

Why Public Employees Are the New Welfare Queens - harshpotatoes
http://www.tnr.com/blog/jonathan-cohn/76884/why-your-fireman-has-better-pension-you

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gaius
Here in England:

 _Public sector workers earn 7% more on average than their peers in the
private sector, a pay gulf that has more than doubled since the recession
began.

Official figures show that staff employed by the state are enjoying bigger pay
rises, working fewer hours and receiving pensions worth up to three times as
much as those in the private sector._

[http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sect...](http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/public_sector/article6974029.ece)

An important factor is, if the public sector faces a cash shortfall, it can
just jack up my taxes. If _I_ am short of cash, I don't have the option not to
pay my tax...

~~~
fungi
in australia public sector is generally paid less then private (and state
public paid more the commonwealth public). generally hours/conditions are
reasonable... but i'm currently working 9+ hour days (with no overtime) in a
public sector org, so as always YMMV.

i can't remember the last time any one just "jacked up my taxes" to pay public
servants more. in fact the only tax increase was the introduction of the GST
(by the conservative Liberals) and that was largely spent on middle class
welfare.

------
gamble
The sad truth is that private retirement savings schemes have been a total
wash. The only lasting effects of these plans were the stock and real estate
bubbles that effectively transferred the wealth accrued during the Boomers'
prime earning years to Wall Street. Only the lucky few with defined-benefit
pensions are going to retire in the conventional sense. For everyone else, it
will be a return to the world before the New Deal where most people worked
until they were physically unable to work, then died in penury if they didn't
have relatives to support them.

