No offence to anyone intended...

There is a resurgent....

interest in this line of thinking, that is to say in the line of thinking about capital formation, capital flows and the problem of surplus capital absorbtion. The last of which was famously refered to by Ben Bernanke in his statement about the US housing bubble being the result of excessive savings in Asia and China in particular. His point was that the financial players saw this surplus of capital and through their own configuring of the debt markets(the explosion of MBS) absorbed some of it to 'invest' in the, albeit fictional, value of American home mortgages. The search for 'asset price' driven investments is the latest, if not the last, bastion of capital;productive industrial investment returning too small a margin and taking too long to do so the markets go in search of the next bubble (social networks? Facdbook at $100B IPO levels?)
In 1970 financial business in the US accounted for 15% of total corporate profit; today that number is somewhat over 40% and is rising faster than any other corporate sector.
 
The current census...

spreadsheet for median income by state says indicates an overall median of $58,500+ So something must be amiss in your argument because even if public salaries were as stated that would still be below the median. Using 'Average' is a little dicey. Granted 'median' isn't perfect by any means, but is generally preffered.

And California's median is just somewhat above the national-only befitting given that the state produces a disproportianate slice of GDP relative to population and also pays out 18% more in Federal taxes than are returned. What is distressing in your numbers is that everyone is so poorly paid relative to the absurd cost of living , especially in the coastal strip west of the Big Valley.

And how would public sector pay look like on a like-for-like job basis. It isn't too surprising that isolating public sector pay would make it look generous because there is not a huge pool of minimum wage and McJob level workers in government to dilute the stat.
 
What's my contention?

If you refer to Current Median Income by states, it is the first thing to come up on Google in the Census. I don't know if there is, or more to the point, could be a like-for-like comparison given how few private sector police, teachers, prison guards, firefighters etc, there are against which to compare. Which is just further evidience that your initial comparison is not, and could not be apples to apples.

In any case I have neither the inclination or the energy to engage in a duelling links controversy. As Kevin said somewhere above-let's have more discussion and less quotation. To the extent that I'm interested at all in your thoughts, it is in YOUR thoughts in which that I'm interested:hug:, not the Heritage Foundation or Charles Krauthammer, or any one else. If you have an interesting world view then share it. I already know what the professional punditry has said and is likely to say on just about anything at this point. They are discouragingly,if not downright irresponsibly predictable. :blackeye::blackeye:
 
Holy crap...i'm away for less than a day and a 5 page thread brews up....must be politicss!! I haven't time to read every post yet, but it *looks* like everyone is staying well behaved. Let's keep it that way :sun:
 
What 'narrative'?

I don't know what you are on about. And using fancy post modern jargon isn't helping.

You posted two numbers -essentially implying that they represent some sort of meaningful comparison between two dissimilar populations. My 'narrative', such as it is, consists in pointing out that they are probably dissimilar populations and that 'medians' are preferrable to averages (by some degree not insisted upon). I also pointed out that the current census numbers show overall income median in California is a higher number than you indicated for either group meaning there is no way to reconcile your comparison via simple arithmetic. What is it you want me to add to this? A link to the Census? you already seem to know where that is.

If you feel condescended to, maybe that is your issue and not mine.

In any case I am not going to be drawn further on this unless you want to argue the statistical validity of comparing dissimilar popultions on an unweighted basis. I don't know if public workers are 'overpaid' and neither do you because there is no benchmark against which to compare that either of us are likely to agree is neutral enough. So you may go ahead and insist they are 'overpaid' but your argument will be composed of simple insistence, as, I might add most everyone's is.
 
There's no need

Kevin B (Asheville said:
but I suspect you will not see him pursuing a civil service job based on the good pay....
Click to expand...

Kevin... I believe it was you who wrote that government workers made on average 70% of what workers make in the private sector. There are studies that show that not to be the case... I provided one example. You then said if they do make more money, it is because they are better educated. Which one is it?

I'm nearing the end of my employment career. I had a good education and enough good fortune to secure a position in the private sector and the motivation required to work my way "up the organization"... some call it "the food chain" :laugh:. I feel blessed.

Where I work (and in most if not all of the "private sector"), we are paid for performance - not for potential - and I am well compensated, no complaints. I have a large team - many have PhD's - that reports to me. I have no need to look for other employment. These days, it's more of a need to help those less fortunate than I.
 
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For what it's worth...

a study by Rutgers about NJ public vs. private. The only sector of the workforce better compensated in public employ is for thos without a high school diploma. For those with high school the salaries are the same. From there on up the educational and professional ladder the private workers are ahead in both salay and total compensation.
Like I said, for whatever it's worth.
 
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