This is a follow up on yesterday’s entry about the growth in government. Not only are you watching while the present administration adds millions of new government workers, but you are watching while they get big pay raises they don’t deserve, Cadillac benefits, and union protection for seniority and security.
Unless you are a government worker, why is this a good thing? If you agree, why do we let it continue?
If you are still unsure, here’s a blog entry I wrote in 2008. Read it and weep.
Friday, August 22, 2008 at 01:00PMBig surprise, Federal Government workers just don’t show up for work with no consequences. ABC news reports that the U.S. Government, the biggest employer in this country with 2.6 million employees had 20,000,000 hours of absenteeism in the past 6 years. Not sick days, not vacation days, just days when the employee chooses to not come to work. AWOL hours.
Senator Obama wants to give us more of this. Bigger government, more government employees, more absenteeism. He wants to take money from Big Oil and have more government employees to find solutions to renewable energy. According to Tom Coburn, the Oklahoma Senator who did the homework on the government absenteeism, this costs $7-10 billion a year in lost productivity. Or 316 workers having 30 year careers and never coming to work. Every year for the past 6 years, a new 316 are hired and not asked to come to work for the next 30 years. .
As a country, we just don’t get it. We keep trying to use the government to solve problems. Every day we see evidence that the government is an ineffective employer. Been to the post office lately? Been to the zoo lately? Both have those doors at the back of the wall. At the post office the employees may have 7 stations and 6 are empty. Just as you get to the front of the line, the employee goes into that door in the back. Just as you get to the zoo, the polar bear goes in that door at the back of the cage. Polar bears seem to know they are stopping progress in Alaska and are learning to behave like postal workers. Spend an hour in front and 12 hours sleeping in back.
Why do we keep adding to the government employment rolls? They treat you like crap when you have to deal with them. They don’t come to work. They don’t do any work when they do come to work. And, when they do work, they buy $100 toilet seats. Tax revolt is the only way to bring this to a halt.
Want an example of how much we can grow government? Seven years ago there was no Department of Homeland Security. For 2008 that budget is $46.4 billion dollars. Need a comparison?The FBI budget is $6.4 billion for 2008. The State of New York has increased spending 70% in the past ten years. Is there any wonder they are screaming in New York state?
As we become more of a nanny state we will get bigger and bigger government. We will get bigger and bigger taxes. We will get more regulation and less freedom. And, we will hire more deadbeats that don’t bother to come to work. Someone should do a similar study on the state and local government worker absenteeism. Lump them together and we probably have the equivalent of a major corporation where no on works all year long.
