[quote=EconProf]
Another observation is that decades ago, government workers at all levels did indeed make less than their private sector bretheren (and got generous non-monetary compensation as an offset), and in recent decades leap-frogged ahead in pay as well thanks to public sector unions. I predict a re-balancing in future years as voters demand a reset.[/quote]

In the not too distant future, the unions are going to discover there are two big bodies of voters.

1) Entitlement recipients who start to notice that public employees are sucking from the same (too small) pot of money.

2) Productive workers who view government workers as parasites and want fewer of them.

I think government job security is way overrated.

I predict a new bankruptcy chapter allowing state and municipal governments to “reorganize” away most of their pension problems within a decade.