Not Really Surprising But What Does It Mean

The Washington Post has published a poll showing that people feel that federal workers are paid too much. Not a terribly surprising result but also not a very meaningful one. I find it pretty difficult to say that all 1.9 million federal workers are receiving inflated salaries. Some might, some very well might not. It's a broad question that I think is probably impossible to answer as a generalization.

The poll also reveals that people feel that private sector workers are better than public sector ones. Again, which private sector employees are better than which public sector ones? Again, no specifics are offered up by this sort of polling.

I think this speaks broadly to our political climate right now. The Democrats are happy to offer up enormous social programs but outside of a farcical and meaningless tax hike on 2% of the population, seem unwilling to offer up specific funding plans. Meanwhile, the Right (I think understandably), wails against the scope and cost of the federal government while failing to provide specific cuts that must be made.

Let's call this the "Post Office Problem": I think the post office is a massive waste of taxpayer money. However, I sure do love it when my mailman brings me my Economist.