Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Bureaucrats vs. Taxpayers
I'm sure this video will anger some of my friends in government, but Dan Mitchel makes a number of good points that Americans should pay attention to. The level of benefits and salary many have become accustom to are not sustainable. To quote Mitchel: "Government workers have now become a cosseted elite, with generous pay, extravagant benefits, lavish pensions, and ironclad job security. In exchange for this privileged status, they reward the politicians with millions of dollars of support and a host of in-kind contributions." Mitchel make the case that: 1) bureaucrats are vastly overcompensated; 2) debunks the myth that bureaucrats are underpaid compared to the private sector; and 3) makes the libertarian point that most federal bureaucrats should not exist in the first place. I'm sympathetic to his point of view and believe that for the long term fiscal health of the country the bureaucracy needs to be trim, and federal needs to be frozen or actually decrease to reduce our deficits back to a more manageable level. Right now, the government seems to be headed in the opposite direction, and trillion dollar a year deficits as far as the eye can see will turn the country into monumental financial disaster that will make the European mess look like chump change.
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We are treking down the "Road to Serfdom" - Hayek was right. Undoubtedly there will be a lot of animosity directed to government workers over our fiscal problems. I would like to see one basic step taken-pay for programs as you go. That would stop a lot of this in its tracks. Fund teacher pension funds as the liabilities occur by increasing taxes and voters will ask the right questions at the right time.
ReplyDeleteToday we face a mess and there is no easy way out.
I agree with most of your points. The "Road to Serfdom" is paved with good intentions and that could be tempered by accurate accounting, honesty and funding liabilities when they occur. Why should government be any different in their accounting than private business? However, there are pay-go laws/rules on the books in Congress. If you remember all the controversy surrounding Jim Bunning a few months ago---- it was because he insisted the Senate follow its own pay-go rules in extending unemployment benefits.... and boy was he demonized for it by the media who completely twisted the situation. There is no easy way out of this mess, but the sooner we start addressing the problem the less pain will be inflicted on everyone..... but there will be a good dose of pain.
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