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Many FBI agents are struggling to make ends meet. Housing costs are to blame

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Re: Many FBI agents are struggling to make ends meet. Housing costs are to blame

#21

Post by sneak »

beanjuiceII wrote: post #15
master_crab wrote: post #4

The problem is the FBI uses mostly the same GS pay scale as the rest of the federal government. So if the pay stinks for them, it also stinks for every other government agency. And that’s a much bigger problem then Mulder and Scully not making rent.

Yes the gs pay scale also means these agencies use more contract workers who end up costing way way more. It's a dual world that exists

You’re telling me that an organization that has zero incentive to be efficient with money is being penny wise and pound foolish?

This is the same problem with violent and criminal cops - the lawsuits against the department are paid by taxpayers, not the offenders.

The people who make these bad decisions aren’t wasting their own money - they’re wasting the money taken from you and I by force. They have no incentive to stop wasting it.

Re: Many FBI agents are struggling to make ends meet. Housing costs are to blame

#22

Post by [deleted] »

i_like_waiting wrote: post #3

>In New York, for example, starting salaries for FBI agents hover around $73,000. But a nonprofit group in the city reported people need to earn at least $100,000 to afford food, housing and transportation there. Does this hold truth? I know it's expensive city, but 73k is also median salary here, do they want to say that more than half people here cannot afford basic needs? That doesn't sound right

[deleted]

Re: Many FBI agents are struggling to make ends meet. Housing costs are to blame

#23

Post by shrimp_emoji »

sealeck wrote: post #9
xyzzy4747 wrote: post #6

The FBI is too big... hopefully this will be a disincentive to not look for jobs there. Every state already has its own police force. There's no need for a massive federal agency to do the same type of stuff.

What about crimes which transcend state jurisdiction (try getting 12 different state police forces to co-ordinate and run thousands of investigations together and see how well it goes)? Or issues like counter-intelligence? Or areas where local police forces are corrupt and won't investigate?

What about when the FBI is corrupt?

Counterintelligence is CIA/NSA (who would never be in danger of that).

Re: Many FBI agents are struggling to make ends meet. Housing costs are to blame

#24

Post by achates »

koolba wrote: post #19
master_crab wrote: post #4

The problem is the FBI uses mostly the same GS pay scale as the rest of the federal government. So if the pay stinks for them, it also stinks for every other government agency. And that’s a much bigger problem then Mulder and Scully not making rent.

> And that’s a much bigger problem then Mulder and Scully not making rent. It’s only a problem if you want the government to be spending even more money. They already spend approximately 1/3 of the GDP and that’s plenty big enough for many. If they want to pay people more, change the denominator.

Plus they have ironclad job security and a pension (which practically no taxpayers get), so it's not directly comparable to private sector salaries.

Re: Many FBI agents are struggling to make ends meet. Housing costs are to blame

#25

Post by the__alchemist »

I'm floored they don't get a military-style cost-of-living-allowance. Similar situation of being assigned to live in arbitrary places, but (pending short term problems caused by slower or inaccurate COLA adjustments than rent changes) it's not a problem for US military members, since their pay varies by location, specifically to avoid the problem the article highlights.

Re: Many FBI agents are struggling to make ends meet. Housing costs are to blame

#26

Post by beanjuiceII »

xyzzy4747 wrote: post #6

The FBI is too big... hopefully this will be a disincentive to not look for jobs there. Every state already has its own police force. There's no need for a massive federal agency to do the same type of stuff.

This doesn't mean that FBI will not have plenty of high paying workers as contractors, it just means that there will be less high quality FBI employees.

Re: Many FBI agents are struggling to make ends meet. Housing costs are to blame

#28

Post by cyanydeez »

master_crab wrote: post #4

The problem is the FBI uses mostly the same GS pay scale as the rest of the federal government. So if the pay stinks for them, it also stinks for every other government agency. And that’s a much bigger problem then Mulder and Scully not making rent.

As we see with the GOP, if there's not enough money to do a job, they'll get bought out by the highest bidder.

So it's a bit bigger of a problem when you're talking about government jobs with large security concerns.

Re: Many FBI agents are struggling to make ends meet. Housing costs are to blame

#29

Post by metamet »

koolba wrote: post #19
master_crab wrote: post #4

The problem is the FBI uses mostly the same GS pay scale as the rest of the federal government. So if the pay stinks for them, it also stinks for every other government agency. And that’s a much bigger problem then Mulder and Scully not making rent.

> And that’s a much bigger problem then Mulder and Scully not making rent. It’s only a problem if you want the government to be spending even more money. They already spend approximately 1/3 of the GDP and that’s plenty big enough for many. If they want to pay people more, change the denominator.

I believe their point was that FBI agents struggling to cover housing are more susceptible to external payments.

Re: Many FBI agents are struggling to make ends meet. Housing costs are to blame

#30

Post by matsemann »

Isn't this a security clearance issue? I don't know how it's in the US, but when I've been involved in things like that, financial hardship is a big factor, as it can mean someone would be easier to sway if another actor proposed to fix their problems.
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