Private-sector employees just can't afford to continue paying the salaries and benefits of the expanding civilian federal employee payroll.
I believe the military and their families deserve the benefits they receive; they put their lives on the line. The civilian federal work force salaries and benefits are another matter entirely.
"Federal Feedback" reports on the progress of close-to-automatic annual salary increases for civilian federal employees--at a time when private sector folks are just trying to salvage their jobs.
Most private-sector employers can't come close to matching the generous benefits civilian federal government employees enjoy--including retirement, paid federal holidays, etc.
The tide has turned, and the private sector just can't keep up with their federal civilian government employee counterparts.
Why should federal civilian employees receive a salary increase in 2010 when Social Security recipients won't receive any increase for the first time in decades? The formulas indicate there is no inflation.
Our Treasury is not a bottomless well meant to support everything that is the federal government--including employees who work for taxpayers. The private sector is hurting, and the tax base is shrinking.
President Kennedy would not be pleased if he read "Federal Feedback" each week. Let's all ask what we can do for our country and not concentrate so much on what additional fringe benefits and salary increases our country and the private sector can provide
That is not how the free enterprise system is supposed to work.
Michael B. Goodin
Spotsylvania