Baltimore pension dispute illuminates public/private divide

The Baltimore Sun reports:

The gap between the public sector and private business in wages and benefits continues to grow. Last month, USA Today reported federal figures showing that public employees earned benefits worth $13.38 per hour in December 2008, compared to $7.98 for private sector workers.

A full-time government worker receives benefits worth an average of $28,830 per year. A private worker's benefits are worth an average of $16,598. Yet in this time of recession/depression, the shrinking private sector foots the bill for massive bailouts of public employees. In the nongovernment world, jobs are being lost by the hundreds of thousands each month. Government workers are secure in theirs. As the ordinary American becomes more aware of the disparity and unfairness of the current system, anger builds.

There was a time when people took government jobs for the security they offered. The bargain was that they would sacrifice pay for that security. Over time, the bargain tilted totally in favor of the government workers as they got both job security and higher pay than their counterparts outside government. Can this system be sustained? I think not, but we shall see.