Josh Marshall's post: Social contract under strain
Josh wrote:
I don't think the social contract is any sort of fixed thing -- I think it has been severely eroded over the past couple of decades, to the point where mistrust of government extends to non-politicians as well. Maybe even longer than the past couple of decades, I don't really know, but I suspect that back in the 1930s and 40s, it was more generally understood that work is work, no matter whom one is working for; and my feeling is that the erosion has accelerated since Reagan.
And of course you hear this complaint as well from white collar workers and executives who are invited, or nominated, to work in the public sector, that they just can't afford it.
Public defenders of course make far less than private ones, as do prosecutors.
In the rare case where a government employee, ie. a public school teacher, makes more than one in the private sector, there is a hue and cry to knock that wage down, through merit pay plans, voucher programs, non-unionized charter schools etc.
Although I agree with Josh that limits on pay levels in private companies are problematic and probably would lead to unintended consequences, on the other hand I am a firm believer in "you get what you pay for" applying to government work as well as to the private sector. And if we want government to work, unless we are willing to raise taxes and raise the salaries of government workers until they are comeasurate with private salaries, it is entirely appropriate to talk about limits to private compensation.
As much as I think some exec paychecks are obscene and point to real imbalances in our economy, I'm really leery of limits on pay levels in private companies...But, yeah, when a company would be out of business without taxpayer help? Then we're in your business. Do you really need $15 million as opposed to $2? Is your mortgage that high? Do you have that many kids in school.It isn't just when derivatives traders come to the taxpayer asking for huge sums of money that taxpayers get riled up. I hear frequent complaints from my fairly conservative neighbors here in central PA about government workers in general. They don't have a problem if the operator of a paving machine who works for a private contractor gets paid $25/hour -- if the private contractor is willing to pay that much, so be it -- but if the same person does the same work for the township then $25/hour is too much. Even though the private contractor has submitted the lowest bid to the township for the work, so we taxpayers are actually paying that $25/hour, or even more when you consider overhead. When you think about it, if the private contractor was paying the paver less, then their bid could be even lower.
I don't think the social contract is any sort of fixed thing -- I think it has been severely eroded over the past couple of decades, to the point where mistrust of government extends to non-politicians as well. Maybe even longer than the past couple of decades, I don't really know, but I suspect that back in the 1930s and 40s, it was more generally understood that work is work, no matter whom one is working for; and my feeling is that the erosion has accelerated since Reagan.
And of course you hear this complaint as well from white collar workers and executives who are invited, or nominated, to work in the public sector, that they just can't afford it.
Public defenders of course make far less than private ones, as do prosecutors.
In the rare case where a government employee, ie. a public school teacher, makes more than one in the private sector, there is a hue and cry to knock that wage down, through merit pay plans, voucher programs, non-unionized charter schools etc.
Although I agree with Josh that limits on pay levels in private companies are problematic and probably would lead to unintended consequences, on the other hand I am a firm believer in "you get what you pay for" applying to government work as well as to the private sector. And if we want government to work, unless we are willing to raise taxes and raise the salaries of government workers until they are comeasurate with private salaries, it is entirely appropriate to talk about limits to private compensation.
