I’m sure that most of the e-mail responses you receive will rail on against “overpaid politicians and bureaucrats,” but the fact is, you’d get those kinds of responses irrespective of the dollar amounts involved. The fact is, your column doesn’t provide enough information to give the reader an opportunity to express a truly informed opinion. In order to estimate the “worth” of these jobs, one would need a detailed job description of each position, as well as a comparison against the same jobs in other cities, as well as similar jobs in the private sector.
I think this story, and others like it, don’t really accomplish anything. They’ll stir up some emotions, but they won’t really educate or impart any useful information to the reader.
And for the record, my wife and I both work; our combined annual income has never been more than about $50,000 a year. Most of the people in our position will, as I stated previously, send you e-mails indicating that the public servants in your story are paid too much, but again, take them with a grain of salt.
