FLASHBACK: Psst! Rand Paul Was Right About Federal Pay. “So you have apples in that pay basket! When I heard that Rand Paul had claimed that average federal employee’s compensation (including benefits) was more than $120,000, I thought that can’t be true. Then I read Media Matters’ lengthy response to the claim.”

Plus this:

P.S.: When people are outraged at the $120,000 figure, I think, they aren’t making an implicit apples to oranges comparison. They’re making an apples to themselves comparison. They know what they do and what they’re making. They have a pretty good, rough idea of what federal employees do (some are highly skilled doctors, some are equal opportunity compliance facilitators). They know that they themselves have had to take pay freezes and cuts and endure waves of corporate downsizing while the federal government hasn’t been through anything like that. In fact, pay for individual federal workers has kept growing each year thanks to both cost-of living raises and “step” increases. The federal pay escalator kept on running right through the recesssion. Meanwhile, federal workers enjoy job security they can only dream of.

They know, in short, that as a result of this Great Divergence (sorry Tim!) they don’t make anything like $120,000, but they pay taxes to support the government workers who do—and they’re outraged. Oranges have nothing to do with it.

Indeed.