Trump right to spike deficit-raising pay hikes for feds
Columnist Jay Bookman isn’t really talking about all American workers or the rich in his column on worker pay, “American workers getting jobbed while rich get richer” (Opinion, Sept. 5). He is talking about federal employees and Trump’s refusal to give them a 2.1 percent wage increase. Here is why: According to the Congressional Budget Office, “Among workers whose education culminated in a bachelor’s degree, total compensation averaged 21 percent more for federal workers than for similar workers in the private sector. … Among workers with a high school diploma or less education, total compensation costs averaged 53 percent more for federal employees than for their private-sector counterparts.” Federal employees are already paid substantially more than employees in the private sector. Continued cost-of-living increases worsen our deficit spending.
BRANDT ROSS, ATLANTA
GOP racism, hypocrisy evident for all to see
Republicans take the gold medal for being racist hypocrites. They decry injustice about Mollie Tibbets, which is a tragedy that allegedly involved an illegal immigrant, yet say nothing and do nothing about the “legal” school shooters who have slaughtered dozens (probably hundreds by now) of innocent children. Republicans gladly give a free pass to any American who murders children because they are “legal” and in their minds that is OK. I can recall only a few illegal immigrants who killed an American in the last few years. Yet instantly, the Republicans go on a rampage against immigration. Gutless Republicans refuse to do anything to regulate gun ownership. Why should they? They get millions of dollars from the NRA every year, and that is obviously more important than kids getting murdered by run-amok gun owners. In one word – pathetic!
SUSAN MATEJA, DALLAS
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