Lou Dobbs says thats the stuff of Revolutions

On Lou Dobbs May 13th the pay gap between federal employees and private sector was discussed. Federal employees now receive on average 102% more than there counterparts in the private sector performing the same jobs. It wasn't clear whether that took into account the 3.9% pay raise they just got or not (Florida state employees just received a 2% pay cut).

Only two Federal agencies report a decline in employment. The small business administration and the Agricultural department?

Now consider this from seeking alpha:

It's not just what you know, it's who you know. And it's not just who you know, it's who you pay off. As the Center for Public Integrity reports (as cited in last week's Financial Times), the largest US originators of subprime mortgages spent roughly $370 million on lobbying and campaign donations in Washington during the past decade in attempts to stave off tighter regulation of their industry. The study “shows that most of the top 25 originators, most of which are now bankrupt, were either owned or heavily financed by the nation's largest banks, including Citigroup (C), Goldman Sachs (GS), Wells Fargo (WFC), JP Morgan (JPM) and Bank of America (BAC),” who collectively originated $1 trillion in subprime mortgages (almost three quarters of the total) between 2005-2007. That $370 million was money well spent though, given that it was followed, in turn, as the mortgage market imploded, by $700 billion – so far – in troubled asset relief funds – otherwise known as taxpayers' money. Who said crime doesn't pay? That's a return on capital some 1,891 times bigger than the original “investment”. Now that’s leverage. Strangely enough, US politicians have been largely silent about their own complicity in the theft of the century.

So what we have here is what we have posted about on a number of occasions, a widening gap between the "haves" and "have nots," a widening gap between governmental workers and non governmental workers and a narrowing gap of those who determine who the "haves" are and who the "have nots" are.

In other words, the general American citizenry has become nothing more than "cattle to be milked".  Which makes our post,

Government is more worried about YOU, than China

a little more relevant.  After all, there must be some mechanism by which the Corporate/governance alliance can control the cows once they get tired of putting out milk.

Think about it. One governmental bureaucracy (the state workers) takes a 2% cut in order to pay another governmental bureaucracy 3.9% raise?  How long can that go on before the cow runs dry.

Lets ask Russia:

March 23, 2009

Russian bureaucracy doubled in a decade

In the last ten years, the Russian government’s paper pushing work force grew by 100%.  These bureauctrats are the governmnet employees most likely to life complicated and doing business difficult in Russia. They have a well deserved reputiona for curruption, often demanding pay offs and gifts.

From January 1999 to October 2008, the number of state employees jumped from 485,566 to 846,307, growing by a rate of 1.74 times.
The number of officials in regional bodies more than doubled, growing by 2.25 times, while the number of federal employees rose by 1.6 times.  The number of municipal officials grew by 2.07 times.
The report reveals that as a whole, women outnumber men in the government service.  In the highest managerial positions, the reverse is true, and men outnumber women two to one.  The average Russian civil servant is 40 years old. (The Other Russia)

or from:

How the Russian Bureaucracy Worked to Capture, then Close Down the Mari ‘Theme’

18.05.08

Baku, May 18 – Among the more disturbing actions of the Putin regime have been its moves to assume control over nominally public organizations, thus freezing out popular activists of one kind or another while allowing the Kremlin to point to the existence of these institutions as evidence of Russia’s supposed progress toward democracy and a civil society.
(See whole story here)

History is full of examples of the role of banks + political collusion + stifling bureaucracies =
Totalitarian governments. Choose your poison "Fascism" to "Communism", totalitarianism by any other name is still totalitarianism. Hell go to Pakistan and enjoy a form of religious totalitarianism.



Of course none of this happens overnight. A sane people would rebel and quash the oppressors. No, usually it happens gradually and is not bound by party lines. The commonality is not political  agenda but thirst for power.  After all is not "lack of power our dilemma" (a play on the words of Bill W.)

A review of the events in America of the last 10 years at least would demonstrate that despite "political affiliation" the power of the "populace" has been diminished greatly.  Some people have recognized it and finally found the balls to form "Tea Parties" which have been co-opted by the very politicians that rob us.  (see our post,

Tallahassee Tea Party-Observations and a warning

Now if one were to look into the recent past to predict the future the tea leaves might tell us that when the economy improves (which it will on paper) that much  of the improvement is going to go into the pockets of those who caused the economic problems to begin with, Politicians and Bankers.  

Now if Tea Party "attendee's" are o.k. with that, well then fine.  However they should keep in mind that "Tea Parties" were not the answer.  They were just the beginning.

To quote Lou Dobbs in reference to the federal/private sector pay disparity, "That's the stuff of Revolutions".  I can't help but wonder, when will Americans figure that out?

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