Shutdown threatened, imminent!
Once again the annual budget clash, once again a shutdown is threatened, no doubt a last minute Continuing Resolution will put out the fire by throwing more taxpayer money after bad.
Seems this is an annual dance. The rhetoric seems high this year, no doubt because next year is an election year and (surprise, surprise) the lawmakers may then make nicer. We do have the usual threats – MILITARY PAY EMPERILED Rollcall.com Social Security may be at risk (only if the shutdown lasts, otherwise automatic checks will continue to go out USA Today .
Government operations will begin to shut down at midnight on Saturday unless lawmakers this week can reach an agreement on how to extend the current federal budget, a compromise that has been elusive for months.
The fiscal year ends on Sept. 30, and with it so does the budget plan to keep almost all federal operations active. Fights between Democrats and Republicans on future federal spending levels — and fights within the House GOP caucus itself — have not produced any likely plans so far to stave off an appropriations lapse.
A government shutdown next week would be the first to affect all federal agencies since 2013, when about 850,000 federal workers — about 40% of the government workforce — were furloughed for 16 days amid that congressional fight. Military Times
What is certain, though, is that the sob stories of activities curtailed will bombard us daily. High on the list will be “Unpaid Border Patrol Agents Swamped by Undocumented Border Crossers ” – our poor boys in tan and green selflessly working on our behalf – any bets on that? Didn’t think so.
Of course, the one story which will only be mentioned in a few opinion pieces is that the whole mess just shows Congress is incompetent. Face it, they are unable to perform one of the most basic functions laid out in the Constitution, right? There will be screaming about Tuberville’s fictional impact on military readiness, possibly the very real loss of US face overseas, and I am sure more. But the bottom line is like the famous meme – “You only had one job….”
Me, I think there is a cure for it. How about an immediate freeze on all Congressional pay and assets, electeds and staff offices alike. No pay, no market earnings, no dipping into savings – for now, fellas, you’re BROKE. Have to wonder how long it would take them to come to an agreement then.
H/t to Jeff for part of this, and a birthday shoutout to my older brother. Not a vet but I like him anyway.
Category: None
Shut them down forever. Whatever it takes to get them to stop spending money we don’t have.
The government is so dysfunctional at this point: they can’t protect the borders, The Department of Justice is completely broken, The meddling in the economy is disastrous It has resulted in a rapid increase in poverty and homelessness, The meddling in the energy sector has resulted in the highest energy prices in decades. So yes, make it stop.
I could go on and on but; they are doing this while federal employees are being paid 20% more than the average civilian employee. So yes, shut it down, make it stop, turn off the spigot.
Not necessarily the case. I am an accountant with GSA, and our pay at my Grade Level is nowhere near what a corporate accountant in private practice gets. Maybe some of the very senior SES types get more than their civilian counterparts but I doubt that is the case either.
Concur with you USMC Steve. That’s something people like to throw out without really doing any fact checking. In my position and HR Director in an organization the size I am in make 2-3 times what I make. While I agree there are some anomalies, it is not across the board. Compare STEM pay in the government with STEM pay in the private sector….
Typical. No idea where you are getting your numbers from or where you are on the pay scale. In 2023 the “average” Federal employee earned $90K a year and the average civilian worker earned $74K a year.
In 2022 the average Federal Government Accountant made $125K and the average US Corporate Accountant makes $71K a year. Average Corporate Tax Accountants make less at $61K.
https://www.federalpay.org/employees/occupations/accounting
https://www.glassdoor.com/Salaries/corporate-accountant-salary-SRCH_KO0,20.htm
I’ll tell you like I told all other “underpaid” federal workers I used to work with when I was in the military. If you can find a job making a lot more money jump right on the train and don’t look back.
Really good accountants CAN make a lot more. Just like everything else in life. While not a personal indictment (because I don’t know you) I have yet to meet a “really good” federal employee at any job. Not saying they aren’t out there, just haven’t met any.
This is a problem with averages and data sources. Glassdoor lists the range for ‘software engineer’ as 90K – 219K, with an average of 139K. For Federal Pay (via ‘Computer Engineer’), the average is also 139K.
Yet, for Google, the high-end of compensation is $500K (half salary, half stock). For Netflix and Amazon, it can get even higher. Why doesn’t this show up in the ‘range’ on Glassdoor? Because salaries there are contributed by users, not based on raw data like we have for federal employees. People making a lot more are less likely to report their salary there, I imagine.
https://www.levels.fyi/companies/google/salaries/software-engineer
In short, if you’re good, private industry definitely pays more in some fields, STEM and management in particular.
Exactly my point earlier. If you are are really good, you CAN make a lot of money on the corporate side. Several standard deviations above the norm for the especially high performers. Most people aren’t high performers, hence the definition. 15 years of standing around the coffee maker talking about how much more money they could be making is a pretty typical. A lot of Walter Mitty’s out there.
Working for the government doesn’t exactly inspire people to excel due to lack of incentive but if you have real drive you should be out in the corporate world striving. Government work OTOH offers a lot so far as job stability, benefits and pension. This tends to draw people who are interested in those kinds of things.
Not sure what happened to my first reply, but I concur with you USMC Steve. That’s something people like to throw out a lot without any fact checking. An HR Director in an organization the size I am in makes 2-3 times what I make. I also have worked in STEM heavy organizations most of my career and Federal STEM employees do not make even close to what STEM in private sector makes.
Really? I’m in. Let’s do some more fact checking. What size agency do you work for?
Ah, I’m weary of waiting… lets see…. STEM:
General Physical Scientist$130K Federal
https://www.federalpay.org/employees/occupations/general-physical-science
$103K Corporate
https://www.salary.com/research/salary/recruiting/physical-scientist-salary
I’m sure there are a few jobs out there that pay less than corporate world but the vast majority do not. Once you add in pensions and other generous benefits the Federal jobs pull away.
Not to mention additional paid time off every year when the government ‘shuts down’
Not every federal employee gets paid on those forced vacations.
You’re conflating pay with benefits. You started this thread comparing pay. Stay the course.
Nope. I’m a Wage Grade government employee. Our pay is directly tied to what an equivalent private sector employee makes in our region.
Go Lemmings Go!
WHY DON’T WE save some money by permanently shutting the Federal Departments of Education and Energy down? IMO that would be a great start!
OH, and yeah, I find it interesting that members of Clowngress DON’T get their gravy train threatened by said shutdowns and for the Bureaucrats it’s basically paid vacation!
Add NASA to that. We got enough moon rocks.
There has been a federal law for decades that mandates an annual budget, but of course congress doesn’t have to follow the law, and there are no consequences of them violating it.
Budgets went out the window like last nights bath water when they discovered continuing resolutions.
I like Goetz idea where they vote on each individual item. But it’s too much work they cry, you don’t know what you’re asking they complain. Here’s an idea… trim govt down to a manageable level and it won’t be so frikken hard.
I wonder, if this budget they’re all crying about is so important, why isn’t AOC, Durbin, Hawley and Bribem still in D.C working on it instead of jetting off to some striking auto plant to show *support*. I don’t see bribem sticking his nose into it like he did the railroad strike.
Kabuki theater.
It would not be too much work if they showed their asses up at least 5 days a week like most everyone else does.
Fine them.
Each day that they don’t pass a budget is a 10,000 dollar fine.
For the leadership of each party fine them 100,000 a day.
Remember, they work for us and we should start treating them that way.
Amen.
And incentivize budget cuts and balanced budgets. Every year they balance the budget the get a free trip to Epstein’s pedo island for a “team building” event. Don’t eliminate the dress code. Instead every time they cut a line item from the budget they have a “Fetterman Friday” and everybody wears sweats on the floor.
It’s a shame that we pay these people almost $200K a year and they don’t do their job. Any one of us would have been fired from any corporation other than the government
Screw up, move up.
Where’s a pissed of JAL Wide Body Driver when you need one?
News flash for those not paying attention…This will NEVER change until We, The People finally decide we’ve had enough and toss EVERYONE of them out and hire new ones…and that will NEVER happen.
Time to toss the tea into the harbor, girls and boys.
Have deerskin suit, feathered headgear, war paint, and hatchet (image). Will travel.
F*ck the king’s tea.
F*ck his horse (or undisciplined dog. whatever).
F*ck his ‘rules’.
And double f*ck his corrupt family (but Ashley deserves our sympathy and concern…kinda. See below).
From wiki:
You know that saying about ‘half-truths’…? ^This^.
I keep asking myself what is the point of Union if the only thing sewn by this unholy consolidation is discordance with a majority of these states?
What if they shut down a government and nobody noticed?
Or cared.
Maybe if they hadn’t paid all those VA executives bonuses for doing nothing we wouldn’t be in this mess right now?
https://www.military.com/daily-news/2023/09/28/va-mistakenly-paid-top-executives-97m-bonuses-prompting-call-more-oversight.html?ESRC=eb_230929.nl&fbclid=IwAR3lyc1PohIFI7QyLrxungdBYwuIW-DmSU0L6GQTgSTNrS8u2FUt9gxb__0