I must disagree with the President on freezing Civil Servants/Government Worker Pay. I am all for streamlining government and firing those that are unproductive, lazy, and ineffective.
Freezing the pay of the middle class however continues the class warfare that has been in effect for over 30 years. We are constantly taking away the little perks left to those in the middle class while we find excuses as the titans of finance continue to pilfer.
If we want to get serious about the deficit we would stop subcontracting our wars. I have relatives and friends in the military that make a fraction of the cost of the “mercenaries” we have over there. They are privy to the obscene profits the corporations make by charging upward of $30.00 for every soldiers meals as they purchase the products at low prices and pay third world servers at less than minimum wage. Our soldiers can take care of themselves cheaper. This type of corporate welfare transfers wealth/income from the middle class to the wealthy.
Removing farm subsidies, depletion allowances, specialized depreciations, private health insurance, and many other loopholes would save orders of magnitude more. A portion of that saving could be reinvested in America, not exporting it to foreign workers & products where its multiplicative effect on the economy would be negligible.
The upper classes make no sacrifices. The middle class and lower classes fight the wars to keep commerce flowing, use their intellect, blood, sweat, and tears to create the products and services that affords those with capital the ability to profit with no active involvement. Capital is inert. It is the middle class that made America the bastion of the earth.
My Book: As I See It: Class Warfare The Only Resort To Right Wing Doom
Book’s Webpage: http://books.egbertowillies.com – Twitter: http://twitter.com/egbertowillies
Federal Pay Freeze: Obama Administration Announces Plan To Freeze Salaries Of Federal Employees Sam Stein stein@huffingtonpost.com | HuffPost Reporting
First Posted: 11-29-10 11:09 AMThe Obama administration announced on Monday an ambitious plan to freeze the salaries of federal employees for two years in an effort to address massive deficits and get a handle on the country’s unsustainable fiscal path.
The proposal calls for a two-year pay freeze that would save the country $28 billion in the next five years and $60 billion over the coming decade. It would be applied to all civilian federal employees, including those at the Pentagon, but not to military personnel
"Clearly this is a difficult decision," said Office of Management and Budget Deputy Director for Management Jeffrey Zients. "Today, the president is clearly asking [federal employees] to make a sacrifice. We believe it is the first of many difficult steps ahead that we will be taking in the upcoming budget to put our nation on sound fiscal footing."
The announcement comes amid an intensifying political focus on ways for the government to scale back spending and close the deficit. It is the second time in as many weeks that the president has found himself reading from the same "fiscal responsibility" script as his Republican critics. Last week, the White House and congressional Republicans both reiterated their support for a moratorium on earmarks — the pork-barrel projects that are a tiny portion of federal spending but serve as an invitation for influence peddling.
Last week, likewise, the two chairs of the president’s deficit commission proposed a three-year cross-agency freeze on federal pay as part of their plan to reduce government expenditures. Former Sen. Alan Simpson (R-WY) and former White House Chief of Staff Erskin Bowles also recommended that the government eliminate 200,000 federal jobs over the next decade in addition to cutting 250,000 non-defense private contracting positions.
The utility of skinning the fat off federal payrolls, however, is contested. While the money saved presents a notable figure — and has been cited as an important symbolic gesture towards fiscal sanity — there is concern that it’s a disincentive for talented workers to pursue government jobs. That may be offset by the fact that inflation is low, noted Rob Shapiro, a former Clinton Commerce official.
"But it’s not a policy about how best to run and manage the federal government: It’s a symbolic gesture to communicate that the president’s on the side of those intent on cutting government — another olive branch to independents and the GOP."
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According to USA Today, the number of federal employees who make more than $150,000 a year has grown ten-fold in the past five years and doubled since Obama was inaugurated. A good chunk of that, however, are doctors at veterans hospitals whose workload has increased due to two ongoing wars.
Similar plans have been tried during previous economic slumps, with not much success. In 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt introduced an economic bill that slashed government spending by $500 million, largely by reducing scheduled payments to federal employees and veterans. The results, economist argue, prolonged the depression rather than shortening it.
Federal Pay Freeze: Obama Administration Announces Plan To Freeze Salaries Of Federal Employees