The Growing Divide Between the State and the Public

The San Jose Mercury News has an interesting article about how regular Californians are reacting to the furlough twice a month of state employees. Let's just say that most people would prefer to have a job even though you miss two days a month without pay. The interesting thing it does is compare the average salary of a state worker, $63 K a year, with the average resident, $56 K. It also points out that the state pays $25 K a year in benefits for the average state worker. These are just averages as there are plenty of people in both groups who make a lot more then this. It does highlight though that if the downturn continues there might be more schisms between those without jobs and those with "gummermint" ones.