I have seen the military do very similar things, including all sorts of benefits in the estimate of their people's annual salary in an effort to keep them in the military. We know how shady military recruiters can be, doing anything to get people in and keep them in, and I am concerned these numbers being flashed before us are equally shady. Also, it is important to echo the sentiment recently expressed here that it is not completely correct to compare the welfare benefits of someone living in Hawaii, where the cost of living is extremely high, to those who are in your state. My mother lives in Hawaii and was recently being payed a large amount of money to simply manage a hot-dog stand.
Wages are high there, just as cost of living is.
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