Another Middle Class Hit

Michael Linden, a budget expert at the liberal Center for American Progress, said [Obama's Federal employee pay freeze] plan is small potatoes that risks driving away valuable civil servants with little budgetary upside.

"Bluntly doing it this way, we risk cutting off our nose to spite our face," Linden said in a phone interview. "We risk not hiring good people, we risk not giving a raise to people who deserve a raise, and we miss not cutting the pay of those who deserve a pay cut."

Linden recalled similarities between the plan Obama announced today and his previous call at an earlier political low point for a discretionary spending freeze.

"Both are sort of blunt instruments for reducing the deficit that don't reduce the deficit very much," Linden said. "The pay freeze is actually much smaller than the discretionary spending freeze," in budget terms.

If enacted, the proposal will disproportionately impact middle-income earners.

"The vast majority of federal employees are middle-class workers. That's who we're asking to take a hit," Linden explained.

[...]

Republicans predictably and eagerly pocketed the gesture, and welcomed Obama to move even further in their direction.

  TPM

Taking a cut so the bankers could scam and stay solvent. Chris Floyd has an interesting article about what we might expect going down this road.

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.