Birds of a Feather?

Birds of a Feather?

These days, the media seems awash in reports of various elected officials and civil servants who are either in the business of raking in as much money as they can on the public dime, trying to score a vacated Senate seat (President Barack Obama’s, which was filled by one Roland Burris…read and listen to the transcript of his groveling and scheming to get the Senate seat HERE) or of municipal and state employees who are making obscene amounts of pay relative to their counterparts in the private sector (check out this chart of 2007 San Francisco city employee pay HERE).

Being the capitalist, free-enterprise pigs that we are, we have absolutely nothing against making an honest buck. But since when has public service, and the pursuit of public office, become the be-all and end-all (and a well-heeled be-all and end-all, as a matter of fact) that it’s turned into these last few years? At least with politicians, there’s the issue of grabbing onto power, for whatever reason, and Burris is just the latest pathetic example…take a moment to look at the antics of several of the Detroit city council’s members, especially one Monica Conyers, to get an idea of what we mean.

The problem with civil servants making a wage far in excess of what their duties would call for in a private corporation or enterprise is that taxpayer money is being used to fund sometimes lavish salaries that don’t seem to have a connection with reality. But we hear tell they’re somehow “entitled” to this pay for all the “sacrifices” they’re being asked to make. What, exactly would those “sacrifices” be, pray tell?

By the way, according to our friend Michelle Malkin, those San Francisco salaries DON’T include any payments made towards pensions and benefits. In truth, many of these folks will make much more in retirement than retired presidents of the United States (191,300 U.S. dollars). We guess it’s small comfort to note that Barack Obama beats out (barely), the “Special Nurse” position of the San Francisco Department of Public Health. Obama comes in at 400 grand per year, plus “perks,” and the nurse lags behind at $350,324.

Chalk all of this up to entitlement, we’d say. To people who feel entitled to exorbitant pay, pensions and benefits in government service that neither demands performance nor really expects it, and to entitlement to a Senate seat that has neither been earned nor deserved, judging by the firestorm of criticism surrounding the Junior Senator from Illinois (Burris), these days.