Federal government largesse towards its workers, viz-a-viz benefits and wages ... time to cut back.

However, in this part of the country ... it's the municipal, county and state that make their (federal employees) packages look like slave wages.

The average wage-benefit package, for a public school teacher in this county, is well into six figures (lower six figures, albeit ... but six figures none-the-less). Their pensions are well over double, whether gauged on average or mean, of the average full time worker.

Firefighters ... two days on ... Two times twenty-four ... Forty-eight hours .. SO, eight hours of overtime pay EVERY week. Eat, sleep and be merry ... get paid for all of the hours. Some municipalities have full pension ... 100% of their salary ... after twenty years.

Police officers? In some of the municipalities, Twenty-five years ... Quarter Million Dollars "walk-away, PLUS 80% of salary, monthly ... not bad pay for a quarter century of eatin' doughnuts.

Some of the municipalities, where I own properties ... Property tax of over FIVE PERCENT of assessed market valuation ... so, a two hundred thousand dollar house racks you around eleven large, per annum. And, when you own more than a few ... it get's tiring. Interesting point on the property taxes ... in one city ... where I own multiples ... a decade ago, the rate was 2.16% ... today .. it's 5.03% and that's not the highest in the area.

Levy after levy after levy ... it's always "FOR THE CHILDREN". School ratings keep dropping. Teacher salaries, especially their benefits, keep rising ... School budgets keep increasing ... BUT .. as earlier referenced .... the ratings keep dropping. Lovely how that works, isn't it?

Don't get me started on the municipal and county "Earnings Taxes" .. which can be close to 3%.

Lovely little corner of the world.