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White House staffers got raises nearly three times the national average. And (surprise!) Obama lied about it.
Damage control in 140 characters or less.
During his Twitter town hall yesterday, President Obama tried desperately to reconnect with the young people who helped get him elected in 2008. And to counteract his two and a half years’ worth of effete “let them eat tax increases” snobbery, he tried to pull a Clintonian “I feel your pain” by claiming that his staff hasn’t had a raise in over two years.
“By the way, people who work in the White House, they’ve had their pay frozen since I came in, our…our…our high-wage folks. So, they haven’t had a raise in…in two and a half years, and that’s appropriate because a lot of ordinary folks out there haven’t either. In fact, they’ve had their pay cut in some cases.”
Pay cuts? Yeah, not so much. Gawker’s John Cook did a little fact-checking with the White House’s published salary reports:
The White House released its annual salary report last week, and as usual, it’s nice to work for Barack Obama: Most staffers who were there for more than a year got a salary bump. A bigger one than you did.
When is a raise not a raise? When King Barry says so!
The last time we checked in on White House salaries, we found that an astonishing 75% of continuing staffers got raises from 2009 to 2010—a huge number given the fact that, according to compensation experts, most companies had skipped routine raises that year in reaction to the economic crisis that the White House was busy failing to solve. This time around—from 2010 to 2011—the ratio is a little less dramatic. Of the 270 White House staffers who have been there for more than a year, 146—or 54%—received raises. The average salary increase was 8%. If you look at only staffers who got raises, the average increase was twice that.
That’s a much bigger raise than the average white-collar worker got. According to a survey conducted last year by the human resources consulting firm Mercer, most firms were projecting a 3% increase in base pay for executives. White House workers did nearly three times as well. Overall, it should be noted, the White House’s salary budget contracted slightly, from $38.8 million to $37.1 million, largely because the number of staffers fell. The average salary also dropped from $82,721, or 65% above the median household income, to $81,765—or 65% above the median household income.
But…but…but…how could 75% of White House employees get a pay increase if there’s supposed to be a pay freeze in place? Well, in the Obama administration, a pay freeze means that workers don’t get a raise for continuing to do the same job, per se. But they’re still eligible for promotions and title changes, and those come with raises. Ta-daaa! And since 75% of Obama’s staff received raises, all of those workers must have gotten promotions. With that kind of efficiency, they’ll have this economy turned around in no time, right? Oh, wait…
Hot Air‘s Ed Morrissey explains Obama’s populist shell game: [emphasis added below]
First, not all White House salaries were frozen for two years. Obama froze salaries of White House staff making over $100K two years ago, but the across-the-board federal freeze that impacts the rest of the staff didn’t take place until January 2011. That’s how economic adviser Matthew Vogel got an 82% pay increase (of $59,000 to $130,500) in 2010. Vogel wasn’t the only one to get his income nearly doubled, but given how the economy has performed over the past two years, this particular raise seems … less than justified.
The freeze didn’t make much difference, anyway. The staff got raises through a nifty little dodge: job title or description changes. In some cases, though, the dodge got a little more sophisticated. Michael Gottlieb quit his post of special assistant and associate counsel, only to take the job again — at a 14% increase in pay, from $114,000 to $130,500. Nearly everyone remaining at the White House has had a pay increase over the last two and a half years
The amount of money in the federal budget that goes to public employees is a mere drop in the bucket compared to the ludicrous spending which has been increasing since Obama took office. But appearances matter, so it’s important that if there actually has been an across-the-board federal pay freeze, it should not be circumvented through accounting tricks.
Here in the real world, the vast majority of us who still have a job have already been given “additional responsibilities” (read: asked to pick up the slack from workers who have been laid off) without additional compensation. And if we’re fortunate enough to even receive a raise, it’s usually been about 1-3%. Yet White House staffers have averaged an 8% increase in salary; nearly three times the rate in the private sector. Only Obama could describe this as a “pay freeze.”
Posted by FullMetalPatriot
12th gen. American, Constitutionalist, Harley-riding Texan, gun owner & NRA member, blogger, illustrator, Florida Gator alumnus. #TCOT
12th gen. American, Constitutionalist, Harley-riding Texan, gun owner & NRA member, blogger, illustrator, Florida Gator alumnus. #TCOT
[...] White House staffers got raises nearly three times the national average. And (surprise!) Obama lied … [...]
who the hell are these people? i’m on social security and standing in food lines for a hand out and not getting my c.o.l.a. like i should, i am in a wheel chair and sucking on an oxygen tank and hopeing the price of my meds don’t go up more, if i could get to the white house i’d give that s.o.b. a real peice of my mind, why doesn’t he come up here to the little town of Saint Helen,mi.and see what we have to say, of course he goes to det. or one of the bigger places, cause thats where he knows there are more blacks there, well , ain;t none here, just plain ole white folk, and we are going under every day, yeh! i’m pissed, wished he could read this, or someone read it to him, i still don’t beleive hes from america,
i have a lot more to say, just too tired to keep going.
thanks for letting me vent. was my pleasure. john m. pattullo