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Letters: Public sector workers, thrift store shopping
Letters in a computer with red mailbox flag
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Kai Ryssdal: It's Wednesday, second half of the broadcast. That means it's your turn.
We got a lot of responses this past week to a commentary from Susan Lee. Taking her lead from the French pension protests, Susan said the U.S. ought to look out, 'cause public-sector employees here "live in a paradise" too, just like the French workers do.
That didn't go over so well with Samuela Evans of Berkeley, Calif.
Samuela Evans: Public employees salaries are lower than their comparative private sector employees by all studies. Retirement benefits are sometimes the only thing that retains competent workers in government positions when they could be earning more money in the private sector.
We heard from some of you about the ongoing foreclosure mess. We've talked about banks not doing the paperwork right, how big a problem it might really be and eventually how to fix it.
Karen Fullerton from Oakland just wants banks to take part of the hit.
Karen Fullerton: When a bank forecloses in this market, the property is sold at a loss. Why not reduce the principal as well as the lending rate? It seems as though the market is just looking to get the foreclosed properties out of the pipeline.
I talked to singer Corin Tucker last week about her new album. One of the songs we played, "Thrift Store Coats," caught Connie Wilson from Mission Viejo, Calif. by surprise.
Connie Wilson: Just as she was sharing her experience about looking into the coat closet at school and seeing all the thrift store coats, I was, at that very moment, pulling into the thrift store parking lot to try and find coats for two of my kids. That's quite a coincidence, don't you think?
And here's the most surprising thing we heard this week: After I mentioned the other day that Sony has stopped producing the Walkman and I wondered aloud whether anyone still uses them, Paul Schoen in Southfield, Mich., wrote to say that he records the program on cassette and then listens back to it on his Walkman.
Paul Schoen: The last time I needed to buy one to replace one that quit working, I bought six of 'em, because I knew they were going to stop making 'em sooner or later.
So, I stand corrected.
You can send us your thoughts and download podcasts of the show, perfect for playing back on cassette.
It depends on the position you're talking about. Many professional-level positions are paid much less in public sector v. private sector (yes, per studies, e.g., http://www.slge.org/index.asp?Type=B_BASIC&SEC={22748FDE-C3B8-4E10-83D0-959386E5C1A4}&DE={BD1EB9E6-79DA-42C7-A47E-5D4FA1280C0B}). But in clerical/non-college-based positions, they may be paid more. In my case, I started at $15K less per year (and 3 hours more/week) for the same professional-level, IT-related job that I had worked at (before completing my Master's degree) at a nonprofit several years before that in the same state. Similarly, my brother-in-law lost almost 50% of his salary when he went from working in a bank to working in IT for a state university. But in both cases, we thought we were making good decisions because we thought that there would be merit-based pay and advancement opportunities (which there were not) and we also thought the importance of health insurance for our families made state employment worthwhile. Though we're both grateful that we're not laidoff (yet) in this economy (& so are our spouses & children), we're both sorry we moved into the public sector where it's a horrible environment and the people you're trying to help seem to hate you no matter what you do because they have the mistaken impression that you're earning more than you should (and of course, you're actually earning less than those same people who are mad at you!) I also have to note that when I worked for the not-for-profit, I used to be reimbursed for professional development such as conferences, seminars, and trainings. Last year I had to spend several thousand dollars from my own pocket just to keep up. Additionally, I have to cover the costs of my own office supplies, because the state won't actually cover even basic expenses, like paper.
