Pensions killing NY

This blah blah blah continues?

Hasn't columbia county found the magic politician to start the lengthy dialog yet?

Paging columbia county's magic politician!
Paging columbia county's magic politician!

"Eliminating or reducing our Military will only make things worse with regards to Iran, North Korea, Venezuela, etc. Our Friends in Europe,Poland, The Chech republic will have no choice but to align with Russia and we will see more examples of International pirating making world commerce more difficult."

Here's a novel idea: Let the shipping companies hire their own private, armed guards. Last year there was an Italian crusise ship that was attacked by pirates. The ship was not taken over since it had armed Israeli soldiers moonlighting for the ship. Paying billions for a navy instead of requiring shipping companies to hire their own guards is just another SUBSIDY to corporate America.

And how will reducing the military make things worse with Venezual? Are you afraid of a pimp-squeek country like Venezuela?

"This idea to cut our military in half is just more twisted liberal logic. Do you have any clue what would happen around the world without a strong U.S. military?"

Yes, I know. Somali pirates will hijack ships. North Korea will blow up South Korean ships. Underwear/ show bombers will board planes. Cars packed with explosives will park in Times Square. Oh wait a second, that happens now.

Closing corporate tax loopholes wil bring in $300 billion annually. There is a 3 story building in the Cayman Islands that is the "headquarters" of 17,000 companies.

"Privatizing everything in sight might also scare some sense into the unions"

Absolutely. Flushing taxpayer money down the drain in no-bid privatization contraxts will sure show the unions whose boss. I am sure the voters will love paying $5 to mail a letter under a privatized USPS...

There are some silly suggestions here, but also some reasonable ones. There is no reason no to privatize more. An obvious target would be the postal service. The TVA should be sold off The subway system could not operate and would probably shut down as insolvent in a short period and I doubt the New York City Police force could operate privately.

Also the history of Piracy is one that it flourishes in the absence of government and adequate naval strength. Piracy is not a new phenomenon.

The idea that companies that set up divisions headquartered in the Caymans pay no taxes is patently untrue. This is emanating from the false claim of Obama's that' companies that have operations in Europe are not paying their "fair share" of taxes. The IRS is very good at making sure U.S. companies use the code properly(i.e earn profits over seas and have costs here). It just doesn't happen.

If you want to raise money and level the playing field phase out agri-subsidies, and the mortgage tax deduction. But better yet, give us a flat tax.

Another great way to reduce the budget deficit would be for the Federal government to end it's role in mortgages and return have the private sector support all funding requirements. This cannot be achieved right now, but we need to move in this direction as soon as possible and take any and all steps at the earliest practical date. Tax payers should no be expected to cover credit losses from mortgage defaults and below market lending rates.

"The pensions are wasteful."

No, they are deferred compensation for work performed. Welfare and public housing are "wasteful".

***
"Government workers are paid more than their private sector counterparts in salaries, and they get these excessive pensions."

Again, not true. And MOST government workers are municipal employees like cops, firemen, and subway employees, for which there are no private sector counterparts to make a direct comparison. And again, the pensions are not "excessive", given that their salaries while they ARE working are so dismal that they need the pensions to justify working the job in the first place.

***
"The pensions give incentive not to work."

Wrong. They provide an incentive for cops and firefighters to work deadly jobs that come with both life and health sacrifices for low pay.

***
"I am not asking for a pension. I'll take care of my own retirement planning with responsible decision making regarding my finances. I'm not asking for an open-ended giveaway."

Good for you. Millions of others made that decision, and lost their entire savings over the past 16 months. Many are in their 50s and 60s, and don't have another 40 years to earn it all back.

Good luck with that, though.

illions of others made that decision, and lost their entire savings over the past 16 months. Many are in their 50s and 60s, and don't have another 40 years to earn it all back.

Exactly, you want the returns of the private market with none of the risk. Tax payer contribution to your pension should be invested in Treasuries and returns to the participants should be based on what the plan has earned.

"Exactly, you want the returns of the private market with none of the risk."

No I don't.

Please read up on how defined-benefit pension plans work, and re-join the conversation. I really can't discuss this with someone who doesn't fully understand the issue. TIA!

All based on an assumed rate of return. Market has not exactly been producing an 8% ROI these last ten years.
TIA!

"All based on an assumed rate of return. Market has not exactly been producing an 8% ROI these last ten years."

My union pension has more than held its own during this entire downturn.

It's all about steady employer contributions and REAL money managers running the fund.

"There is no reason no to privatize more."

Sure there is: No bid contracts going to policital cronies. You know perfectly well that the politicians cannot award a single contract fairly and legitimately. Increasing privatization will just lead to more corruption and more politicians going to prison.

Socialism is an economic and political theory based on public ownership or common ownership and cooperative management of the means of production and allocation of resources.

27 American killed in afghanistan this week, troops still in Iraq. GITMO still open. hole not plugged, economy in tank, debt exploding and the leader of the regime lecturing and blamming.

Staying in Afghanistan probably went against every instinct in Obama's body. If we're there it's the right thing. George Bush supported Afghanistan too. If there's a flaw it was announcing to the enemy that you were ramping up and pulling out at the same time. Nothing worse than a half ass effort. In sparing soldiers you wind up putting more at harm. We shold do it right and then go home on our terms.

absolutely right!

so Riversider and finallyjoy, when are you enlisting? The regime needs more soldiers.

You have me confused with someone else, I would never disgrace the office of the President by calling it a regime. I disagree with him , but he is the President. Too bad the left did not treat George W Bush the same way. Anyone see Paul McCartney use his meeting with Obama as a cheap opportunity to slam George W.

Hey socialist, How come all you leftist aren't screaming bloody hell about GITMO and Iraq anymore?

some leftist, he wants to privatize EVERYTHING

"You have me confused with someone else, I would never disgrace the office of the President by calling it a regime. I disagree with him , but he is the President" Has the leader upheld the Constitution?

Has he not?

Forcing citzens to buy healh insurance? Breaking contracts? Czars?

Seems similar enough to auto insurance. I thought we could have done better on health care and focused more on cost containment and championing tort reform and following the Swiss health care model more, but being unconstitutional.. I doubt it.

http://www.stoptheaclu.com/2009/06/10/how-unconstitutional-is-barack-obama-let-me-count-the-ways/

Who is Maggie? I cannot find anything on the website which explains who she is, what her credentials are and how she comes to this particular conclusion. For a claim like constitutionality I would want more. I hope we can improve on health care and the current bill had much to be desired, but I canno agree with your post.

Dueling assholes. Perfect.

cc .. The perfect example of the product of the welfare state.

Why the hell do you call yourself finallyjoy?

More like atavism....

cc Do you think the regime's leader is feasting on kobe beef or tuna tartare tonight?

Do you think you're amusing or interesting

Or

Dull, dogmatic, and the ultimate buzz kill?

Why are you so angry?

What happened?

Alvin Greene on Easy Street?

Not funny. Try harder.

Where is the outrage? GITMO still operating, troops in Iraq, 27 deaths in Afghanistan this week. aboutready,alanhart and other libs why aren't you screaming bloody hell?

You're the one in love with dogma.

Stop projecting.

cc What do you say about the 27 young people who died in Afghanistan this week?

It should be obvious, the left is biting their tongue and holding back on what should be their usual criticisms. If George W was still in office there would be a chorus of anger about Afghanistan, The Economy and The BP oil spill. Should sound something like this..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dib2-HBsF08

Who gives a shit what I have to say?

Your best bud RS is convinced that I am a traitor.

According to you I am a child of the welfare state...whatever the fuck that means.

Neither one of you has any idea of who i am or what I have done other than dare to disagree with both of you.

cc Why is Gitmo still open?

How the fuck should I know?

The regime's leader said he would close GITMO on day 1.

This Is your unhappy horseshit. I voted for him to be the president of the united states. Not your stupid crap about the regime. I assume that he knows what he's doing.

Maybe he does. Maybe he doesn't. But, I want to give him a chance. For all of our sakes. Even including you.

He also said he would support nuclear power,not appoint contributors as ambassadors, move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem and not increase taxes on the middle class. So what have we learned, politicians will lie to get elected.

George H Bush said, NO new taxes...

i want gitmo closed. the leader said he would shut it down day 1.

Then you should get involved beyond your lunatic postings here.

A word of advice...tune down your rhetoric if you expect to influence anyone besides yourself.

Matt, your facts are just incorrect. To give defined benefits with open-ended costs, and have taxpayers cover the benefits no matter the cost, is a disaster. And you can compare the jobs- compare them to what the same people would do if they worked in the private sector. The muni union workers get paid more through manipulating the system and they get the wasteful benefits too.

Do you think the leader of the regime and chavez are very similar?

"And you can compare the jobs- compare them to what the same people would do if they worked in the private sector"

Can you please find me a govt. attorney who makes as much as a big law associate? I have been askig this question for weeks, but have yet to get an answer. It's not rocket science. Just find me a govt. lawyer who makes a Big Law salary ($160,000).

Yeah, you teabaggers are right. Govt. workers are bring in the dough and making tons of money. Did you know that a federal govt. lawyer makes the insane salary of $50,000! That's right, $50k. That is so much more than Big Law!

http://jobview.usajobs.gov/GetJob.aspx?JobID=88525861&JobTitle=General+Attorney&q=attorney&where=&brd=3876&vw=d&FedEmp=N&FedPub=Y&x=0&y=0&pg=1&re=10&AVSDM=2010-06-08+00%3a03%3a00

But a government lawyer is just their to persecute people.

50,287.00 - 93,175.00 USD /year. And not every lawyer who works for the Government earns the same salary.

And at big law, the salary is $160,000- $ 1 million +. Your point?

And a lawyer on Hemstead Avenue hangs his sign and struggles to earns $35K

The hisghest paid govt. lawyer makes $155k. That is top salary. Big law STARTS at $160k. So $5k does not sound like a big difference, but the difference is huge when you compare a partner's salary to that of a SENIOR govt. attorney.

http://jobview.usajobs.gov/GetJob.aspx?JobID=88093646&JobTitle=Attorney+Advisor&q=attorney&where=&brd=3876&vw=d&FedEmp=N&FedPub=Y&x=0&y=0&pg=1&re=10&AVSDM=2010-05-22+05%3a20%3a00

"And a lawyer on Hemstead Avenue hangs his sign and struggles to earns $35K"

Not my problem. He should have went to a real law school and graudated in the top 20% of his class instead of going to a TTT (third tier toilet).

Big law does no represent the average lawyer's salary in the private sector.
http://www.payscale.com/research/US/job=attorney_/_lawyer/salary
Salary $57,108 - $106,201

Bonus $2,041 - $12,095
Profit Sharing $2,424 - $14,380
Commission $2,029 - $15,192
Total Pay (?
XTotal Pay combines base annual salary or hourly wage, bonuses, profit sharing, tips, commissions, overtime pay and other forms of cash earnings, as applicable for this job. It does not include equity (stock) compensation, cash value of retirement benefits, or the value of other non-cash benefits (e.g. healthcare).
) $59,099 - $119,70

So you just proved that private sector lawyers make MORE than govt. ones. Govt. lawyers do not get bonuses, stock compensation, profit sharing, or commission.

I'll give you that point.

What about your made up factoid about the 35k lawyer?

Oops?

Socialist- the government lawyer wouldn't be able to get the big law firm job. So your comparison is dumb. Government lawyers do make $100k+ in salary, and they get the benefits. Compare that to the average private sector lawyer pay, and it stacks up very well.

Beside, we have been talking here more about teachers, MTA workers, Sanitation, cops, and firefighters.

LICC has it backwards, as usual.

The government lawyer's job is far more difficult and important than the big law job. It is vital for the functioning of the economy that regulators be able to understand the latest version of "legal arbitrage" (i.e., finding ways to evade the law for profit), tax evasion, shifting risk to the unaware and all the other forms of borderline (or obvious) fraud that threaten the integrity of the markets. Moreover, it is always harder to design rules than to figure out how to twist or evade or violate them without being caught; running a Ponzi scheme or selling a CDS designed to evade limits on leverage is far easier than catching the criminals and anti-social maximizers who create these schemes.

Not so long ago, SEC lawyers made as much or more as most Wall Street lawyers. Not surprisingly, the SEC did a better job in those days and the markets worked better. Now, under the influence of a generation of the criminals lobby ("drown the beast"), the pay gap is so large that it is hard to attract the top students to government jobs. The same is true in teaching, research, law enforcement (is there any regulatory agency that pays as much as the top companies it seeks to regulate?), and most other governmental functions. Even soldiers make more when they are outsourced as mercenaries.

If we make government work -- teaching, fire fighting, police, regulatory supervision, maintaining the dams and the transit system and the technical standards, basic research, state universities, operating the safety nets that allow people to take risks, preventing scam artists from stealing from others by imposing risks on them without compensation, in short building the tools that make capitalism possible -- sufficiently unattractive, we lose the dedicated, selfless bureaucrats who make profit possible.

As in most areas of life, it is hard to get more government than you are willing to pay for. Cut government pay to third world levels and you'll get third world government. We pay less for our government than the rest of the civilized world, and we get less too: the highest level of incarceration in the world but the highest murder rates in the capitalist countries, the most expensive health care system in the world but death rates comparable to Albania and Cuba, inefficient transportation contributing to a level of global warming emissions rivaled only by China, slow internet, high structural unemployment only partially hidden by misleading statistics, failing schools, a spectacular combination of excess investment in housing and unaffordability, a finance industry that sucks up an ever growing portion of the national wealth without providing either stability or financing for useful production -- the list goes on.

The low tax, low government path has had exactly the results you'd expect: incompetent government, high levels of exploitation and inequality, and low growth, especially for the productive middle class sectors.

hey finance guy, how long is not so long ago with your SEC example? Really, when?

"The idea that companies that set up divisions headquartered in the Caymans pay no taxes is patently untrue." yeah ok

They do it so the cash can enjoy lovely tropical beaches.

financeguy is delusional as usual. He things big firm lawyers are sitting in their offices figuring out ways to "violate" laws "without getting caught". He has no clue what is involved with high-level legal work.

He also makes things up quite easily. rangersfan is right, when did SEC lawyers ever make more than big firm Wall Street lawyers?

So tell us, LICcomm, what is involved with high-level legal work?

I would think the top salaries are only available in the private sector. For a mediocre lawyer the advantage is working for the government. There are many laywers who struggle with mundate stuff.. ambulance chasing, filing divorce papers, etc and barely eke out a living. And lots of lawyers chose not to work in a legal capacity and do something else entirely.

> "The pensions are wasteful."
> No, they are deferred compensation for work performed.

Wrong, and bad logic.

Nope. Its not deferred compensation. Deferred compensation is agreed to in advance. This is several times what was agreed to.

And it still doesn't mean they aren't wasteful. Overpaying for any sort of compensation can be absolutely wasstely.

> Welfare and public housing are "wasteful".

NYC public pensions are essentially welfare, no?

> "Government workers are paid more than their private sector counterparts in salaries, and they get these
> excessive pensions."

> Again, not true.

You can say it, but you are wrong. Public school teachers make much more than parochial school counterparts.

> And MOST government workers are municipal employees like cops, firemen, and subway employees

No, most are not. Again, you know little of what you speak of. There are a lot of municipal employees, but they also include...

And Social Service Employees and Construction Laborers, Highway Repairers & Watershed Maintainers , Nurses, Laborers, Motor Vehicle Operators, Supervisors of Automotive Plants & Equipment Employees, Accountants, Stasticians, and Actuaries, Psychologists, Library workers, Attendants, Park Service Workers, City Park Workers & Debris Removers, Gardeners, Sewage Treatment & Senior Sewage Treatment Workers, Clerical and Administrative, Assessors, Appraisers & Housing Development Specialists , Consumer Affairs

Add in the federal workers, and you have a lot of folks who don't fit your description.

> for which there are no private sector counterparts to make a direct comparison.

There are TONS and TONS of counterparts to make direct comparisons.

You just don't like what the comparisons show!

> And again, the pensions are not "excessive", given that their salaries while they ARE working are so
> dismal that they need the pensions to justify working the job in the first place.

Yeah, that logic worked when the salaries were dismal. Not so anymore.

So are you ok with us lowering the salaries? Or how about just basing pensions on the original dismal salaries, not the new ones with 4% raises in recessions!

"Good for you. Millions of others made that decision, and lost their entire savings over the past 16 months."

Tell us about the millions who lose their entire life savings. Show us that stat.

Come on, Matt.

> Many are in their 50s and 60s, and don't have another 40 years to earn it all back.

If people gamble away their houses in Atlantic City, do we pay them back, too?

Since when did personal responsibility go out the window?

> Good luck with that, though.

Well, the system you like is bankrupting EVERYONE. Entire cities and states!

good luck with that!

"Matt, your facts are just incorrect."

No surprise there.

"The muni union workers get paid more through manipulating the system and they get the wasteful benefits too."

How many parochial school teachers are retiring on $130k a year?

Wow, good response, but it will be lost on him. He's shown a lack of objectivity and can't get past the part that he has a mortgage and/or has a pension.

riversider, agreed.

Rangersfan -- from the 30s to the late 70s/early 80s. It was only with the combination of junk bond financed hostile takeovers, destruction of the private sector unions, breach of the implicit life-time-employment-on-good-behavior and pension promises, and "deregulation" to facilitate the great upward income distribution, that Wall Street lawyers (and bankers and CEOs) incomes began to move up out of the ordinary reaches of the professional classes.

But even without history, any one with a little bit of understanding of how our capitalist system is supposed to work would expect that lower wages will make it harder to attract highly educated professionals with many choices.

It might require slightly more thought to recognize that social prestige matters as well, and that a generation of government bashing and celebration of predatory looters might have the result of making competent, motivated, patriotic people less likely to become public servants and more likely to redefine their patriotism Alaska style as "not paying taxes", 9-11 style as "going shopping," or generally as "getting mine while I can."

Wealth cannot diverse from incomes in the long run. Leverage seemed to be workign, who in government would find it in their interest to take away the punch bowl.

> breach of the implicit life-time-employment-on-good-behavior and pension promises

Lets not forget that employees were active participants in the conversion... the whole Fast Company "you as a brand", leveraging one position into another, folks coming out of college who didn't want jobs but wanted the quick bucks instead. "entreprenaurial" as the new lazy...

Its not every employee, of course, but neither is it every company that does what is being inferred either.

financeguy- show one source of support for your statements. It is absolutely untrue that in the 70s and 80s the government lawyers made more than lawyers in big Wall Street firms.

financeguy, thanks for the slanted history lesson but really, no thanks. i will take a pass on your lectures on how capitilism is supposed to work in modern society. as i've said before, i still think your chavez in drag.

i was calling shenanigans on your bogus example about the sec. and as far as a little bit of understanding of how "our" capitalist sysem is supposed to work - YES, lower wages (and the prospect of working at another fine example of a sleepy government agency) will make it harder to attract talent. agreed, except if i get lost in your parallel universe, the solution is not more gvmt. the sec should be a self-funded agency that would be better adept at pursuing enforcement cases and fines (and attracting better talent) - guess how come it hasnt happened??? gvmt getting in the way again.

no, i don't appreciate your "thoughtful" ramblings - think your full of it. i don't agree with alanhart in most instances either, but can laugh at his posts and points of view even when i disagree. like i said, i will continue to call you out on your shenanigins (if i have the time). and people should be bashing gvmt right now more than ever - but i am hopeful for the future that we will have better representives at every level of gvmt because the people and TAXPAYERS deserve better.

I love "entrepreneurial is the new lazy"!

Yes, The SEC should be self-funded. A big reason they became lax was because their funding didn't keep up with the growht of the financial services industry and were way out gunned/manned.

financeguy, one more thing. seems that since you have the answers for all that has gone wrong here and who the perpetrators are - so you have two really good options. 1) go work for the SEC - they are hiring and are actually offering pretty attractive comp packages (even though it apprently doesnt matter to you, given youre here to tell us how our society should work and where its been maligned). or, 2) become a whistleblower. you apperently work in finance, and since you have a good accounting on all the ills and thievery, you can be paid handsomely for doing a public good. what you then do with your bounty is another question. i have some suggestions but lets leave that for another day....

"Beside, we have been talking here more about teachers, MTA workers, Sanitation, cops, and firefighters."

And those are silly examples. Because except for teachers, all of the professions you listed do not have counterparts in the private sector, so you cannot possibly claim they are overpaid with supporting facts. And MTA subway workers make sh*t. Seriously, how much do you think they make? How would you like to work in a tunnel full of rats and feces?

If you even want to attempt to claim that govt. workers are overpaid, then you have to compare TITLE to TITLE. You can't make arguments based on the average pay of all govt. workers and all private workers, and you cannot claim that workers are overpaid when nobody in the private sector does their job. Comparing govt. attorneys to private ones is a great example since it is a fair comparison. But how can you compare cops when there is no such thing as a private sector cop?

First thing I do if elected mayor is replace all the subway token booth with magazine kiosks that sell mgazines metro cards for those that figure out a machine. What a waste of money. And the subways can be cleaned by people on welfare,work fare, or as punsihment for "certain" criminal violations, like jumping turnstiles.

There are hundreds of comparable jobs. You compare them to what these people would do if they couldn't get their government job.

How much do coal miners make?

socialist, meet the president. president, meet the socialist. now please engage and refrain from posting lunacy and idiocy for all the rest....

And as far as the DMV, We only keep it open two days a week and force everyone to go through the internet or mail for just about everything.

Let's just outsource it all to India.

"There are hundreds of comparable jobs. You compare them to what these people would do if they couldn't get their government job."

Then do that. And please post links or else nothing you say will be worth more than a $3 bill.

The government is huge on waste. It's not just the salaries, they don't necessarily outsource to the lowest bidder refusing at times to consider non-union or foreign bidders. Basically the government is very happy to over-pay for goods and services.

I want ppl on social security to use cloth diapers instead of expensive depends. Then ppl on welfare can clean said diapers to earn their food coupons. And don't you be letting me catch you buying filet mignon wearing your prada shoes on the ues looking all Caucasian and speaking well.

Government pay lower than private sector?

State and local government workers earn less than comparable workers in the private sector, a new study by two economics professors finds, even when pension and other benefits are included.

The media compares average pay and benefits, the study released last week said, which misses the point that the average public-sector worker and the average private-sector worker have different education levels and different job duties.

Nearly half of state and local government workers, 48 percent, have completed college, said the study of workers nationwide. Only a little more than a fifth of private-sector workers, 23 percent, have a degree.

Many of the most common state and local government jobs require higher education: teachers, social workers, nurses and university professors. In Michigan, more than half of the state jobs require that applicants have at least a bachelor’s degree.

“Thus, the fact that public sector workers receive greater average compensation than private sector workers should be no more surprising than the fact that those with more skills and education earn more,” said the study.

A number of previous academic studies, using the proper methodology, are said to have found that state and local government pay and benefits are less than for comparable workers in the private sector.

The new study finds that state workers earn 11 percent less and local government workers 12 percent less than comparable private-sector workers. The pay gap has grown during the last 15 years as government jobs fell farther behind the private sector.

http://calpensions.com/2010/05/04/government-pay-lower-than-private-sector/

Jobs in the public sector typically require more education than private sector positions. State and local employees are twice as likely to hold a college degree or higher as compared to private sector employees. Only 23 percent of private sector employees have completed college, as compared to about 48 percent in the public sector.

Wages and salaries of state and local employees are lower than those for private sector employees with comparable earnings determinants, such as education and work experience. State workers typically earn 11 percent less and local workers 12 percent less.

During the last 15 years, the pay gap has grown: earnings for state and local workers have generally declined relative to comparable private sector employees.

http://www.slge.org/index.asp?Type=B_BASIC&SEC={22748FDE-C3B8-4E10-83D0-959386E5C1A4}&DE={BD1EB9E6-79DA-42C7-A47E-5D4FA1280C0B}

Apples-to-apples comparison

“The picture is clear. In an apples-to-apples comparison, state and local government employees receive less compensation than their private sector counterparts,” said Keith A. Bender, report co-author and associate professor, Department of Economics at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. “These public sector employees earn less than they would earn if they took their skills to the private sector.”

Government jobs require education and skills

“Jobs in state and local governments consist disproportionately of occupations that demand more education and skills," added report co-author John S. Heywood, distinguished professor, Department of Economics at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. "Indeed, accounting for these differences is critical in understanding compensation patterns.”

Some jobs are hard to fill - pay may be a factor

The study sheds light on a recent Center survey of government hiring managers. Elizabeth K. Kellar, president and chief executive officer of the Center reported, “Hiring managers told us that despite the economy, they find it difficult to fill vacancies for highly-skilled positions such as engineering, environmental sciences, information technology and healthcare professionals. The compensation gap may have something to do with this.”

Even with benefits, government jobs pay less

Beth Almeida, NIRS executive director said, “For a long time, there has been a compensation trade-off in public sector jobs - better benefits come with lower pay as compared with private sector jobs. This study tells us that is still true today.” She added, “What’s striking is that on a total compensation basis – looking at pay and benefits – employees of state and local government still earn less than their private sector counterparts."