Citing deficit, Obama freezing federal worker pay

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Citing deficit, Obama freezing federal worker pay

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama announced a pay freeze for 2 million federal employees Monday and warned the American public that the move is the first of many difficult decisions that must be made to slash the nation's mounting deficits.

"The hard truth is that getting this deficit under control is going to require some broad sacrifice, and that sacrifice must be shared by the employees of the federal government," Obama said.

The two-year freeze would apply to all civilian federal employees, including those working at the Department of Defense, but would not affect military personnel. The freeze, which requires congressional approval, is expected to save more than $5 billion in savings over two years, $28 billion over five years and more than $60 billion over 10 years, White House officials said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101129/ap_on_bi_ge/us_obama_pay_freeze

a good start...

its interesting how he can spend trillions, but then tries to come off as fiscally conservative
 
Since they are one of the highest paid of all job sectors, that's not doing much. It will be fun though when Carter II inflation hits and the SEIU is scrambling to get this overturned...
 
I have no complaint here. I'd shake his hand for the good start. I went through a pay freeze on a couple of occasions during my career. It is definitely survivable.
 
Damn Yankee said:
Liberals have no clue as to the basic concept of productivity.

When I worked for the government I was amazed at the low level of productivity around me.
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And what better way to reward the productive workers in the federal government than by freezing their pay alongside their unproductive counterparts.

As a policy matter it is fucking stupid, as a management decision it is fucking stupid and it's fucking stupid politically as well.
 
NigelTufnel said:
And what better way to reward the productive workers in the federal government than by freezing their pay alongside their unproductive counterparts.

As a policy matter it is fucking stupid, as a management decision it is fucking stupid and it's fucking stupid politically as well.
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I agree, but The Obama worked so hard to inflate the sheer number of unproductive workers. Surely you don't expect him to fire them.
 
NigelTufnel said:
And what better way to reward the productive workers in the federal government than by freezing their pay alongside their unproductive counterparts.

As a policy matter it is fucking stupid, as a management decision it is fucking stupid and it's fucking stupid politically as well.
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yeah... because everyone should get pay increases every year...

freezing pay at a time of little to no inflation (hence no COLA adjustments to SS either in the last two years) is not stupid. It is fucking common sense. Especially when you add in the insane levels of deficit spending coming from DC.

You mention freezing the pay of the 'productive' portion alongside the 'unproductive'. I wonder... did the 'unproductive' get raises alongside the 'productive' in years past? If so... why? Oh yeah... because a large portion of government workers are unionized and that's what unions do.
 
Nigel is a dumbass. He's so dumb he didn't realize he made the counter-point to his argument.

SF nailed it: If they don't deserve a raise for being unproductive, why have they been getting one every year? OH yeah!! UNIONS!

LOL
 
tinfoil said:
Nigel is a dumbass. He's so dumb he didn't realize he made the counter-point to his argument.

SF nailed it: If they don't deserve a raise for being unproductive, why have they been getting one every year? OH yeah!! UNIONS!

LOL
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Cost of living is why federal workers get a raise, why do the good Senators get a raise every year, they aren't unionized! Federal employees have to be paid as well as private industry or they leave. Do you want dumber people than we already have running the government?
 
Frogmeister said:
Cost of living is why federal workers get a raise, why do the good Senators get a raise every year, they aren't unionized! Federal employees have to be paid as well as private industry or they leave. Do you want dumber people than we already have running the government?
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Yeah, except cost of living hasn't risen, but there pay has.
 
tinfoil said:
Nigel is a dumbass. He's so dumb he didn't realize he made the counter-point to his argument.

SF nailed it: If they don't deserve a raise for being unproductive, why have they been getting one every year? OH yeah!! UNIONS!

LOL
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Actually, I didn't make any counter-point to my argument. You're just too lizard-brained to differentiate between cost-of-living pay increases and performance-based pay increases. COLA pay increases are provided by statute, not because of unions and merit pay increases are a different matter altogether.

Typically, non-productive employees get COLA increases as provided by statute and productive workers can get additional pay increases based on their performance. As a result of this dumbass policy, no one gets anything.
 
NigelTufnel said:
Actually, I didn't make any counter-point to my argument. You're just too lizard-brained to differentiate between cost-of-living pay increases and performance-based pay increases. COLA pay increases are provided by statute, not because of unions and merit pay increases are a different matter altogether.

Typically, non-productive employees get COLA increases as provided by statute and productive workers can get additional pay increases based on their performance. As a result of this dumbass policy, no one gets anything.
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Same with a lot of the private sector, many of whom have had to take pay cuts in order to stay employed.
 
Frogmeister said:
Cost of living is why federal workers get a raise, why do the good Senators get a raise every year, they aren't unionized! Federal employees have to be paid as well as private industry or they leave. Do you want dumber people than we already have running the government?
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There need not be COLA increases when there is little to no inflation such as we are experiencing now. This is why Social Security did not get COLA increases the last two years.

As for the Senators and Reps getting increases... I agree, that bullshit should stop. Their automatic increase (unless they actually vote against it in a given year) is bullshit.
 
Superfreak said:
There need not be COLA increases when there is little to no inflation such as we are experiencing now. This is why Social Security did not get COLA increases the last two years.

As for the Senators and Reps getting increases... I agree, that bullshit should stop. Their automatic increase (unless they actually vote against it in a given year) is bullshit.
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It's all about the index the increases are tied to. Federal employee annual wage increases are tied to ECI. Social Security COLA increases are tied to CPI.
 
NigelTufnel said:
Well, federal employee annual wage increases are tied to the Employment Cost Index, not Consumer Price Index.
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and what comprises the Employment Cost Index?

Changes to wages, bonuses and benefits (ie health care)

So if the costs of employees goes up, we should increase their wages... which will cause their costs to go up... so we should increase their wages... which causes the costs to go up... so we should increase their wages....

Fucking amazing how that works....
 
Superfreak said:
and what comprises the Employment Cost Index?

Changes to wages, bonuses and benefits (ie health care)

So if the costs of employees goes up, we should increase their wages... which will cause their costs to go up... so we should increase their wages... which causes the costs to go up... so we should increase their wages....

Fucking amazing how that works....
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Actually, it is tied to ECI for private industry workers.
 
NigelTufnel said:
Actually, it is tied to ECI for private industry workers.
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lol.... ok... so add one step...

ECI goes up.... so government workers get a raise... so taxes go up to pay for the raise... so private sector demands more to compensate for higher taxes... so ECI goes up... so government workers get a raise... so taxes go up to pay for the raise... so private sector demands more to compensate for higher taxes... so ECI goes up... so government workers get a raise... so taxes go up to pay for the raise... so private sector demands more to compensate for higher taxes... so ECI goes up...

It is circular bullshit. Why the hell should a standard raise be tied to the private sector? While for the most part the ECI and CPI fall in line... there is no reason to use ECI over CPI for federal employees.
 
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