"Government wages in California most certainly did not go up 40% in the last couple of years."
I thought this was an interesting statistic. It doesn't seem possible that the any salaries would rise in the last couple of years. I couldn't find anything to support it. I did find the following from May, 2008: In Gov. Arnold Schwarzeneggers first four years, the total bill for state workers salaries jumped by 37 percent, compared with a 5 percent increase in the preceding four years under then-Gov. Gray Davis, a Chronicle analysis of state payroll records shows. One month before Schwarzenegger took office in November 2003, just eight state employees earned more than $200,000 a year working in the core state government, which excludes universities and the Legislature. In April of this year, there were nearly a thousand, according to records. And the number of state employees making six-figure salaries has more than doubled since 2003, to nearly 15,000. Meanwhile, the number of state workers has grown by 26,000 under Schwarzenegger after being cut by Davis, who was recalled from office in the midst of a severe budget crisis. Some of the pay increases in recent years have been out of Schwarzenegger's control, including previously negotiated pay raises for some employee unions and court-ordered pay hikes for medical workers in the state prison system that are estimated to have cost the state hundreds of millions of dollars. More can be read here<http://www.caltrade.com/news/uncategorized/state-public-employee-salaries-soaring-under-schwarzenegger/> . So Maureen, it looks like you were right. Salaries have not grown 40% in the last couple of years. It was the four years prior to the last couple of years. It shows that Arnold was anything but conservative. It looks like Davis was more fiscally conservative than Arnold. Now, was this line true or is it a lie: "Now CA government employees can retire at 50 with 90% pay for the rest of there lives." If it is true, then it should be changed to say "CA government employees were supposed to be able to retire at 50 with 90% pay for the rest of there lives, but a looming bankruptcy threatens to destroy the pension." Will there be riots in the street (like Greece) when the state has no more options but to cut pensions? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Order the Adobe Coldfusion Anthology now! http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Coldfusion-Anthology-Michael-Dinowitz/dp/1430272155/?tag=houseoffusion Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:320416 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/unsubscribe.cfm
