Scott Walker’s comment on the wealth of counties around the nation’s capital hardly reported. (slate.com)
While making his point that Hillary Clinton believes she can grow the economy by growing Washington, Republican presidential candidate Scott Walker cited that six of the top ten wealthiest counties are around the nation’s capital. He was referring to the median income of those working in the nation’s capital.
It’s unfortunate the remark was meaningless to the average viewer, and we can thank our low information media for ignoring the statement. He’s made the point several times during his campaign; part of his plan to reduce the size of government.
Source: Congressional Budget Office
The fact is that in the past 10 years, federal employee compensation rose faster than that of private sector employees. The average federal civilian worker earns 74 percent more in wages and benefits than the average private sector worker, according to the latest available figures.
Federal workers with a high school diploma or less earned 21 percent more than private sector workers in similar jobs, according to the CBO.
Don’t look for Hillary Clinton to include federal employees in her “equal pay” rants.
Federal compensation is generated from legislated increases in pay, benefits and the growth of high-paid jobs in burgeoning bureaucracies. Members of Congress with large numbers of government employees in their states view this constituency as one they generally protect while vowing to cut the size of government. Hypocrites.
Walker singles out the IRS while discussing federal agencies that have outlived their usefulness. He wants to shift power away from the federal government to the states. Other candidates, including Bush, Kasich and Perry, have indicated that education priorities should also be a state function.
