1. Speak Up Memo
The Voice of Young Conservatives
THE WEEK OF APRIL 26, 2010
The Outrage
Used and forgotten. In 2008, young people gave Democrats their vote and in 2009
Democrats showed young people the door. Well it’s time to tell the Democrats to
stop and listen up. From health care to student loan reform, Democratic policies
have consistently ignored the needs of our generation. If we want change, 2010
must be different.
What You Can Do About It
Speak up! As a conservative we must begin to win hearts and minds before we can
win elections. The process starts by educating people about what we truly believe. It
starts with you in the classroom.
We’ll arm you with the facts you need to win the argument. It’s your job to carry the
message on to your campus. It’s your job to speak up! By engaging ourselves in the
debate, we’ll spread the message of conservatism – the message of small
government, Xiscal responsibility, and individual rights – to one campus, one
classroom, and one student at a time.
Over the next Xive weeks the CRNC will be looking into the growing entitlements that
left unreformed will doom this country’s Xiscal future. We must realize that
government is not the solution to the problem…it IS the problem.
This Week’s Theme: The Public Sector Problem
The Promise: President Obama has said, “[w]e are spending money on things we
don’t need and we are paying more than we need to pay.” To Xix the problem he said,
“I can promise you that this is just the beginning of a new way of
doing business here in Washington, because the American people
have every right to expect and to demand a government that is more
efXicient, more accountable, and more responsible in keeping the
public’s trust.”
A weekly publication by the College Republican National Committee. Copyright 2010.

2. The Reality: The public sector continues to grow in numbers and government
employees continue to earn more than their private sector counterparts. The
government fails to understand that an over‐stressed private sector cannot continue
to subsidize a bloated bureaucracy.
Fact 1: Public Sector Far Out­Earning the Private Sector
According to the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis the average
wage disparity between federal and private sector workers was approximately
$60,000. When we take state and local public employees into account a similar trend
emerges. Data compiled by the Cato Institute Xinds that,
“The average compensation in the private sector was $59,909 in 2008,
including $50,028 in wages and $9,881 in beneXits. Average
compensation in the public sector was $67,812, including $52,051 in
wages and $15,761 in beneXits.”
A job‐by‐job comparison also reveals the startling pay difference between the public
and private sector. In fact, in 83% of comparable occupations, federal salaries exceed
private sector pay. Consider a sampling of data provided by the Bureau of Labor
Statistics and compiled by the USA Today:
JOB FEDERAL PRIVATE DIFFERENCE
Broadcast Technician $90,310 $49,265 $41,045
Civil Engineer $85,970 $76,184 $8,876
Computer Specialist $45,830 $54,875 -$9,045
Dental Assistant $36,170 $32,069 $4,101
Financial Analyst $87,400 $81,232 $6,168
Landscape Architects $80,830 $58,380 $22,450
Machinist $51,530 $44,315 $7,215
Paralegal $60,340 $48,890 $11,450
Public Relations Mngr $132,410 $88,241 $44,169
Secretary $44,500 $33,829 $10,671
Surveyro $78,710 $67,336 $11,374
A weekly publication by the College Republican National Committee. Copyright 2010.

3. Fact 2: Public Sector Pensions are Bankrupting Many Governments
A recent survey by CareerBuilder found that “[m]ore than seven‐in‐ten (72%) of
workers over the age of 60 who said they were putting off their retirement are doing
so because they can’t afford to retire.” But while the private sector struggles, many
public servants are spending their golden years very comfortably. Consider:
• Four‐in‐Xive workers have lifetime pensions, compared with only one‐in‐Xive
in the private sector
• On average the public sector receives $13.65 worth of beneXits per each hour
they work compared to $8.02 dollars for private sector workers
• Public sector workers can generally retire earlier ‐ usually age 55 ‐ and still
qualify for up to 90% of their income in pension
• The average public pension plan is 35% underfunded
The public pension problem creates a huge economic burden on government. For
instance, some towns in California such as Vallejo and Desert Hot Springs, have been
forced to Xile bankruptcy due to the inability to pay the cost of employee pensions.
The cost of California pensions, have grown from $150 million per year to over $3
billion per year in just the last decade ‐ a 2,000% increase.
This is not a California speciXic problem. Orin Kramer, chairman of New Jersey’s
INvestment Council, who has studied the problem, Xinds that the total unfunded
liability of the nation’s public pension could be as large as $2 trillion. Some would
say even this huge Xigure underestimates the problem. Joshua Raugh, professor of
Xinance at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University says that
“our calculation is that it’s more like $3 trillion underfunded.
Fact 3: Young Adults Will Be on the Hook for the Governments Excesses
Governments are refusing to face up to the economic realities of a huge bureaucracy.
Given the data it appears that the federal government is paying well‐above that
which is necessary to compete with the private sector for skilled labor. Moreover,
despite the economic downturn which has caused a massive decrease in tax
revenue, the government keeps on hiring and spending. As Michael Barone recently
wrote for the Washington Examiner,
“While the private sector has lost 7 million jobs, the number of public‐
sector jobs has risen. The number of federal government jobs has been
increasing by 10,000 a month, and the percentage of federal
employees earning over $100,000 has jumped to 19 percent during
the recession.”
A weekly publication by the College Republican National Committee. Copyright 2010.

4. High wages for an increasing number of workers is not the only thing taxpayers are
on the hook for. The $3 trillion in unfunded public sector pension could also fall into
taxpayers laps as well. Public pensions are the legal obligation of the state ‐ meaning
that current obligations must be paid in full. Many courts have already ruled that
states are not allowed to reduce promised beneXits or require an increase in
contributions from workers to help fund pension plans.
Young adults, who are having trouble Xinding a job themselves, will be footing the bill
for all this. The federal government’s only revenue source is taxes. The more public
servants it hires, the more strain that is placed on private sector workers who are
depended on to prop up the government. The huge deXicits we are running up
because of the ever‐growing bureaucracy will eventually be passed on to young
adults in the form of higher taxes and fewer beneXits. In addition, unless the huge
pension problem is dealt with quickly, the next generation of taxpayers (us) will be
forced to make hard choices to pay off $3 trillion in liabilities. Simply put, we can’t
afford this.
Bottom Line: Young adults must make it known that they will not stand for the
excesses of the federal government. We must begin to elect Xiscal conservatives who
are committed to reducing the size of the public workforce. We must demand that
our government pay public servants a wage that is competitive with the private
sector. Young adults must also begin to pressure legislators to make the pension
crisis an issue in the upcoming elections ‐ pushing for retirement ages and pension
levels that are comparable with the private sector. Government must stop thinking
about what beneMits them in the short term and begin worrying about what
hurts us in the long term.
A weekly publication by the College Republican National Committee. Copyright 2010.