Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.wpost From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: THE FEDERAL DIARY=Letters From the Insulted=By Mike Causey=Washington Post Date: Mon, 26 Oct 92 04:30:31 EST Message-ID: <48.1992Oct26.043031@AmeriCast.com> THE FEDERAL DIARY=Letters From the Insulted=By Mike Causey=Washington Post Staff Writer= Some federal workers are still steaming over comments here from a Hampton, Va., man who thinks they should take a 5 percent pay cut - rather than get a 3.7 percent raise - next January. Most of the responses zeroed in on his allegations that "federal employees produce nothing." Several wondered if the Virginia man would like to fly uncontrolled skies, monitor his own drinking water or write his own Social Security check. Some reactions:"Part of me says I shouldn't dignify H.P. Wilson's letter with a response . . . but his uninformed, shortsighted opinions contain the same kind of prejudice that was reserved for racial minorities 30 years ago. If his lamebrained comments and the ranting of conser- vative talk show hosts are any indication, much bigotry has been channeled into the ignorant bashing of entire occupation groups . . . . Prejudice is still prejudice, whether it targets skin color or the way a person earns a paycheck. To call all federal employees incompetent and claim they produce 'nothing of benefit' is absurd. Do Park Police, meat inspectors, air traffic con- trollers and military personnel produce nothing of benefit? "I earn a salary that is above the federal white-collar median, but I drive the cheapest car I could find (a Hyundai nearing 100,000 miles) and pay over $700 a month toward a mortgage on the cheapest town house I could find . . . close to Washington. I am in debt for furniture, car repairs, eat Spam for dinner more often than I eat out . . budget. "I am willing to forgo the 1993 pay raise as my patriotic duty if it comes to that, but I'll split a can of Spam with Mr. Wilson if he can show me how to manage with a 5 percent pay cut. "As for incompetence and indifference (in the civil service), I encounter larger doses in my dealings with banks, auto repair shops and department stores than I do among federal employees. A pay cut would penalize intelligent, devoted and skilled workers as well as those guilty of mismanagement. A pay cut for all federal scapegoats would be grossly unfair. A 5 percent tax in- crease, affecting the public and private sectors, including knuckleheads like Mr. Wilson, would be fairer."Glen Burnie> "The letter advocating pay cuts for federal employees really made me see red. He seems to be unaware that federal employees had no part in the largess of the 1980s, that they received pay freezes and small raises. Since the days of President Jimmy Carter, the government has tried, in vain, to balance the budget on the backs of its employees. "Ask the pay-cut advocate who guides airplanes safely, who en- sures the quality of meat, collects the taxes and gets out those Social Security checks . . . . If federal workers walked off the job for half a day there would be utter chaos. I'll bet he would be the first to gripe about the disruption in his life."Arlington>02:40 10-26C9999----- Copyright 1992, The Washington Post. This story is from the Washington Post's Capitol Edition On-Line and is not to be ar- chived or redistributed. For more information, send-email to American Cybercasting Cor- poration (usa@AmeriCast.COM)