800,000 government jobs were classified as NON-ESSENTIAL (holidays, regular, federal government, federal) - Politics and Other Controversies -Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians, Conservatives, Liberals, Third Parties, Left-Wing, Right-Wing, Congress, President - City-Data Forum

petch751 · 10-07-2013, 05:46 PM

So what does that say? Government is too big.

ovcatto · 10-07-2013, 06:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by petch751

So what does that say? Government is too big.

Depends on your definition of essential doesn't it?

Personally I have enough understanding of the English language to understand the distinction between essential and necessary.

I may not be able to survive without federal law enforcement for a day.

I can manage to survive for a while without EPA crews removing chemical waste.

Essential and necessary.

desertdetroiter · 10-07-2013, 06:56 PM

They define what's essential and non essential in very vague terms.

Smoke_Jaguar4 · 10-07-2013, 06:58 PM

This is like the 79th tread on this topic since the shutdown. Lookup the definition of "Government Essential". It's not quite what you think it is.

chuckmann · 10-07-2013, 07:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by petch751

So what does that say? Government is too big.

I was working for SBC (now AT&T) in 2004 when the CWA went out on strike. Since the company needed people to man the call centers and do other work such as installations of phones and DSL, Managment decided to classify us low levels as either "essential", meaning you worked your regular job, and "non essential", meaning you filled in at the call center or did customer installations, both highly visible customer service jobs.

Go figure

But yes I believe that the Federal Government is way too big.

Roadking2003 · 10-07-2013, 07:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by petch751

So what does that say? Government is too big.

That's just a drop in the bucket. It's probably more like 8 million.

cruxan · 10-07-2013, 07:43 PM

the non essential are getting paid holidays, and the essential that are working have to work for it..

seattlenextyear · 10-07-2013, 08:10 PM

Yeah, who needs shrimp inspectors anyways. Almost All of the Shrimp Americans Eat Is Now Going Uninspected - Gwynn Guilford - The Atlantic Cities

winkosmosis · 10-07-2013, 08:13 PM

The ‘non-essential’ parts of government that shut down are actually quite essential

Ingenere · 10-07-2013, 08:19 PM

I am still surviving. How about you guys?