I guess I wasn’t aware of outsourcing = privatizing. My definition of privatization is more of transferring the completely ownership to the private sector (for profit or non-profit). But I guess after looking into the term, it can mean either. So, I concede that if you’re talking about outsourcing, then yes, outsourcing will cost more. But if it’s transferring complete ownership, then that’s debatable.
You’re right, $135k vs $270k is almost exactly what I quoted. Although, that’s on the very high side. The $135k is also on a very high side to start with for just a software engineer, the $270k is very very high side. Also, wasn’t there some people who said government employees are underpaid because they have such wonderful fringe benefits? The $135k doesn’t bare out that claim.