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For those who are saying they will get paid eventually so they have no sympathy, try taking one or two of your paychecks and not cashing them until "eventually," say maybe in a month or so.
See how that feels when it's your paycheck being withheld.
I respect the concept...fair days pay for a fair days work.
How many under this shutdown scrap by weekly on 250$. None. Zip . Nada. Because the ones I know are paid twice if not three times that amount. For a fair days job. Sure.
But do not for one second think that those of us who work weekly dont worry ( not just at times of shutdown) where the money will come from to pay the heat bill.
Two of my associates work full time for govt. Making 60/70k per year. Hardly scraping by.
They were smart to keep a part time job ....as we tend to be that play money they like. So now they are having a light shine in on how us low pay workers "make" a dollar stretch. So now when they get the part time check....at least it will keep the wolves at bay. I like these associates....and since they have endured these political maneuvers before...they have the budget to sustain and take from their bank retirement funds if it gets critical. So if asked how I am affected by this...I now share some of my hours with the govt workers....but don't ask me to feel sorry for a person that 340 days out of the year makes three times more and wouldnt give the time of day otherwise. I'm okay with my choice in career...I'm also okay with giving a leg up to someone who fell from the ivory tower. I'm sure it will be remembered for ohh....
Going to point this out, but a lot of the "not affected me" is because fed employees are doing their best so it doesn't. It's the dedication to their jobs that is rarer in the private sector. How many private employees would keep showing up for work because it's goals mean something to them when they aren't being paid? Or even show up to work if told you won't be paid for a month?
My husband is a government contractor. The contract he's on is funded so he's working. However, the person(s) who approve and process the invoices is furloughed so my husband's employer won't be getting paid this month. The company will pay my husband because they have reserves. However, if the shutdown goes into February, he may not get paid next month.
I know a lot of people who are furloughed. They are either federal employees or contractors. For those saying "they'll eventually get paid" - keep in mind that while federal employees will likely receive back pay - the contractors won't.
I am a call as needed contractor, mostly during the summer.
There is a meeting scheduled for next month to discuss next year. The meeting is optional, and at my expense, but it is good to match a face with a name so I was going to go.
Thankfully I held off on plane tickets and hotel hoping the airfare would go down.
Have not heard a peep about the meeting since the shutdown.
I can now add another way I've been directly affected by the shutdown. I have a Personal Locator Beacon which I carry with me when I go hiking. it has to be registered every two years with the NOAA. I received an email at the end of December that it was time to re-register my beacon; I filled out the online form and received confirmation that my registration was successful. The mail stated that I would receive a new registration sticker within 10 days. It hasn't arrived. I suspect the office printing out the stickers is currently closed, so who knows when I will receive it?
It hasn't effected me one bit except the for the relief knowing that the government isn't working at 100% and that's a good thing. And I always feel better when Congress in in recess.
My wife is a federal employee who has been furloughed, so our household income has dropped by half. We weathered previous shutdowns with my salary and our savings, but this one is coming on the heels of two very bad years, financially speaking. Our short-term savings were already mostly gone before this happened, so now we're really starting to feel the squeeze. It will very quickly get a lot worse for us if her pay doesn't start flowing again soon.
To be sure, we won't starve. My own salary is entirely unaffected and is rolling in as normal. If we have to, we could take out a home equity loan and cover our unexpectedly growing debts that way. But I'm hoping we won't have to. So yeah, I'm being affected. It's not good, but we're not nearly as bad off as some other people are, like the folks who had no savings at all and just lost their only source of income. I really feel for those people.
Being it is a partial shutdown, and I am retired, it does not touch me financially at all. Emotionally, though, it is ripping me apart. Why? Because so many people do not seem bothered by the shutdown if it does not directly affect them. They do not seem to care about those who are being hurt by this, so long as it isn't them. That makes me terribly sad.
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