I have to wonder some times...

[Xame]

The normal complaint that most people level at government employees is that they work in a non-competitive job. Thus the salary question will always be there. Most people have some story or some measure that they use to complain about the government doing its job. The three guys standing around the pot hole where only one of them is working, the crazy long lines in the post office or the 12hour wait in line here in Colorado to get a drivers license (the state didn't increase the funding for the office for the last ten plus years). The kicker to most of these complaints is that they are artificially created by the government. In Colorado we must vote on tax increases. Thus if you study the budget carefully you will see that critical services are neglected (held year to year at the same budget level, letting inflation destroy the value) while political spending to special interests in increased. This justifies the need to raise taxes to "fix" things.

In private industry the situation self-corrects with either the company making changes or going out of business. You see this with our private trash haulers trying to find ways to save gas and not jack up the price. As the price of gas moves up, I'm looking to see which one is going to adapt the fastest to give them my business. In another district here in Colorado with government trash, they are not reacting as quickly or maybe not at all. Lots of talk but not crises reaction like their job was on the line. More, lets jack up the taxes and reduce the service.

In the end you just have to suck it up and accept it. Life isn't fair. That my neighbor the cop is making as much as me the engineer with multiple degrees is just a fact of life. The Feds have been paying him overtime to sit on a dam just in case some terrorist wants to destroy it. I could quit my job and do his job. But I enjoy my job and would do it even if it paid less. In the end, that's really all I can expect.

If you really wanted good short term cash, I've heard on CNN that they are paying $120k tax free to drive supply trucks in Iraq if you are a US citizen and can drive a semi-truck. :P (I've heard that people didn't like the job because its a bit too hot there....)