Or, at least, that is how our liberals like to frame the issue – because there is just nothing we can cut (well, defense, but even there nothing which would eat in to a grafting politician’s campaign funds, ok?). Every last item in the budget is vital, and there is no waste in there, at all…from the Orange County Register:
High pay and benefits for lifeguards in Newport Beach is the latest example of frustrating levels of compensation for public employees. More than half the city’s full-time lifeguards are paid a salary of over $100,000 and all but one of them collect more than $100,000 in total compensation including benefits.
When thinking about career options with high salaries, lifeguarding is probably not one of the first jobs to come to mind. But it apparently should. In one of Orange County’s most desirable beach destinations, Newport Beach, lifeguards are compensated all too well; especially compared with the county annual median household income of $71,735…
Yep, lifeguards. And you just know if someone tries to cut the pay or the number of guards, we’ll have horror stories about how the kiddies will all drown. More than likely, that would work – because if you did vote to cut the spending and a kid did drown at the beach this summer, you’d get blamed. But, seriously, 100 grand for a lifeguard? I’ve been at the beach quite a bit over my life – can’t recall ever seeing a lifeguard actually get out of the tower…
I mean can’t we get some college kids willing to do it over the summer for, say, 20 or 25 grand? Its day work. Its at the beach. For crying out loud, they’d lining up for the job. But, we’ve apparently got career lifeguards…and we’re going to have to keep paying them because they can retire at 50 with 90% pay (wasn’t it once upon a time that a pension was half or one third of your pay?).
You liberals can squawk all you want – but as more and more stories like this come out the people are losing interest in your “the kids will die!” argument about the need to spend. I assert that we could reduce spending by 50% all across the board from Federal down to local government and if we just had some proper management, not one iota of government service would be impacted. Liberalism has built up a pile of corrupt, government garbage…and its time we took a shovel to it.
HAT TIP: Mish’s
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