Mitt Romney: Federal Workers Are Making More Money Than I Am (VIDEO)

Mitt Romney isn't getting his facts straight.

Speaking to workers at a steel fabrication plant on Monday, Romney, clad in his class-crossing plaid and jean uniform, proceeded to bash pay for government employees, proclaiming that they "are making a lot more money than we are." As Crooks and Liars points out and you can see for yourself in the video below, Romney proceeds to say that he would slash the scale of the federal government and cut the number of federal employees if he became president, a proposal that he's laid out in his broader fiscal plan.

For a man worth over $250 million, that's a bold association to make.

"The taxpayers shouldn't have to have money taken out of their pay checks to pay people in government who are our servants who are making a lot more money than we are," Romney continues.

It's not clear exactly where the former Massachusetts governor is getting his numbers from. The Bureau of Labor Statistics released a report just last week that showed on average that federal employees make about 26.3 percent less than private sector employees.

WATCH via Crooks and Liars:

Comments

[AxelDC]

03:13 PM on 11/12/2011

Romney's story is one that should be bought by Hollywood: the son of the CEO of American Motor Works and Governor of Michigan took a few million dollar inheritance and turned it into a few more million dollars and one term as Governor of Massachusetts. It must be so tough to come from wealth and power and aspire to even more wealth and power. Especially inspiring are Romney's Vietnam War years spent in Paris peddling Mormonism.

[AxelDC]

03:01 PM on 11/12/2011

Romney makes more money from a passbook savings account than 50 working American families in the US.  With $250 million in the bank, a 0.9% savings account from ING would net $2,250,000.  For him to say that a Federal employee makes more than him is one of the greatest exaggerations I've ever heard.  Romney makes enough money to hire 50 Federal employees, and that's just from savings account interest.

As for his assertion that Federal workers should make less than any private sector worker, does he mean they should make $8/hour?  Should a VA doctor make less than the guy who makes his sandwiches? In that case, how does Romney propose to get VA doctors to staff hospitals.  If he means that comparable salaries for comparable work, why should Veterans see the cheapest oncologists the government can find?

Romney, a multimillionaire, doesn't seem to understand the basic principle of "you get what you pay for".  Federal employees are paid 26% less than their private counterparts, when accounting for education, experience and local cost of living.  To reduce Federal pay further means the government will be unable to fill critical positions as Baby Boomers retire, but maybe Romney just wants to prove how ineffective government can be by forcing it to hire bottom of the barrel employees.

[cbsguards]

10:49 AM on 11/12/2011

The usual GOP attack on the middle class, we all make too much money thats why the country has a problem. Romney neveer said his Wall Street cronies make too much and appears 99% of the country thinks so. Watch this GOP field continue to plame everyone but themselfs and their rich contributors for the problems. The truth is everyone may ned to sacarfise some includoing goverment employees but until the the GOP agrees that 100% of the country should be doing everything they can why should the real wrokers be the only ones. The airpirts securtty road maintance education the li9st is so long of what we NEED our Goverment to regulate only makes this attack more disturbing They believe the world will be perfect with noone working for the Goverment like all these needs will mysteriusly been completed

[Haditup2here]

08:39 PM on 11/11/2011

It's funny that he hasn't learned any lessons from what had occurred in Ohio. After all, federal workers are voters and tax payers too and don't get even 10% of the benefits that those who work in Congress (although they are federal workers too). I got a good mind to forward this video to AFGE if they haven't already come across it. Well, Romney, AFGE has union members nationwide and I hope your campaign scrambles to get many boots on the ground. Any federal employee who votes for Mitt needs to get his/her head examined, but I already know of some who will.

[ApplePie1002]

06:10 PM on 11/09/2011

What an idiot! My husband has been a government employee all his life and is now aged 55. His annual salary is less than mine, and I make $85,000/year. (His benefits are not exactly spectacular, either.) Our combined income is less than Mitt Romney's. Who is he trying to fool? Unless he's talking about Congressional (and other political office) salaries, he's sorely out of touch with reality and clearly hasn't done his homework. I had thought of him as the one Republican candidate who might make sense, but he just lost my vote.

[ZeraLee]

05:53 PM on 11/09/2011

Says one of the unemployed job creators.

I'm sure he makes a lot more on capital gains than most any government worker. Not so sure if he pays more in taxes.

[SirReal1]

06:39 AM on 11/10/2011

The tax rate on Capital Gains is 15%.

[AxelDC]

03:04 PM on 11/12/2011

I pay an effective tax rate of 18%, not counting payroll taxes that Romney is largely exempted from.

The question is: why should I pay a higher tax rate than a multimillionaire who inherited millions from his CEO father?

[tpsdodger]

05:03 PM on 11/09/2011

"It's not clear exactly where the former Massachusetts governor is getting his numbers from. The Bureau of Labor Statistics released a report just last week that showed on average that federal employees make about 26.3 percent less than private sector employees."
Check this out........
Quoted from the website itself......
"The originally published estimates for the employment cost index data for june 2009 through Sept. 2010 were found to contain errors and have been corrected. THE PRIMARY ERRORS WERE IN WAGE AND SALARY DATA FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOV. PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION. Additional series were subject to correction as well.
oops........

[AxelDC]

03:06 PM on 11/12/2011

When you compare public and private, government pays more.  However, government hardly hires anyone without a college degree and professional skills.  The government also doesn't hire at the same rate as private sector, so has a much older and more experienced workforce.  This also means that the government is in danger of losing critical skills to Baby Boomer retirement in the next few years, so cutting pay and benefits means that filling these positions will be more difficult and hinder key programs.

[tpsdodger]

04:34 PM on 11/12/2011

I do not believe that the gov. should be competing with private business for the best talent. Right now, the gov. is OVER paying their employees for the skills that the jobs actually require, but people have come to realize that working for the gov. can give you a lot more job security. I mean, when was the last time it was bought out or taken over by a rival?

[bingogeorge4]

02:55 PM on 11/09/2011

Most government jobs are "Sinecure" jobs.
Very little work with High Pay.

[FrankInCarson]

07:51 PM on 11/09/2011

I am sure the federal worker who inspects the plane you will be riding on will appreciate your point of view. (Or the federal worker who keeps Koch brothers from pouring benzene into your drinking water. Or the ..... See how it works, sparky?)

[SirReal1]

07:23 AM on 11/10/2011

Which jobs would those be, exactly?

That is a fairly serious accusation to make, surely you have a mountain of evidence to support it. Please, by all means, share it.

[AxelDC]

03:08 PM on 11/12/2011

Teabaggers don't need evidence; they have assertions!

[valuelines]

02:55 PM on 11/09/2011

Mr Flip-Flop dresses up in what he imagines is 'middle America' garb, but he can't hide the fact that all the 'flipidy-floppidity' is catching up with him. However, he's STILL the best of a lousy choice that the Tea Bags selected to run. Mr Cain is pretty much toast about now, and he's pointing in all directions to pin blame on someone or something that has messed up his trip to the White House. If its proven to be false, then he really got a lousy break, and politics shouldn't be that nasty. I don't know what to think. I like the guy, but if he sold Pizza and was very successful at it, then he's one hell of a sales person. That is one tough business to be in.

[mallen1971]

02:40 PM on 11/09/2011

Another false headline. Romney did not say federal workers "make more than I do". He used "we" to encompass those he was addressing. I guess he could have said they "make more than you do", but like all politicians he was trying to convey that he was one of them. Just like Obama does when he speaks to different groups, many of which he is not a part.

[ApplePie1002]

06:23 PM on 11/09/2011

Mallen1971, my husband has been a government employee for 37 years and he makes a little over $80,000 a year. The steel fabrication workers probably have a union that negotiates better wages than that for employees who have far less than 37 years on the job.

[SirReal1]

07:51 AM on 11/10/2011

"Just like Obama does when he speaks to different groups, many of which he is not a part."

Examples?

Or is this just another Republican "false equivalency"?

You do seem to have a propensity for making them.

[mallen1971]

09:09 AM on 11/10/2011

Examples? Why don't you just get on the internet and watch his various speeches to different groups. When addressing labor unions, he's got his jacket off, his sleeves rolled up and he's just one of them. When addressing his $36,000 a plate corporate buddies, he's all Mr. Business. When talking to a largely Black audience, he sounds like a Southern Baptist preacher. If you don't see that, then you are blind or continue to refuse to see the truth.

[lowrodiay65]

02:33 PM on 11/09/2011

Nothing new here, the wealthy always blame the middle class for wanting a living wage. The nerve!

[cshae89546]

02:18 PM on 11/09/2011

Romney: "The taxpayers shouldn't have to have money taken out of their pay checks to pay people in government who are our servants who are making a lot more money than we are." So Dean Praetorius/HuffPo, does this mean that Mirrian-Webster is wrong in their definition of what a PUBLIC SERVANT ( PUBLIC SERVANT: a government official or employee.) is and if an individual works for the tax paying citizens of you state and nation and are not in PUBLIC SERVANTS, then what exactly are they?

[SirReal1]

07:53 AM on 11/10/2011

Congratulations!

That was almost literate. Puts you well ahead of the majority of your "right wing" peers.

[AxelDC]

03:09 PM on 11/12/2011

By this logic, my doctor should make less than I do because he serves me.

[flyingfortresb17]

02:14 PM on 11/09/2011

Government workers ARE the servants of the people and the government. The should not have a union so strong the worker can't be fired for not doing their work. Where is the idea the customer (the tax payer) is to be treated with disdain by some one hired to assist them. We complain to their supervisor and nothing happens except we the people get messed with.

[valuelines]

03:03 PM on 11/09/2011

Doesn't sound right. The word 'servant' implies 'servility' much like a 'server' in a restaurant. I haven't looked it up, but I would feel uncomfortable if someone saw me as their 'servant'. Government 'associate' that many companies use. It's a better word, or even just plain ol' 'employee'. If its good enough for Wal-Mart, it should be good enough for the overpaid government 'associates; in Washington.

[SirReal1]

07:57 AM on 11/10/2011

THEY "should not have a union so strong the worker can't be fired for not doing their work."

Is that "right wing myth #4" or #5?

I get confused, you guys have so many.

[flyingfortresb17]

04:08 PM on 11/12/2011

I am an independent. The democrats and the republicans are both kissing up the unions when they can to get whatever they can. There are teachers, police and civil servants in city and federal government who are incompetent and they are still occupying their desk because the unions have the power to keep them there. You have heard of the phrase "Promoted to the level of their incompetence".. haven't you.

[jufrgs]

02:07 PM on 11/09/2011

Is he going to take his Presidential and donate it to charity if he is elected? President Obama donated his basically the past 3 years in Charity.

[AxelDC]

03:10 PM on 11/12/2011

Romney is worth $250 million.  He wants the power, not the money.

[deaircamp]

01:50 PM on 11/09/2011

Another republican attacking working people.
Hell why do poor people want to be paid anyway?

After all rich people need to enjoy the money they made off the backs of those same poor people.

[bingogeorge4]

02:49 PM on 11/09/2011

deair, How is this for an idea: You poor people get off your backs and take personal responsibilty.
Stay in school, get a good education, wheither a colledge grad. or a good trade school.
Stop droping out, doing drugs, having babies or abortions out of wedlock.
Stop expecting the government to take care of you for life.
Then maybe the 50 % of the people that presently pay no Federal Income tax's will.
Just think what this would do for America, present and future.

[bingogeorge4]

02:52 PM on 11/09/2011

opps, college (not colledge)

[Davidlf]

07:50 PM on 11/09/2011

lots of empty platitudes based on prejudices not rooted in reality. Stay in school and get a good job doing what exactly? Selling derivatives? What about the 50 year old that spent 30 years working for a company, has a fine work history and performance, only problem is they are 50 - what do they need? anti aging creme and a fake id?

how about you pull your head out of that levi's helmet and take a look at the actual world where between one in 10 and one in 5 people are looking for a job/better job. Why should employers be allowed to create "jobs" that don't pay a living wage? Why do you piss and moan about the choices you imagine the guy at WalMart must have made, rather than being pissed off that your tax dollars are subsidizing the Walton trust fund babies in expanding their fortune, much of which is made by driving producers to make crappy products off shore so they can knock a bit off the price.

People like you remind me of Job's so called friends.