Having just gotten back from a visit to The Old Home Place, I was appalled to see that the Omaha World Herald is about the same size as the Seattle Times - and that the Council Bluffs Nonpariel has a better editorial page.

Had a door-to-door person try to convince me today to "support the Times so we don't lose it like we did the P-I."

We'll need some sort of newsprint to sop up the blood from all the back alley abortions we'll be seeing if their kind win.

@5, no one "takes home" their 401(k) programs, and most of the laid-off private sector workers were NOT making big bucks. Your claims simply attempt to widen the breach between private and public sector workers at a time when they should band together.

No coverage of the Corrie verdict? I miss the days of round-the-clock slog postings.

Don't be surprised when they start taking higher paying jobs in Canada, while collecting US retirement benefits, if you keep this up.

@9: Go fuck yourself. The benefits, as noted above, are merely adequate. Not excellent. You are exactly the pearl-clutching crybabe he called out earlier. Go put your tinfoil hat back on and rage about chemtrails and inside jobs somewhere else, crybaby.

If we marginally increased taxes on the wealthiest Amercians, started taxing the money stored in illegal tax havens, and raised the capital gains tax by 1%, we could hire back all the laid off government workers, and put unempoyment back to about 6%.

I heard somewhere that jobs were an important issue in this election.

But hey, who would be interested in some kind of pinko commie plan like that? We all know that 15% tax rates are freedom, and 16% tax rates are socialism.

I worked in the private sector until 2007 when the absolutely ridiculous company I worked for for seven years told me - in the nicest possible way, and with a ridiculously generous severance package - to get lost. They had been bought by one of the on-line diploma mills, and needed a sacrificial lamb in the Seattle office.

In my seven years at that company, I saw us grow from twelve employees to over 250, then down to seventeen employees, and then up to 300. (200 were let go with my round). We were a public company, and we wasted stockholder money at an astonishing rate: kegs in the break room, "bagel Monday", "massage Friday" and other such nonsense. They acquired four absolutely stupid companies for ridiculous prices - the most ridiculous one only because it had a San Francisco address, and the CEO's wife wanted a career in "the arts" and she couldn't get one here. So they moved the "main office" down there, and spent thousands flying us down there every few weeks. Oh, and did I mention I made six figures for looking at the Internet all day while we sent out massive amounts of spam?

Nowadays, I am a modest City Light worker, making significantly less than I did at that other company, and paying about three hundred bucks a month towards my "lavish" pension (on top of the deduction for Social Security). If I work 30 years - I'd be 82 - I would get 50% of my highest salary for the rest of my life.

But I work for a good company, that delivers a good product at a very low cost to our customers, and in an environmentally sensitive manner. I find my work to be interesting and fun, and very rewarding, even though I work harder, and have employers with higher expectations of me, than any other job I've had.

So if we could get away from the troll's cartoon view of life and look at things objectively, we would see that the problem is not high paying government jobs, but artificially low rates in the private sector, and the naive people who accept that without question.

Don't forget the extra 5% pay cut that most state employees took in the form of furlough days throughout the year that have not been reinstated yet either. I think the state employees have been pretty accommodating.

@3/9 is just jealous because: A.) he's too stupid and/or lazy to be able to even get a job in the Public Sector, and; B.) Public Sector employees don't willingly allow themselves to be treated like pieces of shit by their employers.

Too bad qrq doesn't have the balls to stand up for his own rights as a worker, and can only complain how unfair it is that other workers who DO are so much "better off" than he is. But then, castrati are famous for their high, shrill voices...

Goldy, the 3% cut actually took effect July 1, 2011 for the current biennium. You're missing one thing: State workers also were furloughed in 2010. The 10 unpaid furlough days, which began July 12, 2010, were tantamount to a half-month pay cut. When I introduced a floor amendment to apply the furloughs to legislators in the form of proportionate pay cuts, the amendment was shot down amidst bipartisan hysterics over the hardship it would inflict (the base salary for a legislator, ignoring per diem, exceeds the median HOUSEHOLD income in over half of all counties). In my final year as a legislator, I returned salary in the amount of the furlough to the state.

Not that I have a state job anymore...my last permanent one was eliminated and I was laid off in the 2011 round of budget cuts. But this is exactly the point I still find myself trying to make to the people who still rant about those "overpaid state employees"...

(Oh, and you forgot to mention the higher copays--MUCH higher for prescriptions--that we got along with those higher health insurance premiums.)

Hello

I teach mathematics at Ingraham High School in Seattle. I used to teach at Rainier Beach High School. I guess that makes me a "government employee". In May of 2011 I wrote the following post on the Save Seattle School blog about teacher pay and my personal situation. After reading some of the comments here, it seems like a good time to post it here. In addition, I would like to invite all of the readers to come visit me this year. School starts next Wednesday and I would be honored to have any taxpayer or community member in my classroom. I am in room 42. School starts at 8, but I have first period planning this year, so I won't start teaching till 9.

Michael A. Rice

http://saveseattleschools.blogspot.com/2…

There has been much gnashing of teeth and consternation going on about teacher pay and a 3% pay cut teachers may be forced to swallow. What gets to me more than anything else is the vile comments that get posted afterward when an article is posted on teacher pay in the local newspapers. Given the comments, one would think that teachers were getting rich and not doing much to earn the vast sums of money they make. I have to say I look at that with bemusement. I guess it is time to put my cards on the table.

For regular readers of the SSS blog, you already know my story. However, many of you don’t. I switched careers in my mid 40’s to become a teacher. I am honored to teach math at Rainier Beach HS. I am in my 6th year. I love my job and I love teaching math to students. I think I have a great job. However, here are the facts of my situation.

I hold an undergrad in Accounting and a Masters in Finance. Before I decided to become a teacher, I worked for a bank in investment accounting. In 2003 (my last full year there), I made $75,000 (that included my bonus), had a defined benefit pension plan that my employer fully funded that would make it possible to retire comfortably after 25 years of service with basically with what I would be making in my last year of working, a 401k that the employer matched dollar for dollar up to 4% of my salary. On top of that, my health care was fully paid for and my wife was on the plan at no charge to me also. The plan was a top notch Blue Cross plan with no co-pays and a very, very large network of doctors, dentists, vision and mental health providers available to us. I also had 4 weeks vacation and every holiday off. I also was given a yearly bus pass, so I did not have to drive downtown.

In mid 2004, I left banking to join the Career Switcher program at CWU-Lynnwood to become a teacher. I did okay in the program, student taught at Ingraham and was fortunate to land a job at RB starting in September 2005. I have been there ever since. Once again, I want to say that I love what I do.

Since yesterday was May 1st, it was payday. Here is a summary of my paycheck. My salary for the month was $5,016.69. That works out to $60,200 for the year. Now I do earn an extra $50/month for being on the schools Building Leadership Team and an extra $100 for being one of the schools Education Technology leaders. That earns me an additional $1,500 for the 10 months I get paid for doing that. So, I will earn a little under $62,000 this year for working at Rainier Beach. Now I have taught Summer School the past few years and that is a good paying gig. I have earned $3,500 additional for doing that. Of course, it is a victim of the budget axe this year, so I am hoping another district will be willing to hire me. My total gross for the year (if I am able to teacher Summer School) will be about $65,000.

Now on, to the benefits package I have. I pay $171.43 to my cover mine and my wife’s health insurance plan. It is with Group Health and it is full of co-pays and deductibles. I then also have a mandatory 5% of my salary payment into my defined benefit pension plan. I am in Plan 3 which means that when I retire (which I plan to do at age 70, after 25 years of teaching), the plan will pay me 25% of the average of my 5 highest salary years. In addition, I put $160 per month into my 403b plan. If you assume inflation is 3% per year and stock market returns of 8% per year, when I retire, I will retire with the equivalent of what is $46,000 now. After taxes and these deductions, I clear a little over $3,600 per month.

I post this not to complain. I post this to show people the reality of what a teacher makes and where the money goes. Given my education, I am on the far right of the salary scale, so I earn more than most 6th year teachers in the district. My wife has been unemployed for over 2 years and I feel fortunate to have a job. I am honored that I get to educate your children and I take that responsibility very seriously. You can pass judgment on all sorts of things I do, but please think before you speak when you want to demonize teachers about what they do and what they make. That anger is misplaced.

Troll dear, I can't speak for every department of government, but the rule in my part of the world is 30/60 - that is to say that if you have 30 years of service at 60 years of age, you can retire, but you are on your own for insurance.

And while it's sweet of you to assume everyone lives to be 85, actuarials - who actually know something about what they are saying (you should try it sometime) - will tell you that that is not the case. Since it's a big pool, with some people dying earlier, and some people living longer, it tends to work out. Need, it was working exceptionally well until the bankers decided to mess with the stock market.

And I do sincerely hope this wondrful retirement which you have so cleverly planned will allow you enough money to live a good long life. But I wouldn't bet the farm on it. I do hope you won't end up in the county poorhouse.