GREEK CIVIL SERVANTS, NEITHER CIVIL NOR SERVANTS / CASEY´S DAILY DISPATCH ( HIGHLY RECOMMENDED READING )

Greek Civil Servants, Neither Civil nor Servants

By Vedran Vuk

With a multi-day protest of Greek government employees starting tomorrow (March 11), things are getting ugly in Athens. In some instances, the protests have already erupted into violence –certainly taking the “civil” out of “civil servant.” And given they’ll soon be on strike, I guess they won’t be serving anyone either.

Maybe Greece’s public employees should be referred to as uncivil masters, rather than civil servants? That’s because voting union members comprise a remarkable 28 percent of the Greek workforce in both the public and private sector – giving them sizeable power. Only a small portion of the populace – maybe only immediate family members – need to be convinced that the union workers are justified in their protests for a majority to hold sway over the political process. To make matters worse, GSEE, the private-sector union, and ADEDY, the public-sector union, are politically unified against the latest round of austerity measures.

These new austerity measures promise a 12 percent decrease in public-employee entitlements, a 7 percent entitlement cut in state-owned companies, and reductions in government employee bonuses.

Shrinking the deficit even more are increases in the sales, sin, and gas taxes – accompanied by lower spending on public works. The plan would take the current year’s budget deficit from 12.7 percent of the GDP to 8.7 percent.

Currently, 47.9 percent of Greeks resent the measures, while 46.6 percent support them. Subtract the union members from the total, and the population overwhelmingly backs the government cutbacks.

However, most Greek citizens are apparently confused about the impact of the crisis, or what the government’s efforts to dig out of it will mean to them personally. For example, 74 percent of Greeks are against the gas tax because these taxes will increase gas prices. But what will happen if Greece defaults on its debt? The euro will surely drop. And a weaker euro means… higher gas prices for Greece.

The same logic applies to the entitlement and bonus cuts. By protesting and scaring world markets, public employees are creating a self-fulfilling prophecy. With higher interest rates on government bonds, it’s harder for Greece to borrow and pay government employees. Further, the euro drop from $1.52 to $1.36 since December, a 10.5 percent decrease, doesn’t help state workers either.

Which is better, your entitlements dropping by 12 percent or your entitlements dropping by 12 percent and the local currency falling 10.5 percent at the same time? The more the public employees protest, the worse things get for them.

While the government’s quick reaction is laudable, Greece’s real problem are long term in nature. Remember that President Papoulias and Prime Minister George Papandreou aren’t exactly Margaret Thatchers. They’re confirmed socialists. With Papoulias and Papandreou at the helm and a populace hell bent on stupidity, don’t count on the country staying on track. Promises are just that… promises.

Before one starts gleaming with schadenfreude and celebrating the renewed faith in the dollar, though, realize that a similar day is coming for the U.S. And when it gets here, it’ll be even worse.

Despite the protests, more cuts are taking place in Greece than I could ever imagine in America for government employees. In the U.S., government jobs still carry a peculiar prestige, and a large part of the population respect those in government service as making selfless sacrifices for the common good.

Examine the details of U.S. government payrolls, and a different reality quickly emerges. USA TODAY recently did an analysis of our own “civil servants.” The average federal government employee with a comparable position to one in the private sector earns $67,691, while the private worker earns $60,046. Further, federal government employees receive $40,785 per year in benefits compared to $9,882 for private-sector employees.

Combined, this is $108,476 compared to $69,928. Even state and local government employees exceed private wages once the benefits are added.

The USA TODAY story in itself reveals the problem even more so than the numbers. This shouldn’t be news. This should be a generally known fact. Unfortunately, the opulence of government salaries isn’t commonly known. Many are still enthralled by the sacrilegious cult of government, viewing its employees as underpaid and overworked.

Don’t even dare suggesting to the average American that teachers, police officers, the military, or firefighters are overpaid or have excessive budgets. You’d be better off attacking Jesus Christ than these enshrined professions. Further, good luck criticizing the Department of Agriculture, Education, or the FDA.

One day, a strained budget will collide with naïve ideas about government, and I guarantee that things will be ten times worse here than in Greece when it happens. The average Greek citizen has seen unrest in his life, the average American will hardly be prepared.

Our political environment is really starting to get fierce, but this is just the infancy of what is to come. We’re still in the drunken-sailor spending phase. When it’s time to sober up, things are going to get very, very nasty.