Every year, Dr. James Koch of Old Dominion University delivers his "State of the Region" presentation on the local economy. Yesterday, I attended that presentation, and, as usual, it was excellent!
There was one table of data, however, that really bothered me. From 2001 through 2010, the average non-government employee in the U.S. saw his or her wages increase 20.7%. We were more fortunate in Virginia, where our non-government wages rose 27.1%. For employees of the state or local governments, their wages rose 36.7%.
That means employees with lavish benefits and outrageous job security saw their pay rise faster than employees without those benefits and zero job security!
Wait -- it gets worse . . . employees of the Federal government saw their wages rise 42.8%, and that was during a mostly Republican administration. Something is wrong here!
Lastly, while I yield to no one in my respect, adoration, and appreciation for combat veterans, I fail to understand why the pay for service members rose a whopping 93.2% during the same period. Of course, it may be necessary to increase pay to get enough bodies to fight two simultaneous wars for a decade, but does the paper-shuffler in Virginia deserve the same pay raise as the infantryman in Afghanistan.
Something is wrong here!
There was one table of data, however, that really bothered me. From 2001 through 2010, the average non-government employee in the U.S. saw his or her wages increase 20.7%. We were more fortunate in Virginia, where our non-government wages rose 27.1%. For employees of the state or local governments, their wages rose 36.7%.
That means employees with lavish benefits and outrageous job security saw their pay rise faster than employees without those benefits and zero job security!
Wait -- it gets worse . . . employees of the Federal government saw their wages rise 42.8%, and that was during a mostly Republican administration. Something is wrong here!
Lastly, while I yield to no one in my respect, adoration, and appreciation for combat veterans, I fail to understand why the pay for service members rose a whopping 93.2% during the same period. Of course, it may be necessary to increase pay to get enough bodies to fight two simultaneous wars for a decade, but does the paper-shuffler in Virginia deserve the same pay raise as the infantryman in Afghanistan.
Something is wrong here!
