Too bad you are sucked in so easily by the yellow journalism of the California media. I know too many ex public employees who, even in the middle of this "depression", have managed to leave those public organizations, to take significantly better pay and benefits from private companies. One I know of, got a 70% increase!

And where is the yellow journalism you ask?

For the tip of the iceberg, look no further than the fact that these so-called journalists go to great lengths (including court action) to get and publish public salaries, and then tout the "obscenity" of them all. All without ever bothering to get or publish one single survey of private salaries to compare them with. How do they know if any particular salary is out of line - with nothing to compare with?

So they either got those private numbers to draw conclusions from, but did not bother to publish them; or they did not get them, and thus have no basis for their claims of obscene salaries. Either way, it is pure yellow journalism. And since we mostly do not have that data ourselves, we have no way to honestly judge for ourselves, except to compare with our own salaries, way too small an example to an honest judgment.

I guess they (journalists) assume we should not judge anything for ourselves, but should just take their word for it. Interestingly , that was the exact the same attitude of those that controlled the western world during the dark ages. Under such circumstance, it is a safe bet that they are probably lying through their freekin' teeth! Without making a single false statement, they manipulate public opinion to grind on their own ax, the very essence of yellow journalism.

It is clear to me, that even if salaries seem high, it is only in the highly skilled job sectors. Realize also, that skilled (and motivated) employees have been getting harder and harder to find and to KEEP. And that is only getting exponentially worse as this next generation comes of age. So ultimately, those public agencies must pay higher and higher, to just get any skill at all; and then must sweeten the benefit pot, to keep those they just spent tens of thousands, and months, to train.

The alternative of course, is to shut down government to the point no skills are needed, or to hire outside consultants. Mind you, that these consultancies will themselves have to lure the skills they need, having to also offer higher salaries and benefits, and will then have to add in their own overhead costs and profits as well, to the pie. Thus, whenever a public agency goes to a consultancy for anything, they actually must pay far more than they would have, had they just paid their own employees at least the going rate for the skills they need.

So yeah - we can save those high salary costs, by paying less, getting the needed skills lured away, then be forced to pay a consultancy instead, paying 50% - 100% more to get the same as we get now from those supposedly overpaid employees --- NAUGHT.



PS - my name is withheld because I am telling it like it is, but my boss would take a very dim view of the general public understanding any of this.