Living the life in the public sector
by Howie Carr
DNN Staff - EXCLUSIVE!
Mar. 16, 2009
There are two Americas, only they’re not the two that the lecherous John Edwards described in his doomed campaign for president.
The two Americas are the Dreaded Private Sector (DPS), where life grows gloomier by the hour, and the Public Sector, where happy days are here again, especially in Massachusetts. I know, not everyone on a public payroll is living large, but let’s face it, life right now is a lot cushier.
In the DPS, every week there are farewell parties for co-workers who have been laid off. In the Public Sector, the farewell parties are for colleagues who have filed for disability pensions at age 42.
In the Public Sector, if you can pass a physical test to prove you can do your job, you get a bonus. In the DPS, you don’t get fired - this week.
In the DPS, your pay just got cut. In the Public Sector, you just got a pay raise.
In the DPS, you pay into your pension plan for years, maybe decades, and at the end, you get nothing. In the Public Sector, if you’re a justice on the Supreme Judicial Court, you pay nothing - nothing! - and then at the end you get a big fat pension.In the DPS, the gas tax goes up, and the money comes out of your pocket. In the Public Sector, if you’re in the Legislature, the gas tax goes up and eventually they just increase their own per-diem travel allowance, which, by the way, operates on the honor system.
In the DPS, if you don’t abuse your sick days, you don’t get fired. In the Public Sector, at least at Massport, if you don’t abuse your sick days, you retire with a six-figure payout for all your “unused” days on top of the 80 percent pension and the health plan.
In the Public Sector, you get off Bunker Hill Day, Evacuation Day, Patriots [team stats] Day, Columbus Day, etc. etc. In the DPS, you’re kidding, right?
In the DPS, people look for “work.” In the Public Sector, they’re looking for a “job.”
In the Public Sector, if you cheat on your taxes, you have the right to claim it was an “honest mistake.” If you’re in the DPS and you cheat on your taxes, you have the right to remain silent.
In the DPS, you have to pay for parking. In the Public Sector, you get free parking and a free car.
The two Americas are diverging - one’s standard of living is plummeting, the other’s is rising. In Massachusetts, the two sectors do only one thing together: They drive to tax-free New Hampshire to buy their gas, booze, soft drinks, cigarettes, electronics gear, furniture and everything else - to beat the taxes that make Taxachusetts Taxachusetts.
Above is a photo of the State House where state
workers live the life. (DNN Staff photo)
Unlike the others, we tell you what's really happening.
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