Illinois Governor proposes federal bailout for his state

Illinois is one of the public union states that will one day need a federal bailout because of their pension shortfalls. Governor Quinn has now made that official by pointing out in his budget proposal that, “significant long-term improvements” in that debt will come from “seeking a federal guarantee of the debt.” ✧ Wonder how the governors of other states that have taken fiscal responsibility for their spending or “right to work” states will enjoy subsidizing undisciplined public union states like Illinois and California? Read more at the Rockford Register Star...

Related:
Wall Street Journal: An Illinois Pension Bailout? - Governor Quinn wants you to guarantee his state's pensions.
State Budget Solutions: Block any pension bailout now to force reform By Frank Keegan Read More......

U.S. Public-Pension Shortfall $4.6 Trillion, Group Says

U.S. public pensions are $4.6 trillion short of the amount of assets needed to cover projected liabilities, an advocacy group said. That’s more than twice what Moody’s Investors Service estimated this month. ✧ The average plan is 41 percent funded, State Budget Solutions said in a report today. The Alexandria, Virginia, group’s partners include the American Legislative Exchange Council, which advocates “conservative public policy solutions,” the Freedom Foundation and the State Policy Network, which is composed of “free-market think tanks.” Read more at Bloomberg... Read More......

FDR's thinking on government employees

srjim2000 (offers online conservative commentary to letter's to the editor in the Gazette-Times), today responds to Letter: Mobs clamoring for an equal share start forming in D.C. and supplies President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's thinking on government employees (public servants) and unionization. See Washington Times: FDR vs Wisconsin Teachers.
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WSJ: The Public-Union Ascendancy

WALL STREET JOURNAL/OPINION, 2/3/2010 - "Government union members now outnumber private for the first time. This milestone explains a lot about modern American politics, in particular the paradox that union clout with Democrats has increased even as fewer workers belong to unions overall." [Snip] "... government is the main playing field of modern unionism, which explains why the AFL-CIO and SEIU have become advocates for higher taxes and government expansion in cities, states and Washington. Unions once saw their main task as negotiating a bigger share of an individual firm's profits. Now the movement's main goal is securing a larger share of the overall private economy's wealth, which means pitting government employees against middle-class taxpayers." Read more at WSJ...

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For feds, more get 6-figure salaries

USA TODAY by By Dennis Cauchon - The number of federal workers earning six-figure salaries has exploded during the recession, according to a USA TODAY analysis of federal salary data. ∴ Federal employees making salaries of $100,000 or more jumped from 14% to 19% of civil servants during the recession's first 18 months — and that's before overtime pay and bonuses are counted. ∴ Federal workers are enjoying an extraordinary boom time — in pay and hiring — during a recession that has cost 7.3 million jobs in the private sector.

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The highest-paid federal employees are doing best of all on salary increases. Defense Department civilian employees earning $150,000 or more increased from 1,868 in December 2007 to 10,100 in June 2009, the most recent figure available.

When the recession started, the Transportation Department had only one person earning a salary of $170,000 or more. Eighteen months later, 1,690 employees had salaries above $170,000.

The trend to six-figure salaries is occurring throughout the federal government, in agencies big and small, high-tech and low-tech. The primary cause: substantial pay raises and new salary rules.

"There's no way to justify this to the American people. It's ridiculous," says Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, a first-term lawmaker who is on the House's federal workforce subcommittee.

Jessica Klement, government affairs director for the Federal Managers Association, says the federal workforce is highly paid because the government employs skilled people such as scientists, physicians and lawyers. She says federal employees make 26% less than private workers for comparable jobs.

USA TODAY analyzed the Office of Personnel Management's database that tracks salaries of more than 2 million federal workers. Excluded from OPM's data: the White House, Congress, the Postal Service, intelligence agencies and uniformed military personnel.

The growth in six-figure salaries has pushed the average federal worker's pay to $71,206, compared with $40,331 in the private sector. [Emphasis added]

Key reasons for the boom in six-figure salaries:

• Pay hikes. Then-president Bush recommended — and Congress approved — across-the-board raises of 3% in January 2008 and 3.9% in January 2009. President Obama has recommended 2% pay raises in January 2010, the smallest since 1975. Most federal workers also get longevity pay hikes — called steps — that average 1.5% per year.

•New pay system. Congress created a new National Security Pay Scale for the Defense Department to reward merit, in addition to the across-the-board increases. The merit raises, which started in January 2008, were larger than expected and rewarded high-ranking employees. In October, Congress voted to end the new pay scale by 2012.

• Pay caps eased. Many top civil servants are prohibited from making more than an agency's leader. But if Congress lifts the boss' salary, others get raises, too. When the Federal Aviation Administration chief's salary rose, nearly 1,700 employees' had their salaries lifted above $170,000, too. Read More......