How Stupid?

[Deep Knight]

Casper is back with an opinion - no doubt he took a well-earned vacation over Thanksgiving (I understand that hell is nice and warm this time of year). His posting starts with:

CASPER OPINION AND NEWS: DECEMBER 1, 2010

* Obama must think the American people are exceptionally stupid. He is accustomed to dealing with his constituency and thinks that everyone is as stupid as them. I am referring to the 'freezing' of all Government salaries this week. hahaha, hohoho.

First he raises their salaries to absurd levels then 'freezes' them at historically high levels protecting them from the downside being experienced by everyone else. Then he plays the 'ain't I great' card knowing half the people are to stupid to realize what he has done. And he is right. Those making more than $150,000/yr have increased from 7420 to 82,034, those above $180,000/yr from 805 in 2005 to 16,912 today. Transferring the peoples wealth to the Banks, the GSE's and Wall Street requires a 'higher class' better paid Government Thief don't you see.

Today these Federal Bureaucrats say they are 'outraged' their salaries have been frozen. Of course they cared not one whit when Seniors 'COLA' was frozen this year and next. I have an idea, why don't you overpaid 'slurpers at the public trough' just up and quit?

The recent pay raises were 1.4% for 2.1 million federal workers (cost of living increases). These are only "absurd" IMHO in that they are small, but I guess everyone has to tighten their belts. What really happened was that the maximum GS-rating salary has gone from $149k in 2008 to $152k in 2009 (2% raise, based on a bill signed in 2008 before President Obama came in), hence the larger numbers of workers above this level (generals, admirals, cabinet secretaries, asendant masters 38 levels above the president, NWO ninja assassins and such). But even with this, Casper's numbers still are bogus, no doubt he got them from an "I'm outraged" chain e-mail. In fact, the "above $180,000" reference is easy to find online, and its reference is real, but doesn't say anything about this pay level or have numbers anywhere even close to these. In other words, he quoted someone who pulled this statistic out of his/her butt.

Casper must think the small fraction of the American people who read his stuff are exceptionally stupid. He is accustomed to dealing with the Bellringers and thinks that everyone is as stupid as them. I am referring to the 'roasting' of his testicles this week. hahaha, hohoho.

[LaVidaRoja]

Actually, I think you under-estimate Casper's audience. On the issue of Federal pay, most of Fox "news" audience is with him.
As a former Fed, who retired as an attorney, I can tell you stories of attornies who left the Federal service because they were receiving X$/hr for a 40 hour work week, but actually working 60 to 80 hours plus. They realized that for the same hours, they could easily double their income in the private sector.

[Deep Knight]

Actually, I think you under-estimate Casper's audience. On the issue of Federal pay, most of Fox "news" audience is with him.
As a former Fed, who retired as an attorney, I can tell you stories of attornies who left the Federal service because they were receiving X$/hr for a 40 hour work week, but actually working 60 to 80 hours plus. They realized that for the same hours, they could easily double their income in the private sector.

Federal pay is an easy issue to demagogue. In general, the lower-paid employees get a bit more than their private counterparts, but higher-paid ones less. My father is a geophysist and electrical engineer who worked for the NSA, er, Dept. of Commerce in the 60's and 70's for a modest salary. His could have made much more elsewhere, but he was devoted to our country's security. My uncle was the postmaster of a very small town and quite frankly overpaid for what he did (which included an afternoon nap), so I could see how people would get irate about that.

Regardless, the framing of this story line as "ten times as many overpaid employees" is ridiculous. Statistics should be used to reveal reality, not twisty and spin it to make a political point. I don't think too many people would get upset by a 1.4% pay raise, but framing it like Casper did would get most people pretty steamed.

In the same "opinion" piece, Casper also had this confusing and strange item:

* On FOX last night: Hillary may change parties to run against Obama for President. Not NO but HELL NO. You Liberals keep your white trash. Two NWO/SOROS pawns running against each other in front of an audience to ignorant and apathetic to care.

I think I found the source of this confused statement - it was from Good Morning America (ABC News, not Fox) and it wasn't Hillary talking about switching, but Christine O'Donnell, failed senate candidate from Delaware.

In an interview on “Good Morning America,” O’Donnell said, “I hope she runs for president. I would love to see her take out Obama in the primary. You know, I would even be tempted to change my registration so that I could vote for her in the Democratic primary."

Then again, Casper has higher-level voices-in-his-head, er, sources than I do, so he may be onto something here. No doubt most core Republicans would welcome Hillary with arms, er, open arms.

[Green Lantern]

* On FOX last night: Hillary may change parties to run against Obama for President. Not NO but HELL NO. You Liberals keep your white trash. Two NWO/SOROS pawns running against each other in front of an audience to ignorant and apathetic to care.

I think I found the source of this confused statement - it was from Good Morning America (ABC News, not Fox) and it wasn't Hillary talking about switching, but Christine O'Donnell, failed senate candidate from Delaware.

And...Hillary's "birth family" is also establishment Republican and Hillary has been seen at various prayer meetings here and there. She is not white trash, either, but from a powerful, Republican, mainstream family. Nor would I say her policies are particularly "liberal" but rather mainstream. Her miscalculation on healthcare in Bill's first years was based on notions of making American business more competitive, too, not so much giving poor slobs "something for nothing" as the NeoCons like to paint her.