3 Reasons Public Sector Employees are Killing the Economy

As unemployment stubbornly sticks near 10 percent and any sort of economic recovery seems a long way off, think about this: The one part of the economy that's going gangbusters is government work. Indeed, since the Great Recession started in December 2007, over 8 million jobs have been lost in the private sector while the public sector has added at least 100,000 positions.

It's time to recognize that public-sector employment is killing the economy for at least three reasons:

1. They cost too much. As USA Today recently noted, federal employees make on average almost $8,000 more than their private-sector counterparts. When you add in benefits, the gap spreads to about $30,000. State and local government workers make around the same as private-sector counterparts, but their health and retirement packages mean they make significantly more in the end.

2. We can't fire them. The private sector has shed positions in response to slackening demand and the economic downturn. That sort of adjustment is painful but necessary, as it allows the economy to adjust to changing circumstances and workers and employers to move into new activities. Because it is guaranteed certain amounts of tax revenue and has a non-market mind-set, the public sector is largely insulated from such forces and keeps or even adds workers despite changed conditions. The result? We keep paying for things that we don't use, need, or want.

3. They create a permanent lobby for expanded government and higher taxes. Look at California, where teacher unions have spent over $211 million dollars on elections in the past decade. One result is that 40 percent of California's budget must be spent on education, regardless of the number and needs of students. Over the last 10 years, taxpayer contributions to public-sector pension funds has increased by 2000 percent!

Such sort of tax-based gladhanding is just getting started.

For the first time in history, the number of public-sector union employees is greater than those in the private sector, so expect to see even more lobbying for the sorts of mandatory raises and permanent job security that most of us can only dream of.

Because the public sector gets its pay and benefits from tax dollars and public debt, every thing it gets means there's less for the rest of us to save, invest, or pay workers with.

With the federal government and most states already neck-deep in red ink, it's time to cut public-sector pay and payrolls and return more money to the private sector. That will help spur the sort of investment and innovation that will get the economy moving and end the recession far faster than paying more and more money to government workers.

"3 Reasons Public-Sector Employees Are Killing The Economy" is produced by Meredith Bragg and Nick Gillespie, who also hosts.

Approximately 3 minutes. Got to http://reason.tv for iPod, HD, and audio versions.

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[walmartpimp2]

America, take control! Take control of your country! This is the instrument of your liberation.

[007chucknorris007]

@Blunder1248 He never said to give it to the private sector either.

[007chucknorris007]

@Blunder1248 But if the government pays them, they are at least to some degree, a public sector employee.

[Blunder1248]

I don't get the video? Cut the tax paid to the public sector and give it to the private sector! Wouldn't it be better to cut and pay off some depts.

[jackpontiac52]

Private sector wages have not kept up! In 1982 we were wiring an Airport Expansion at Edmonton International Airport. IBEW wage at the time was around $15/hr. The DOT, Department Of Transport was paying around $10/hr, the going rate at the time for a Government Electrician. I know, because I inquired about a job there! Drive from Edmonton to Nisku 5 days a week for $10/hr? Not Likely! Seems the shoe is on the other foot now!

The DOT ended up privatizing the Airports anyway!

[rubbersole79]

The truth hurts. It always does.

[star50ify]

@williejenkins666 No you are a fucking moron. Sadly North Korea is run by the most repressive government on earth. Millions have died of starvation over the last 20 years and most haven't even got the very basics to live on. You know this is a fact. So go fuck yourself.

[darlinglittlemammy]

@harvey1954 If I'm to understand you correctly, the middle class and public sector unions are one and the same? If a person is against the NEA they must be against teachers themselves and furthemore education itself? Why don't you bother disputing the arguments made in this "tirade" instead of making embarrassingly simplistic assumptions and pretending that the only people who disagree with you are being paid by or controlled by the Koch brothers or some other corporate entity.

[williejenkins666]

@star50ify North Korea has a 99% literacy rate, dumbass.

Jesus Christ you are a fucking moron.

[MrAppleseed88]

You can say the same about profits, it is time the evil jew learned to live on 10% return and no more 80% returns on invest via 3rd world scab labor you evil dirty fuck.