Thanks to lavish medical and retirement benefits that kick in at a young age (often permitting a second career, resulting in two paychecks), a vast economic gulf is opening up between average taxpayers and average government employees.  America is slipping into a nation with a governing class enjoying a far better life than those they govern. Michigan Capitol Confidential has done a very useful calculation that I would like to see performed for every state.  James M. Hohman writes: The average state employee now costs taxpayers $117,000 per year, according to data from the state Department of Civil Service. This includes both salaries and benefits. Note that the average household income in Michigan (which includes multiple earners in some families) was $48,273 in 2013.  But when it comes to what is now a laughably obsolete term, “civil servants,” those average household taxpayers are paying more and getting less: The total cost of benefits...(Read Full Post)