Cruise to Key West, Cuba, and Port Canaveral

[iris lilies]

Dude! Me too! This is so cool. What are the odds?!

Ok, this made me laugh.

But I think jeppy forgets that when every public expense is spread over a large base of millions of taxpayers, that is just a teeny tiny bit for each of us all to pay. We should be grateful these support systems exist. We should not focus on what it costs each of us. Really, hundreds of thousands of public welfare programs should not concern us because it is only cents that we pay. I dont know the math but
I doubt it adds up to much.

Besides, any more it all pretty much falls to Alan, with so many of us retired and having tiny incomes. Throw him under the bus, who cares.

/sarcasm.

[Teacher Terry]

When you are a public employee often you work for less pay in exchange for some better benefits. So UL probably makes less $ than he could in private industry but gets loan forgiveness as a perk. I love to travel both in the states and internationally. Meeting people from other countries expands ones perspective. UL sacrifices many things that others consider necessities to travel. He is not going into debt to do it. BTW UL I love how you are walking your talk. I was raised to be active in politics and social justice issues and have been my whole life.

[Alan]

Besides, any more it all pretty much falls to Alan, with so many of us retired and having tiny incomes. Throw him under the bus, who cares.

/sarcasm.

LOL, I'm getting out of the paying taxes game in another 7 weeks or so, someone else will have to pick up the mantle.

[iris lilies]

When you are a public employee often you work for less pay in exchange for some better benefits. So UL probably makes less $ than he could in private industry but gets loan forgiveness as a perk. I love to travel both in the states and internationally. Meeting people from other countries expands ones perspective. UL sacrifices many things that others consider necessities to travel. He is not going into debt to do it. BTW UL I love how you are walking your talk. I was raised to be active in politics and social justice issues and have been my whole life.

I worked in the public sector and regularly heard that bullshit about how we could make more money in the private sector.

I unequivocally assure you that my group could NOT make more money in the private sector considering all of the financial and workplace perks and considering the number of “private sector” library positions that exist. Could NOT. That old canard always pissed me off, it was pure fantasy.

[Teacher Terry]

Well in my line of work I could have made 20k more a year in private.

[ApatheticNoMore]

I worked in the public sector and regularly heard that bullshit about how we could make more money in the private sector.

I unequivocally assure you that my group could NOT make more money in the private sector considering all of the financial and workplace perks and considering the number of “private sector” library positions that exist. Could NOT. That old canard always pissed me off, it was pure fantasy.

+10000. It's like complaining about the price of mansions increasing, it is about as in touch. Who is this stuff supposed to apply to anyway? I think it's possibly it may have been kinda sorta true for some baby boomers. But does anyone really think it's true for millennials (or even Gen X to any real degree)?

Oh the millenials working at Starbucks or retail because they couldn't get better? Oh yea government work would have been such a let down from barrista, such a let down. The thing is competition for anything that pays enough to live on is fierce enough but sitting pretty with government work - yea good luck with that fantasy, buy a lottery ticket while your at it! There may be a few things like teaching that aren't as fierce a competition, mostly because they are probably really bad jobs. But otherwise there is a reason they have 200 people in a room at a time taking tests for government work, and only the top % of scorers will ever even have a chance get it. But the private sector pays so much? Please, the private sector mostly pays as little as it can get away with! (and salaries never really recovered from the recession) and the public sector is unionized.

[iris lilies]

+10000. It's like complaining about the price of mansions increasing, it is about as in touch. Who is this stuff supposed to apply to anyway? I think it's possibly it may have been kinda sorta true for some baby boomers. But does anyone really think it's true for millennials (or even Gen X to any real degree)?

Oh the millenials working at Starbucks or retail because they couldn't get better? Oh yea government work would have been such a let down from barrista, such a let down. The thing is competition for anything that pays enough to live on is fierce enough but sitting pretty with government work - yea good luck with that fantasy, buy a lottery ticket while your at it! There may be a few things like teaching that aren't as fierce a competition, mostly because they are probably really bad jobs. But otherwise there is a reason they have 200 people in a room at a time taking tests for government work, and only the top % of scorers will ever even have a chance get it.

Yes. Public sector employees in certain jobs need to get over themselves about how hard they have it, how much of a sacrifice they make, and how service orientated they are.

Notice I do say “in certain jobs.”

[Teacher Terry]

In my line of work if you work in public you help the clients. If you work in private you screw the clients and help the insurance companies keep their $ instead of reasonably paying out what they owe the injured worker to help them retrain for a different line of work due to the injury. I have friends that work in private only because they need the $ for their families but if $ was not a issue would rather work in public. We are in the same line of work. Anyone can apply for a government job. You might have to move for one too which many people don't want to do. Also in my state government is lean and mean. Often when people quit or retire they don't replace them and the workload can be brutal. It was one reason I retired 2 years before 60 because of the huge workload. It is interesting that some people are jealous of people that went to college, work for the government etc. Many of us made sacrifices to obtain this. I had blue collar working parents who could not afford to send us to college but would let us live at home and feed us etc if we wanted to go. I also moved across the country away from my family when I didn't want to so I could work a government job. I couldn't get one in my line of work in WI.

[Simplemind]

I worked for the city and I can tell you that there was no private sector job that was equivalent. It was difficult work for a variety of reasons but I also knew that I had a great gig. I made very good money, I had great benefits and at the end I was making so much time off I had to take a day off a week in a use it or lose it. The last 15 years of my job were very stressful but I knew I could never make the money elsewhere and I wanted to hang on for the golden ticket - pension at 55. I was on the Oral Boards for several different departments and I can tell you that hundreds would apply for one position. It isn't easy to get in but if you get in and pass probation you are pretty much golden unless you do something incredibly stupid.

[ApatheticNoMore]

telling it like it is, if public sector workers didn't act like out of touch multi-millionaires they might be more sympathetic as it they just come across as completely clueless. I have heard friday traffic is less because government workers don't work on friday. It made me want to throw up, how can this even exist? Whoever heard of 4 day weeks? Well I do know city workers around here, do get every other friday off.