American workers need appropriate wages to live on

Gerry Hageman, Las Vegas

Monday, March 7, 2011 | 2:03 a.m.

This is regarding the endless public-sector, private-sector compensation diatribe.

Every day people blast many public-sector employees because they make more than $50,000 a year. People also say that Americans should be more self-sufficient so we can reduce our exposure to programs like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. But America is a very expensive place to live.

The vast majority of private-sector employees make less than $35,000 a year. Health care costs exceed $200 billion a month. Some colleges charge close to $50,000 a year, including room and board.

In order to “make it in America,” people have to be paid well. You can cut public worker compensation to equal private-sector compensation but all you will end up with in the long run is millions more in some type of social welfare program.

People are dreaming if they think they can raise a family, pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical costs throughout a lifetime, and put their kids through school earning $35,000 a year.