Wrong caption on fire story

To Angry at unfairness. If you think these 2 professions have it made, why don't you get a job working for either one of them then?

Well, Hose Clamp, you brought the subject up...... you just had to do it..... bad move!

Cops spend most of their working hours looking for badge bunnies inbetween answering calls. It's a much easier job than being a fireman or teacher.

And in the For What It's Worth departmen, none of the 3 professions are in the Top 10 of most dangerous jobs.

Hey all, I think Angry was being sarcastic, after the stupid and dishonest big move by the Governor of Wisconsin. Just like the dweeb that got elected in Virginia. Let's blame the state employees for the massive tax breaks handed out. Yeah.

I'm forever amazed by the magical ability of Koch-owned Republicans like the Governor of Wisconsin (and our own "dweeb") to convince voters to cast their ballots against their own interests. In a few more years the glorious middle-class of America will have disappeared completely, leaving our country asymmetrically divided between obscenely rich and the penniless poor.

I think Angry left of the snark tags...or is a troll...or heck, both.

Wow-- if the comments are any indication there is a serious sarcasm gap effecting the residents of the Charlottesville area. This lack of ability to process sarcasm could lead to more serious issues such as complete absence of a sense of humor. As a Doktor in the Forbidden Sciences and a licensed Minister in the SubGenius Foundation I suggest that those who are unable to detect sarcasm or are already lacking in a sense of humor immediately research the SubGenius Foundation and seek assistance.

Department heads, cops and firemen have been grossly overpaid for the last 15 to 20 years, based upon the actual amount of work they actually do. I couldn't believe what I was looking at when Virginia state salaries were published a few months ago in the media and I looked up a lot of state troopers I know. Some of the first sergeants and lieutenants are making $80,000 to $100,000 annually. This is absurd.

Gasbag, you'll never be a real cop, so don't worry about what cops are making. You are just envious cause you ain't one!!

Most of the girls I know are giving up on the cops. They are dumb and mean. and married. Firemen are cool. I hear teachers are awesome. dunno

@GSOE - I had a similar reaction just looking at those - I'm also a state employee - doing a job that requires a high level of skills and a high level of education. On the other hand, I don't face the same types of risks that a state trooper does and I will be able to work for many more years (not sure how to evaluate that). I honestly have no idea if our salaries really are too high or not.

I think the real question with any of these jobs - teachers, professionals, cops and firemen - is: can you get quality people for the money you're willing to pay? How competitive are our salaries for these various fields? And you have to make that comparison based on a few things - local cost of living, working conditions, etc. We already have real difficulties hiring math and science public school teachers - or at least, hiring people with a background in math or science - to teach those subjects at the salaries we currently pay. Yes, the private schools are able to find those people - often for less money - but it's not an apples-to-apples comparison - the working conditions are not the same.

I know there was a move to evaluate salaries in my field against studies/databases of similar folks in the "private sector" (often gov't contractors). My employer was all hot and bothered to dangle promises of potential 'merit' pay increases - for some employees - in exchange for the certain loss of some benefits for all employees who opted into the plan. This exercise was supposed to help amass data in support of their case. Of course, what they immediately uncovered was how egregiously bad salaries were - such that even if you accept the right-wing trope that public employee benefits are gilded, the overall compensation package was less than the private sector.

I suspect that you'd find this to be the case with a great deal of Virginia State employees (I'm not sure there is a true private sector labor market for public safety workers, Libertarian fantasies of fee-for-service private governments aside - can you imagine what it would be like if the only government we had is like your HOA?). I suspect this is true for many more states than just Virginia and candidly I think it's the objective of the 'reformers' - drive compensation into the ground and let adverse selection work it's magic on (drive out the best) public employees (and "government").

I think you have to ask the question: can we contract out these services and if we do contract them, can you get the same level/quality of service at the same or lower price? The state's recent boondoggle with VITA (our pro-business IT-guru Governor Warner's baby) and the big non-delivery and cost-overrun scandal with Northrup-Grumman are one good piece of evidence in answering that question. The other very instructive piece were the multiple evaluations of the ABC system - when everyone across the political spectrum came to realize that it's cheaper for state employees to sell the alcohol in state run stores - and the retail sector is about as not-inherently-governmental an area as you could possibly get into. In other words, the privatizing trope is...just a trope.

I can't wait to see the "Corrections Special Issue", should be a doozie.