WaPo: Sequester sledgehammer hits, bookshelves and doggie daycare hardest hit
This is the most ridiculous article ever written by the utterly ridiculous Washington Post in history. I’d like to pick out my favorite portions. Bear in mind that this is all from people living in an area that AVERAGES $700,000 homes, you know, people just like you and me.
In Mantua, 14 miles west of the Federal Triangle, the sledgehammer of budget cuts scheduled to hit today are a threat to financial stability, an unnecessary reminder of a political system that seems unable to solve problems, and, perhaps worst of all, a symbol of how dramatically perceptions of government work have shifted.
The remainder of this post if going under the fold, because I am about to lose my Spongebob-loving mind and use a metric shit ton modicum of profanity.
Seriously people, I am about to lose my mind right here, with more F bombs than you can shake a stick at. This is NSFW from here out.
Seriously, are you fucking kidding me? Tell me you are assing me with this bullshit. If this the fucking Duffel Blog?
“I can’t even be sure that my pension check will get here,” said [Jenny] Foo, who recently retired after 36 years at State, working on passports, issuing travel warnings, handling sensitive cases of Americans in trouble abroad. “People at OPM [the Office of Personnel Management] have to cut the checks, and if they’re on furlough, maybe the checks don’t come through. It’s going to affect everybody, filter down beyond us. No pension, no spending, it all trickles down.”
I pity the Foo who thinks her fucking paycheck is not going to make it. Seriously. Turn off your TV set, pull your head out of your ass. Maybe walk around your million dollar neighborhood and clear your head of all the impacted shit from your anus.
OK, you ready for this one? Seriously hold tight while I introduce you to the most sympathetic victim of our broken political system of all time:
“It’s an extremely threatening and highly insulting condition to find myself in,” said a National Defense University professor who lives in Mantua and spoke on the condition of anonymity because of his high-level security clearance. “It’s one thing to hear the constant negative drumbeat directed at federal workers from people outside Washington. It’s another thing to have the threat of denial of livelihood.”
In his family, after four generations of military service, there was little question that he would go into public work. And for three decades, he’s loved his job teaching political science to the nation’s future top brass, despite the expectation that he work from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. every day.
Hey “high-level security clearance” “National Defense University professor”, my advice to you is to go fuck yourself with a rusty rhinocerous horn. If you didn’t want to be subjected to a “constant negative drumbeat directed at federal workers” you could and should have gotten a real job. Why the hell are our “future top brass” learning political science anyway? Shouldn’t they know that shit? They went to college didn’t they? And why is his families military service pertinent?
But you want to see just how inhumane this shit is getting? In order to eat, this guy is going to have to cut out his $5,000 bookshelves and (GASP!!!!) walk his own fucking dog:
The professor has already cut back in anticipation of the forthcoming budget slashing: He told a carpenter who was going to build bookshelves in the living room that the $5,000 job will have to be put off, and he told his doggie day care provider that he’ll have to go without that service when the furloughs kick in.
You know, I happen to be friends with quite a few people who work for the Gov’t and are facing sequestration. Not a single one of them has cried to be about the plight of their Shitzu and where to place their leatherbound Twilight novels.
Holy shit does this article aggravate me.
I was once sympathetic to this whole thing, or at least I wanted to be. I understood we have to trim the budget and tough choices have to be made. Now after reading about Jenny Foo the Legend Continues and Professor Doesnthavealeash I don’t give two shits about their plight. I live in a house that is less than 1/4 of these houses, for a non-profit, and if I lose my job, I have no chance of getting a similiar one as it doesn’t exist anywhere. I don’t bitch about my job, my pay, my plight in life. I handle the shit. I try to save, live within my means, and stay abreast of what is going on in the world.
And I am supposed to sit here and lament that the Professor’s dog is going to have to shit on his own lawn instead of at the doggie day care?
Go fuck yourselves.
Category: Politics
Let them eat cake.
As a GS4 bottom of the ladder Government employee, that Absent Minded Professor can take his 5,000.00 book cases and shove ever splinter up his ass. I am supposed to feel sorry for them??
@1, Exactly! Let them eat cake! is exactly the attitude these pompous asses project.
Disclaimer: I’m a contractor. We have not been hit by sequestration although it is a concern.
You know what I’ve done? Lived below my means, saved up every dollar that I can and wrote out a plan on how I’ll pay my mortgage and bills up to one year without a job.
So these people can fuck themselves so hard that the neighborhood needs a cigarette afterwards. I’ve seen real poverty and I’ve seen people who have real problems.
That neighborhood isn’t even inside the beltway. I’m sure WAPO can find far worse hardships closer to DC. /sarc
@3, exactly. I spent a year in a country where the vast majority of folks shit in a hole on the roof of their houses. And tubes convey the shit via gravity to a spot about 3 inches outside their homes.
And I’m supposed to feel bad about some douchebag who is forced to buy Ikea bookshelves? And face the slings and arrows of people not appreciating his work?
Holy shit.
@5: Thus the reason the term “First World Problems” was born.
As one of those affected, in my case this sequestration DOES have possible effects: I directly work with those in harm’s way, and work FOR them in support. There are dozens here in that same situation; we are not far enough up the food chain (GS-14 and above) who warrant ‘essential personnel’ status. But we have a direct impact on the uniformed peoples.
Does gov’t need cutting? Damn right- at many levels. But DoD and USG used the ‘blanket’ approach- fuck them all, let the pain be EVERYwhere.
So I get a 20% income shaving; I guess I can graduate to Ramen from Kraft. My lifestyle doesn’t include daycare anything or remodeling; I drive 15 year-old cars and shop at Goodwill and Burlington. All this ON TOP of the ‘non-tax-increases’ when the old tax rates expired and even more taken out.
Both Congress AND the White House can go eff off…
I’m dissapointed that you guys are falling for this obvious class-warfare propaganda…
@8, if these people worked and got rich in the private sector, I wouldn’t give them any shit whatsoever. Because they could have been fired, the company could go under etc. What pisses me off is that these people are so entitled. That’s my money. That money for his dog walking, yeah, that was mine.
As a professor of Elizabethan era sex toys and trans-gender studies at the National Defense University and outlet stores with a T2000 Ultra-super duper clearance, I take offense at all of you peasants mocking my $5,000 bookshelves and Feng Shued Shitzu shiatsu kennel. I have earned ever penny I extort from you via the IRS and you are in no place to question my need for hydroponically grown, organic arugula or my gold-encrusted pubis trimmer.
I guess taking care of your own damn dog is a novel concept. I’d be willing to bet that the professor’s dog is a Maltese named Precious.
I believe the good professor can find some sympathy – in the dictionary between shit and syphilis. And I’ll throw in the rusty rhino horn for free.
What ticks me off is the sense of entitlement, but even more so, there are large gov’t cuts that can be made to agencies and spending that can be made; cuts that wouldn’t impact defense.
Another aggravation is for every dedicated hard working federal employee and contractor there are others ‘marking time’; oxygen thieves simply collecting a paycheck. Trying to get a large bureaucratic agency like VA to make one minor change that would benefit everyone is an exercise in futility. Speaking of marking time, lunchtime is over, back to work. 🙂
OH, NO, poooor Jenny Foo might have to eat organic quiche only once every two weeks and *SOB* buy her food at the same stores we peasants shop at *WHIMPER* OH, THE HORROR!!!
/exit sarc mode
I have been in a GS job for three years, since shortly after retiring from the Marine Corps. I have been in a pay freeze for all three of those years. I have not complained because I love the job and feel like I am still making a contribution to the war fighters. But after reading comments from the fucking dog walker and our former Speaker of the House “pay cut would be beneath the dignity of the office” I am about to freaking explode. In anticipation of the sequester and the 20% pay cut that I am looking forward too, my wife has gone back to work and we are tightening our belts. What a novel concept!!!! My sympathy meter is pegged. We elected these tool bags to LEAD and all they can do is posture and bicker and let partisan politics drive the train. Pretty soon I won’t be able to afford cake. And twinkies are gone too goddammit!!! And the thing that drives me to drink (didn’t really need an excuse there) is that none of our supposed leadership seems to give a rats ass one way or the other. Let the military go into the shitter, let the taxpayers suck it up. And the tone deaf politicians cannot play nice. AAARRRGGGHHH!!!!
Gunny, don’t hold back.
I will break out the violins and play “My Heart Bleeds” for these spoiled brat sandcrabs.
If the Professor can kick further than 12 yards he should consider the NFL combine.
@17, The long one was 19.
Yeah, but she got all of that one. You can’t expect a man who can’t even walk his dog to be in full season shape. It’s all about technique.
Sequestration would be worthwhile if it affected all Federal outlays – including that 50% of Federal outlays which funds income transfer programs like Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps, etc . . . . Applied to all spending, a 10% sequestration would result in a reduction of around $400 billion in Federal spending this year. That in turn might – I stress, might – keep Federal debt from increasing by another trillion$ this year alone.
However, as I recall those entitlement programs are being reduced a whopping 0.0%.
@19 She pulled her quad and the sun was in her eyes….c’mon man forget the standards when she kicks they should give a 15 yard spot to even her up with the guys…
Plus, the wind was really blowing inside the dome.
I could kick further and higher than that when I was her age. I don’t think she tried hard enough.
in the past didn’t fed workers get their money after tbe “crises” ended?
I’m a contractor and was hit by sequestration, program axed. Life of a contractor, time to move on.
I did read a Facebook posting (turned AP article) that was written by a AF Reserve E-8 and is also a GS married to a retired AF Chief whom is also currently a GS. This individual explains a sob story about how their family will be impacted by the furloughs and might lose their home because of it. But if it makes anybody feel better they know there are people out there worst off than them.
SJ-
Yes, but those were not ‘sequestration’. This current go-round is an ‘administrative’ action- therefore not allowed to be repaid…
@1 “Bitches love cake.”
Getting uffed by a “rusty rhinocerous horn”, no proper and fancy bookshelves, and the prospect that you might have to pick up warm piles of dog mud … I am with you on this one TSO!
Go f*#k yourselves!
For more on the glorious uses and the most wonderful word ever, go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=588ngaryDJo
On topic, the folks working for the government if they get hit this way will unfortunately feel the pain many in the private sector have been feeling for years.
Getting paid less while doing more in the same career field isn’t all that new for wage slaves in manufacturing jobs. $700k homes and fancy bookshelves are not really the stuff of the average household earning the median income in the nation of $52k….for these folks the average home costs less than $200k, and trips to Walmart for bargain shelving are a lot more likely….
Of course when it’s the private sector it doesn’t make the evening news because nobody gives a f$ck what happens in the private sector until it impacts the public sector, then suddenly everyone is aware and concerned.
While I am not happy to see anyone facing a 20% drop in income, because I am all too painfully aware of what that or a larger drop means to the average family, to see some numbnuts whining that his $5k shelving project has to be postponed doesn’t evoke a great deal of sympathy.
I have a nice home in Western Mass valued at the average rate for the nation….$5,000 is what I spent on materials to completely re-furbish 600 square feet of rooms including flooring, siding to cover a door that was removed, and all new trim including an entry door. And that’s because I did all the labor myself, otherwise I could not have afforded to repair/refurbish anything. So if he has to get off his 4ss and walk his own dog, tough sh1t stop your whining you 4sswipe and realize you’re still way better off than most of the nation.
I’m surprised that this administration isn’t using Military pay as leverage…..again.
VOV, where do you live?
FWIW- I am so stoked about UMASS right now I may move back. Provided they beat Butler.
Twist, Dear Leader must first use every class warfare scare tactic in his arsenal before he starts threatening military pay. But don’t worry, I am sure it is coming just as soon as he can get everyone out of Afghanistan and he doesn’t have that pesky war to worry about.
SJ: yes and no. Historically (since 1977), furloughs due to government shutdowns have later been retroactively paid. However, the current furlough situation is fundamentally different from a government shutdown.
In a shutdown, most operations must cease due to lack of legal authority to spend government funds – either none have been appropriated, or no spending authority exists. Here funds exist, but either appropriation and/or spending authority has been reduced by law. The situation thus has more in common with a government reduction-in-force (RIF) due to unforeseen budget cuts than a government shutdown furlough (no authority to spend $$$).
In budget-driven RIFs since 1977, Federal employees have indeed been let go and found themselves out of a job.
My guess is that if this is short, Congress will restore the pay, but won’t if it’s an extended time before any deal is reached (the typical plan most talked about is to put employees on a 4-day-a-week schedule starting some time next month due to some arcane aspects of Federal personnel policy). I therefore wouldn’t be surprised for at least part of any government furlough due to sequestration to end up being unpaid time off.
Twist: the sequestration law purportedly does allow for reduction in military pay and allowances – I seem to remember reading it allowed for a reduction of 4% or 5%, but that the Administration had opted not to do that. That’s a political “poison pill” while we still have troops in harm’s way in Afghanistan. It would be politically too costly to do that.
I’m guessing that would have happened had we not still been fighting in Afghanistan, though.
Ok, the CBO is saying that we’re talking about $45 billion and not $85 billion, which is even less than the 2.8% talked about previously. WTF? Why all the doom and gloom bullshit? I think it should be across the board, no sacred cows, reduce the increase by 3% and call it good, because it’s not really a cut, but a reduction in the increase. Oh, and take back the $250 million that John F-ing Kerry just gave to Egypt.
Don’t expect the republican leadership to have any balls to stand up to the fraud in chief, but rather, they are playing this game, too.
Now that the professor will have time on his hands, he could make his own bookshelves. That is if he can use his hands for more that whacking off. I’m a lawyer, but I’ve built all my own stuff out of good materials. If he used any American hardwood and its plywood he could pocket at least $4000 and brag about it for the next 20 years. The dog? He can walk it or eat it. My pitbull (small dog, big shit) poops in the back yard and the wife (SVP&GC at a giant bank) scoops it up once a week without thinking anything about it. She mows the grass and shovels the snow, too. What a useless fuckin’ whiner that prof is. But I’m angrier at the writer for puking up this article. Liberals have ruined America.
Follow-up: the above is correct. Sequestration could legally have affected MILPAY, but that government “account” was exempted by the Administration. Most VA programs also appear to have been similarly exempted from sequestration.
Old Trooper: I believe the $45B is DoD alone for the rest of tis FY, and that the $85 is the total for the entire Federal government.
It’s so small because apparently only Federal “discretionary” spending is affected. “Mandatory spending” (e.g., entitlement programs, some others) are not affected, but now consume 1/2 to 3/4 of Federal spending.
I’m surprised because they had no problem doing it during the debt ceiling fiasco.
Twist: debt ceiling is a different situation. When the debt ceiling is reached, the Federal government cannot borrow money. It thus cannot legally pay out money beyond what it takes in in taxes – period. And when you’re borrowing around 40 cents out of every dollar you spend . . . .
And, by the way: we’ll hit the next debt ceiling sometime near the end of this month. (smile)
$5000 bookshelves! I bought mine at Trader Horn for a hundred bucks! I keep two old cars on the road and the value of them both put together is less than 5 grand. Where do people get off thinking they are deserving? My grandfather fought in World War one. Two uncles fought in the Pacific and my dad was an MP in West Berlin. Nice stories but they entitle me to nothing and have nothing to do with how I earn my daily can of beans.
Pass the rhinocerous horn.
1st world problems and all… :/
On a more serious note, I give you a 6/10 on your rant. Not nearly enough swearing or personal attacks.. Try harder next time!
TSO, SADLY I SHARE WESTFIELD WITH THE 4TH MOST DANGEROUS MAN IN THE WORLD…..
Gee whiz, my bookshelves came from Total Furniture with a 70% discount price. The longer they keep it, the lower the price. I think I paid less than $300 for four solid wood cherry stained bookcases with adjustable shelves. Lovely stuff and heavier than an elephant.
Oooo! I’ll bet that professor doesn’t even know what treats his little dog likes, or who the groomer is. What a dork.
Ask anyone in fucking DC how hard life has been for them in the last 4.5 years? They’ve all been you how good they “feel” since the fucking POS Ocare passed (and the Pied Piper was re-elected)…you know, where not only do I NOT get to keep my doctor OR my insurance for that matter (priced right out, and pinched the budget more than I could stretch it) but, I gotta listen to people whine about what they don’t get to do? JHC, are you kidding me? Let. them. burn.
@43- I know a state cop there in Westfield.
Been to Westfield State on occasion too.
Complaining about the bookshelves and doggie day care reminds me of a local TV interview a few years back, about students protesting possible tuition hikes at state universities.
One of the “student leaders” talked about how tuition hikes would mean students would actually have to work towards their degrees and not take a semester in Europe. Oh, the horror!
My tolerance for listening to 6 figured bureacrats complain that they’ll take a temporary pay cut was never really there, and it is not enhanced by hearing that a pampered princely professor might have to walk his own dog.
Now, when it comes to bookshelves? Build quality, instead of buying cheap pressed wood, laminated fire starters. If you have to go low budget, go old school: solid wood on concrete block, until you can afford the books to walk you through the process of cutting, nailing, and painting the wood you put your romance novels and distribution of wealth books on.
And for shits and grins, as well as to understand what a true fire hazard you have in your house, take a piece of that cheap, sawdust and glue, “pressed wood” everyone has in their house out to the grill, put a piece of rolled up newspaper under it, and watch how hot, how long, and how fast it burns. For best results, use a piece that was previously damaged by a little water.