The Problem With Government Employees

(Disclaimer: My fiancee' is a state employee and I whole heartedly believe that the public sector serves an important role in our society.)

The problem with government employees is, very simply, the amount of taxes from the private sector that it takes to pay their salary and benefits.

Here's an idea that I'd wager very few people - and even fewer Democrats, specifically - have had occur to them. Government employees Don't pay taxes.

Yep. Let that one sink in a little.

How can you pay taxes when you're already being payed with taxpayer money? There's a line on your pay stub every pay cycle that shows Federal, State (unless you live in FL, TN, TX, et al), FICA, etc.. But, the truth of the matter is, whichever government entity it is that you're working for simply withholds a portion of taxpayer money from your check and disperses it to the appropriate Fed/State agency.

Through this prism, the notion that the President floated last week about the problem with the economy being the lack of public sector employees should seem even more ridiculous.

I posed this question four years ago, after the stimulus bill was passed: What happens when the money runs out? Granted, this question assumed that there were actually shovel ready jobs to be had, and that the stimulus wasn't just a slush fund used to keep the UAW and other union dues-paying employees employed. Eventually the government runs out of other people's money, be it U.S. taxpayer's, or China's. Then what?

Government employees will always be faced with the consequences (teachers being forced to take furloughs) of a faltering economy. Before we can worry about how to keep government employees working, we must first focus on the private sector. Simply, expanding the private sector is the only way to keep the public sector.

Taking Out The (John Edwards) Trash

I thought the current President was narcissistic - ok, he is definitely narcissistic - but it's possible we, as a country, were a scandal away from having an even more narcissistic President.

After his trial was declared deadlocked (save the one count of conspiracy to accept fraudulent campaign donations for which he was found not guilty), John Edwards didn't have the decency to keep his head down and ignore reporters before being whisked away in a Surburban. Nope. He stops on the courthouse steps and delivered what amounted to a stump speech.

Hey, John, you escaped by the skin of your teeth. No need to thank the jury for doing their job.

You love your dughter more than any of us can imagine. Really? I have two daughters, and I didn't try to deny their existense for the first two years of their lives. I have a hard time believing you saw Ms. Hunter's pregnancy as anything other than an obstacle to receiving the Democrat nomination for President back in 2008. Definitely not an occasion to be celebrated.

Can't you hear the conversation?

"That's great, baby, but we have to act like the baby belongs to one of my aides because this could wreck my chances of becoming President".

As far as doing all that you can in order to help poor children - while that is indeed an honorable ambition - just think of how much good you could've done with the million dollars that you used to hide the fact you had an affair and got your mistress pregnant.

I think you and Mel Gibson need to catch the next train to Obscurityville, never to be heard from again.