Deficit: ‘Why No Outrage?’
It’s not paranoia. I am being persecuted. Just retired from the federal civil service, I hoped that I would no longer suffer the annual bashing over cost-of-living salary adjustments. Every President every year since 1970 has volunteered the federal civilian work force as front-line fighters against inflation and budget deficits. The notable exception was President Carter in 1980 who--at a time when federal salaries lagged 25% behind the private sector--allowed a pay raise of 10% in a last-ditch effort to buy our votes.
The vaunted federal pension is based on the employee’s salary. It follows that when salaries are meager, pensions will also be meager. My pension after 28 1/2 years of service is less than a subsistence income. Lo, President Reagan’s proposed budget denies retirees any increase in 1989. It should be noted that Social Security--a program closed to this generation of federal employees--is not to be frozen.
President-elect Bush has pledged himself to kindness and gentleness, neither of which will benefit me now. What I hope is that he is committed to fairness, which quality is desperately needed in the treatment of federal employees, both active and retired.
ROBERT D. FIELD
Long Beach
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