Sigh, it has been one year since I posted here but I thought I'd get back to this thread before posting another.
"I am wondering if you really believe this?"
Short answer is, heck yeah.
"You sound unhappy."
Kurt Vonnegut was once asked about an author who'd made millions off a single book, and how that made him feel. And he replied, "I have what he'll never have--I have enough."
We don't have enough to give our kids what they need to get into college (we are narrowly paying down debt). I don't want to be rich, but I would like enough to give my kids opportunities.
I don't know anybody in the public sector who feels they have enough to give their kids the same opportunities that even they had themselves. I know valedictorians who are working second jobs.
Getting into "college" in the U.S. is easy. Only a small fraction of schools are highly selective, and not getting into the Ivies/MIT/Stanford does not mean not getting into college.
Tell me that's not supposed to hurt.
What does it mean to take responsibility for 21-year-old me's choice to work in the public sector? Like, "Wow, I feel really guilty and stupid for believing my mother, my teachers, and the hippy-dippy advice of every adult I knew. I should have known better."
When you control for benefits and job stability, I think people in the public sector are better compensated than in the private sector on average. Biggs and Richwine found this to be the case for public school teachers. I think sometimes an error is made in looking at the right tail of the private sector earnings distribution, which does not prove anything about the median.
