Are Government Employees Getting Paid Too Much

Write On Nevada takes a look at two competing narratives and includes a must-see video from Cato.

It has become obvious to many of us during this recession that Nevadans do not get the government they pay for. At the same time, proponents of big government like to point out that the state also has one of the fewest numbers of government employees per capita.

Were government workers paid less than they are, we could afford to hire more people, improving staffing levels while spending the same or less money overall. That's assuming that the government needs all of the departments and people that it currently has - which it doesn't.

The days of guaranteed raises, guaranteed employment and guaranteed retirement must come to an end. Not because many government employees are not hard-working people doing important jobs, but because it is not sustainable. The public sector can only exist to the extent that the private sector can support it. Government does not create anything so everything it spends it must first take from the private sector. The private sector cannot continue to support an ever-expanding government that consumes a greater and greater portion of what it produces.

I believe that we've already reached the limit of what it can support. It is now time to turn it back around.