As salaries, benefits and even private sector jobs continue to fall like dominoes, public sector salaries and perks continue to rise.

On the day after the presidential election, Boeing Corporation announced that it would be laying off 30 percent executives and closing its California plants.

The dominoes continued to fall on Friday, when Stryker Corp. announced that it will be laying off five percent of its total workforce, amounting to 1,170 jobs, due to Obamacare. According to a Fox News report, Stryker, which manufactures medical devices and supplies, attributes its decision on the following:

A “medical device excise tax” included in the mandate imposes a 2.3 percent levy on medical device manufacturers and suppliers, which critics say will raise prices on everything from pacemakers to prosthetics to stents. Companies will be required to pay the tax regardless if they have a profit or loss for the year. The tax is estimated to cost the medical device industry $20 billion.

It’s interesting to note that Jon Stryker, a Stryker Corp. heir, is a huge fan of President Obama. In 2012, Stryker contributed $66,000 to the Democratic Party and various Democratic candidates, including the president, and $2 million to the President’s super PAC, Priorities USA Action.

Read more at Fox News.

Also on Friday, Hostess Brands, Inc., makers of Twinkies and Ding Dongs, announced that it will be closing up shop entirely due to a continuing battle with its labor unions. The Hostess line-up includes 30 brands going back as far as 1888.

According to KDFW Fox 4 in Dallas/Ft. Worth:

The shuttering of Hostess means the loss of about 18,500 jobs. Hostess said employees at its 33 factories were sent home and operations suspended Friday. Its roughly 500 bakery outlet stores will stay open for several days to sell remaining products.

Read more at Fox 4 News:

In another bit of bad news, this time from the public sector, The U.S. Postal Service announced that it lost nearly $16 billion in fiscal year 20112. But instead of layoffs and pay cuts, its executives will be taking home huge salary and benefit boosts.

According to the Washington Times:

Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe, for instance, earned a base salary of $276,840, but even without a bonus or incentive payout, his overall compensation came to $512,093, compared with $384,229 in 2011, according to regulatory filings.

* * *

In addition, the Postal Service’s chief human resources officer, Anthony J. Vegilante, received $60,000 in retention bonuses for fiscal 2011 and 2012 on top of his $240,000 annual salary, filings show. Nonetheless, Mr. Vegilante’s overall compensation for 2012 dipped to $363,002, compared with $364,667 the previous year.

Read more in The Washington Times.

Question: With all the belt-tightening going on in private industry, who’s going to pay for all these government pay-raises? Or, as former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher put it, “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money.”

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Michael Dorstewitz

Mike has been with BizPac Review almost from the beginning. Follow him on Twitter at @MikeBPR.

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