Masters or Slaves?

Using data just released from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, Cato’s Chris Edwards has built this chart vividly illustrating the upshot of America’s love affair with big government under Bush and continuing under Obama—average federal compensation is now more than double the average in the private sector:

Meanwhile, the trend of government jobs increasing while those in the private sector shrink is only being accelerated by Obama’s stimulus package creating permanent additional government jobs:

ObamaCare may thus prove unnecessary, as more and more employment shifts into eligibility for the extraordinarily generous Federal Employees Health Benefits Program. As delineated on the plan’s site:

Federal employees, retirees and their survivors enjoy the widest selection of health plans in the country. You can choose from among Consumer-Driven and High Deductible plans that offer catastrophic risk protection with higher deductibles, health savings/reimbursable accounts and lower premiums, or Fee-for-Service (FFS) plans, and their Preferred Provider Organizations (PPO), or Health Maintenance Organizations (HMO)...

The plan also provides transportability among jobs and into retirement.

Due to government restrictions on health insurance markets, we mere taxpayers can only dream of having access to such competitive and cost-differentiated choices.

Remind me again: who’s working for whom?

Mary L. G. Theroux is Chairman and Chief Executive of the Independent Institute.
Beacon Posts by Mary L. G. Theroux | Full Biography and Publications
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