Chris Edwards on pay gap between federal & private workers on CNN

No surprise here. The private sector has boomed in revenues and profits over the last 30 years, and almost all of it has been sucked up by the top deck at the expense of most employees.
The public sector is getting "generous" compensation??? Not! The private sector has dramatically pulled back on pay and benefits, all while the country, overall got richer!! BHO is right. We need to spread the wealth the way we used to.

We never "used to spread the wealth".
The private sector creates wealth, not government.

while nancy pelosi is trying to tax the "Cadillac" healthcare insurance plans; congress and federal employees are enjoying the "Ferrari" healthcare insurance on US taxpayers dime: "In 2008, taxpayers spent about $15 billion to insure 8.5 million federal workers and their dependents." - LA TIMES.

After 37 years of working in both sectors looking at Government contracts and labor issues, I can tell you that, as to the vast majority occupied Federal positions, the picture you paint is categorically untrue. I have known at least a THOUSAND Federal employees that don't meet any of the characteristics that you describe.

And now *you* are using anecdote. Sadly, your anecdote is much worse than mine. I have actual experience and pay comparisons with job experience and technical qualifications included. You have...what...two minutes talking to your mailman? And postal employees don't really count among the skilled positions that government employees get paid more to do. USPS is a self contained entity. But that said, they do get paid considerably better than your average UPS/FedEx employee.

Sadly, you weren't exactly paying attention to the video. You're just assuming it's comparing apples to oranges. In reality, the data is compiled using averages. The *average* US private sector pay is $59,909. The *average* US Federal pay is $119,982. But if you want a *really* good government job, go move to Alaska. You can work for NOAA and get paid more to do absolutely nothing, *plus* a 23% untaxed COLA on top of that. But hey, if you want to defend a corrupt, broken government, go ahead.

Again, averaged data of this sort is not very useful in this argument. I don't dispute that there are instances where Government employees are paid more than private sector counterparts for similar work in similar locales. It's just not the norm for most Federal employees. When the economy is bad, certain political interests sure like to whip up the masses with this craziness though.

borismkv - if you read siweltnek's post, he was asking for personal experiences, and I gave him a summary of my personal experiences. My job often requires that I compare private sector salaries and benefits to Government salaries and benefits for contracting purposes. I am reading CATO's data properly (both its first comparison and its second). Both are homogenized and worthless for the purpose to which they are directed. I have told Mr. Edwards as much personally, and have explained why.

I know a Federal employee... Retired 40 years. Worked for the Defense Dept. the last 18 years. He would tell you that it is outrageous that he gets the retirment and bennifits he gets while our country runs huge defecits. He tells me of the waste of our government. He tells me the men and women are good people and they care about the jobs they do, but the money they spend on products and services is such a waste of our tax payers money.

Anecdotes. Forever. Studies about "typical Federal workers" v. "typical private sector workers." Rot. People will never get a full picture until you compare diverse job code level data in a representative variety of geographic markets. After 37 years of working in both sectors looking at Government contracts and labor issues, I'll stick with my position ...... dude.