Savage wants Federal employees to start contributing to their own retirements.
Like so many things, Savage is living in the 1950s. The Federal Civil Service retirement plan was terminated in 1986 under Ronald Reagan.
The current Federal Retirement plan is very similar to what I had at a private employer – it has three pieces:
1) Employees must participate in Social Security – prior to the 1986 changes, Federal employees were not participants in Social Security
2) A 100% employer paid defined benefit annuity plan
3) A 401(k) like retirement account with an employer match
[401(k) is for-profit corporations]
Federal Retirement information
I’m not suggesting that Federal employees don’t have a sweet package, but to say they are not paying into their own retirement plans is just not true.
Do you have any facts on Federal employees been overcompensated compared to private sector workers?
What is an air traffic controller paid in the private sector?
You can probably find the wage differentials online – look for the wages paid to a G-3, G-4 or G-5 employee (generally, those employees who don’t need more than a B.A. degree or who are in clerical positions) and ○ompare them to the average wage paid to a private sector employee in a similar position. Then, factor in the 12 paid Federal holidays public sector employees get as compared to the 5 (if you’re lucky) paid holidays private sector employees get, and the benefits package offered to federal employees as compared to that offered most clerical workers, and you’ll see that public sector employees that really are not the “best and brightest” have a pretty sweet deal. Salary.com would be a good starting point – it also shows wages in relation to location (e.g. wages in New York state would be significantly higher than wages in Indiana, thanks to the increased cost of living in NY.)
Dr. Savage is wrong on SO MANY things he says, it is hard to keep track.
But I’d still like to see him do his show. I envision him in a glass booth, and by the time his show is almost over, the entire inside of the glass booth would be covered in spittle and froth.
Priceless.
I envision him sitting in his underwear in an overstuffed chair, in a room with the lights off, swigging down Rockstar Energy drink and refreshing the Drudge report.
For those of you actually in the radio business – typically News/Talk stations are only licensed for incidental music usage, like short bumper music. When Savage (or Noory) play an entire song during their show, are they putting their affiliates at risk from ASCAP/BMI?