Part-Time Government Employees Earn $160,000 a Year

[Hannah Bell]

The Washington Post reports that Fannie Mae announced its new 10-person board of directors today. The article reports the members will get $160,000 each, with the chairperson getting $250,000. Heading a committee can get you an additional $25,000.

The remarkable part of this story is that the Washington Post reporter could not find a single person who thought that paying part-time workers $160,000 a year was a bad idea. There is absolutely no one cited in this piece who raised a question about the compensation levels for the board.

Keep in mind that this is a newspaper that is absolutely apoplectic over autoworkers getting $27 an hour. If we assume that the board members on average will devote 500 hours a year to their board duties, this puts their pay rate at $320 an hour.

--Dean Baker


http://www.prospect.org/csnc/blogs/beat_the_press_archive?month=12&year=2008&base_name=parttime_government_employees#comments

[Froward69]

1. It's all about

siphoning off as much cash as possible in the shortest time possible. Granted we all would like that sort of Gig. But in some positions it is just flat out wrong. Wa-Po misses the point time and again. I believe a total disconnect between the amount of management compensation and Labor compensation. As management feels it is entitled. Because it is their "Dirty Job" to slash Labor Pay.

Just my thought.

[NutmegYankee]

2. No Civil Service paygrade goes that high. n/t

[Hannah Bell]

3. It's not in the civil service.

[LiberalHeart]

4. It's not even part time. It's a few meetings a year, isn't it?

[Greyhound]

5. "There’s class warfare, all right, but it’s my class, the rich class,

that’s making war, and we’re winning" - Warren Buffet
:kick: & R

[bertman]

6. That's not PAY. It's PAYBACK.

[tbyg52]

7. It's us v. them.

And, yes, I mean the people with money, investments, and connections v. the people who work for a living.