession.

The number of federal employees making over $100,000 per year has exploded in the first 18 months of the recession, USA Today reports, sending the total percentage from 14 percent to 19 percent.

The highest-paid federal workers are seeing the largest increases: In the same period, the number of civil servants making over $150,000 jumped from 1,868 to 10,100. When the recession began, only one person at the Department of Transportation was making over $170,000. Eighteen months later, 1,690 employees do.

The skyrocketing federal pay is systematic, reaching every level in every agency. Congress approved across-the-board raises of 3 percent in January 2008 and 3.9 percent in January 2009. President Obama has recommended 2 percent pay raises in January 2010, the smallest since 1975. Most federal employees get "steps" -- pay increases based on length of service -- that can run up to 1.5 percent per year.

Several laws have made it easier to raise federal workers' salaries, particularly the National Security Pay Scale, which allows the Defense Department to award merit-based salary increases. And while many agencies prohibit employees from making more than the agency's head, increases in bosses' pay has allowed earnings to rise for everyone below.

Comment by David Clark on November 24, 2009 at 2:17pm: I am a state employee. I make $7.75/hour. State wages have always been notoriously low. In the mid 70's my family and I couldn't understand why my brother-in-law would take a low paying auditors job with the state when other places offered him more money but 30+ years later it sure looks mighty good!

Comment by Eric Pearson on November 24, 2009 at 12:54pm: I agree with everything, except I don’t want larger government.

Also, it should be noted, many fireman, police, congressman, senators, mayors, city employees, and many other government employees get over $100,000 a year pensions for life, even $200,000 and more per year, plus medical coverage — from citizens’ taxes. A regular citizen would have to save up over $3 million dollars to earn enough interest to have a return like that. So these pensioners are millionaires and even better, it is very hard for them to lose the government pension.

In other words, this means your taxes are their millions by paying these pensions.
The regular citizen can lose his millions in the stock market, real estate market, or be sued, and many other ways. But there are many more than 6.7 million households that are worth over 1 million when you consider the value of a lifetime pension at taxpayer expense.

More importantly, many of them never paid into Social Security.

Comment by Helen Stapleton on November 10, 2009 at 3:38pm: Right on!

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