Boston Globe:  “Since December 2007, when the current downturn began, the ranks of federal employees earning $100,000 and up has skyrocketed.  According to a recent analysis by USA Today, federal workers making six-figure salaries – not including overtime and bonuses – ‘jumped from 14 percent to 19 percent of civil servants during the recession’s first 18 months.’’  The surge has been especially pronounced among the highest-paid employees.  At the Defense Department, for example, the number of civilian workers making $150,000 or more quintupled from 1,868 to 10,100.  At the recession’s start, the Transportation Department was paying only one person a salary of $170,000.  Eighteen months later, 1,690 employees were drawing paychecks that size.  All the while, the federal government has been adding jobs at a 10,000-a-month clip.  Between December 2007 and June 2009, federal payrolls exploded by nearly 10 percent.”

Why?  What do government workers do other than busy work to justify their jobs?  The reason we have the toy police is because the Consumer Product Safety Commission has workers whose sole purpose is to find toys to ban.  Isn’t their a better use of government money?  USA Today say:

The growth in six-figure salaries has pushed the average federal worker’s pay to $71,206, compared with $40,331 in the private sector.

Are you kidding?  Why are taxpayers paying government workers more than the average private sector worker?  I thought the government exists to support the people rather than the people supporting the government.  It’s especially obscene when you consider the value of benefits such as life-time health care and retirement.   The dollar difference between public and private sector workers is even greater when benefits are included in the calculation.