Sequester: Where will the government professionals work? (lawyers, statistics, border)
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Since when have I said that? I was a big fan of the auto bail out, not because those industries were especially deserving, but because they were completely nuked by the meltdown and bubble squeeze. We tried to help business owners with tax cuts and bailouts. Although record profits have occurred, they have still been outsourcing. That is all we can do. Nonetheless, the private sector IS rebounding. The public sector is what is still bleeding jobs. The sequester will just add to that. It is pure ideological foolishness.
The private sector is NOT rebounding... The numbers don't support it... Say what you will, we have never gotten out of the recession and it is still around our necks. Come to work in the real world. Come open your own business then tell me all about "the private sector rebound". The UE numbers just this week reflected another huge number in those who have GIVEN UP looking for work. You don't have that when your private sector is "rebounding". We have massive unemployment and huge numbers on subsistance of one form or other. You don't have that in a "rebounding" recovery. These government workers while it is a shame they are losing their jobs are actually in a better position financially to survive than the vast majority of american workers in the private sector.
Since when have I said that? I was a big fan of the auto bail out, not because those industries were especially deserving, but because they were completely nuked by the meltdown and bubble squeeze. We tried to help business owners with tax cuts and bailouts. Although record profits have occurred, they have still been outsourcing. That is all we can do. Nonetheless, the private sector IS rebounding. The public sector is what is still bleeding jobs. The sequester will just add to that. It is pure ideological foolishness.
There is a bright spot in the March jobless numbers, if government is your line of work.
The unemployment rate for civilian government workers dropped to 3.6 percent in March from 3.8 percent in February, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Well, I think it is also associated with travel restrictions, hiring freezes, etc. I cannot say for sure what the effects of all this will be, but it will not be trivial.
Yes there are travel restrictions, going to 5 day a week operation for guards and other items but they also amount to a small percentage. Germany did the same cutting back hours for employees rather than layoffs. They should have agreed on more reasonable cuts but this is not that drastic a change.
Do you know the FAA restored the money for those 129 towers until June ?
Somehow they "found" money.
That's not quite accurate. There has been a delay in closing 149 towers due to legal challenges. Trade groups representing companies that operate the towers under contract for FAA filed a lawsuit, causing the delay. Also 50 airports the airport or the town agreed to cover tower operation costs. That just means there will be bigger cuts later to cover the shortfall the two months extra months the tower were delayed closing.
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Originally Posted by Spaten_Drinker
Unless your position actually involves direct contact with the public, it should be subject to elimination.
Spoken like someone that hasn't a clue what the government employees do. While it certainly true there are some federal governemnt workers the government can do without, most of them do a good job and the public will feel the pain where they are not there. There's a huge back of the house operations the public doesn't see or hear about that runs things. Take Air Traffic Controllers for example, for every Air Traffic controller there are 3 to 4 people that technicians that service equipment at the airports, in the ARTCC's and in the field (think radar towers, landing lights, navigational equipment), if you were "eliminate" them because they don't work with the public, the entire FAA system would ground to the halt a few weeks.
Last edited by TechGromit; 04-11-2013 at 10:11 AM..
When it went through the argument was that it would all start the first of April. Massive delays in air travel. Houses burning down because of a lack of fire protection. Law enforcement being forced to release prisoners. Just a devastating circumstance for everyone.
Or not, so it seems.
The first day of the Sequester for FAA employees is April 21st. There hasn't been any impact yet, cause it hasn't happened yet. There have been some layoffs of contractor employees, this is just beginning to have an impact on operations. Probably not any impact the public can see yet, but they will have an accumulative effect as time does on.
A good way to look at it is sure you can save $20 by not changing your oil every three months, and yes your car will still run, but at some point in the future the engine will seize up and changing the oil then will not have an effect. The same is true of the sequester. There will not be a big impact on Air Traffic operations until one day after enough of the Air Traffic system breaks down there will be massive delays, and just restoring funding to previous levels isn't going to fix things overnight.
Last edited by TechGromit; 04-11-2013 at 10:32 AM..
Let's say we roll forward with this sequester idea and make it permanent. The biggest effect will be that many people will be furloughed, terminated or not hired. The folks affected would be postal workers, park rangers, foresters, air traffic controllers, border patrol guards, research scientists, senior managers, biologists, engineers, food inspectors, fisheries observers, human resource professionals, game managers, etc.
Most federal jobs require a college degree, some PhDs, and some experience in specialized roles. Where will all these folks go if we axe the agencies they work for? Will they get sucked up into the private sector? Will they end up on the dole? Fast food? Oil exploration? Adult entertainment?
I am just wondering how people think protecting low tax rates for the wealthiest citizens is more important than the work these people do. Will the job creators hire them? Or are their current jobs completely dispensible?
I am trying to figure out how axing these highly skilled people will be a good idea with UE at 7.6% It would seem to me that these people will either: 1) be so specialized that they will say that cannot find suitable work and collect unemployment, 2) enter the job market and kick the asses of the high school educated joe six pack guys already reeling from the recession, or 3) become consultants and get paid three times what they made to do the duties of their old jobs.
I am sure Grover Norquist will be dancing a ***, but how about the businesses that sell food, cars, houses, beer, furniture,etc. to these people?
NO ONE HAS TO BE FIRED.
ALL agencies get MORE this year then LAST year. The amount if INCREASE is reduced.
The sequester for most agencies has turned out to be a 1 day furlough every 2 weeks, so it amounts to around a 10% cut in salary for 9 months.
It's important to remember this is just the first year of the sequester, the cuts will be progressively bigger each year.
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Originally Posted by desertdetroiter
My wife is an executive level federal employee, and has already had her Sequester furlough days cut from 21 down to 14. So for 14 weeks, she's gotta take one unpaid day off. Fine with her. She needs the days off anyway. The furlough doesn't start until late May.
I'm a federal contractor, and we haven't been given any exact info as to our fates. I'm facing a pay cut for sure...with much worse to come if things don't change.
But most people I know don't seem to be too worried. I know I'm not. I don't care one way or another.
Personally I AM worried about this, more so because I'm hearing nothing in the news congress is going to fix this. The contracting company I work for cut 10% of there staff, I expect cuts will be Much Larger next year, once there are no more air traffic control towers left to close to save money. Personally I cut my spending, I haven't purchased anything I didn't absolutely need to and don't plan to either until this is resolved.
Let's say we roll forward with this sequester idea and make it permanent. The biggest effect will be that many people will be furloughed, terminated or not hired. The folks affected would be postal workers, park rangers, foresters, air traffic controllers, border patrol guards, research scientists, senior managers, biologists, engineers, food inspectors, fisheries observers, human resource professionals, game managers, etc.
Most federal jobs require a college degree, some PhDs, and some experience in specialized roles. Where will all these folks go if we axe the agencies they work for? Will they get sucked up into the private sector? Will they end up on the dole? Fast food? Oil exploration? Adult entertainment?
I am just wondering how people think protecting low tax rates for the wealthiest citizens is more important than the work these people do. Will the job creators hire them? Or are their current jobs completely dispensible?
I am trying to figure out how axing these highly skilled people will be a good idea with UE at 7.6% It would seem to me that these people will either: 1) be so specialized that they will say that cannot find suitable work and collect unemployment, 2) enter the job market and kick the asses of the high school educated joe six pack guys already reeling from the recession, or 3) become consultants and get paid three times what they made to do the duties of their old jobs.
I am sure Grover Norquist will be dancing a ***, but how about the businesses that sell food, cars, houses, beer, furniture,etc. to these people?
Why don't we ask them? What is their current back up plan in case their current career path falls through?
The first day of the Sequester for FAA employees is April 21st. There hasn't been any impact yet, cause it hasn't happened yet. There have been some layoffs of contractor employees, this is just beginning to have an impact on operations. Probably not any impact the public can see yet, but they will have an accumulative effect as time does on.
No it won't.
Quote:
A good way to look at it is sure you can save $20 by not changing your oil every three months, and yes your car will still run, but at some point in the future the engine will seize up and changing the oil then will not have an effect. The same is true of the sequester. There will not be a big impact on Air Traffic operations until one day after enough of the Air Traffic system breaks down there will be massive delays, and just restoring funding to previous levels isn't going to fix things overnight.
I drive maybe 2000 miles in 3 months. Why would I discard perfectly good oil?
There will not massive delays. It's not going to happen. There is a reason nobody took this seriously. After the administration was called out on their lies it's quite amazing that there are still defenders here.
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