Shutdown Length
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@Axtremus said in Shutdown Length:
@LuFins-Dad said in Shutdown Length:
Again. Trump is a Clinton Democrat. I’ve said it several dozen times.
On healthcare, he is not. Bill Clinton launched childhood immunization initiatives during his presidency.
Trump launched what would become the largest immunization campaign in history during his first term.
On global trade, he is also not. Bill Clinton embraced globalization.
Don’t be fooled for a minute. Trump is very much a globalist, he just believes that the US as the largest market is not getting the preferential treatment in trade agreements that he believes they should.
On foreign policy, he is also not. Bill Clinton promoted NATO expansion, the UN, and multilateralism.
In case you didn’t notice, NATO has expanded since 2016, adding four new nations. In addition and more importantly, NATO nations have expanded their spending and grown their military capabilities substantially.
As far as multilateralism, Trump has very much embraced it, from the Abraham Accords, to his efforts to get ME nations to proactively and publicly try to help with the Palestinian/Israel conflict, to his insistence that Europe has to be much more involved in the Ukrainian/Russian war.
Heck, how did you convince yourself that Trump is a Clinton Democrat?
By actually paying attention.
@LuFins-Dad said in Shutdown Length:
By actually paying attention.
IMHO Trump isn't an anything philosophically. He mostly just has a lot of individual ideas, some of which change from week to week, or even I suspect hour to hour.
He could suddenly announce he's going to cancel the Green Card program, or he's going to legalize heroin, or he's going to build a massive fuck-off monument in Albuquerque NM paying homage to Randolph Scott, and a bunch of people would nod and say this was exactly what America needs right now.
IOW, he's all over the place. Whether this is by design or due to an increasing lack of cognitive ability is of course open to the reader.
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If all he does is move journalism back to presenting facts rather than opinions and propaganda he will have been a very consequential president.
@Mik said in Shutdown Length:
If all he does is move journalism back to presenting facts rather than opinions and propaganda he will have been a very consequential president.
And to think they said satire was dead.
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@Mik said in Shutdown Length:
Take a look at CBS.
Right, they've got a new person promising to be Fair and Balanced. If I remember correctly, Jolly used to say the most objective news on Cable TV was Fox. I think that tells us something about human nature.
Personally, I think the most objective news is on the BBC, who by some massive coincidence also happen to be slightly left of center and British, just like me.
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Can I just ask what the hell is going on?
I mean, as I understand our UK system, we pay taxes for an appointed Civil Service which is trained and actions over years whatever our various elected governments asks of them.In the USA you have to agree on a budget annually to pay the equivalent people; a small amount is mandated but a huge amount is discretionary.
Yet even when both US houses support Trump they can't agree on a budget, so start firing people?
WTF? -
Ah.
Still, surely isn't it ridiculous that your country can't give their necessary federal workers, including military(?), a steady job and salary?@AndyD said in Shutdown Length:
Ah.
Still, surely isn't it ridiculous that your country can't give their necessary federal workers, including military(?), a steady job and salary?The military is receiving pay. A better phrasing for this would be “Non-Essential Government Shutdown”. Military, security, law enforcement, Social Security, Medicare, HUD, Vet services, all continue.
The Brad
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@AndyD said in Shutdown Length:
Ah.
Still, surely isn't it ridiculous that your country can't give their necessary federal workers, including military(?), a steady job and salary?The military is receiving pay. A better phrasing for this would be “Non-Essential Government Shutdown”. Military, security, law enforcement, Social Security, Medicare, HUD, Vet services, all continue.
@LuFins-Dad said in Shutdown Length:
@AndyD said in Shutdown Length:
Ah.
Still, surely isn't it ridiculous that your country can't give their necessary federal workers, including military(?), a steady job and salary?The military is receiving pay. A better phrasing for this would be “Non-Essential Government Shutdown”. Military, security, law enforcement, Social Security, Medicare, HUD, Vet services, all continue.
Do Congress and the Senate get paid?
And to think people say there are no stupid questions.
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@AndyD said in Shutdown Length:
Ah.
Still, surely isn't it ridiculous that your country can't give their necessary federal workers, including military(?), a steady job and salary?The military is receiving pay. A better phrasing for this would be “Non-Essential Government Shutdown”. Military, security, law enforcement, Social Security, Medicare, HUD, Vet services, all continue.
@LuFins-Dad said in Shutdown Length:
@AndyD said in Shutdown Length:
Ah.
Still, surely isn't it ridiculous that your country can't give their necessary federal workers, including military(?), a steady job and salary?The military is receiving pay. A better phrasing for this would be “Non-Essential Government Shutdown”. Military, security, law enforcement, Social Security, Medicare, HUD, Vet services, all continue.
Break out the small violins. 20 days of forced unemployment for me. Any more and I might have to make my kids start paying me for chores! (I do not get back pay unlike federal workers who will get paid for zero output since October 1st...aka they're all on paid vacations... very smart use of your tax dollars!)
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I do appreciate your struggles. I hope that you guys are getting by without too much financial pain. Have you applied for unemployment benefits? And have you considered looking for temporary work or just another job during the shutdown?
The shutdown has affected our business as well, both at my store and Karla’s business. A fair number of her clients are Federal workers or subs.
While I empathize with your personal situation, the plight of all of your coworkers and friends hits me on the same “what a shame” level as reading about mass layoffs in many industries. Remember when I posted about the glass factory my dad used to work at shut down? That was the largest employer in the region. Recently, the second largest employer in the region also shutdown (Fourth Street Foods) but that’s actually a good thing, IMO, because that’s the company that was importing and keeping all of those Haitians in an indentured servitude system. On a national level, we typically see 70K-80K layoffs every month. Each and every single one of those are a shame and a crisis on an individual level. I see no reason to carry more moral outrage and contempt for the federal government and the current shutdown than I do those employers and organizations that laid off those 70K employees.
And yes, I know that these employees will still get back pay when the shutdown ends and it’s tax dollars waisted. But personally, I don’t see much difference between that waste and the waste of actually paying them for working. Since I feel that much of the Federal Government’s work is well beyond it’s scope and ultimately has negative repercussions despite their intentions, I’d rather have that money wasted paying them not to work… But I have a small hope that people around the United States living in areas where Federal Government’s is not the top employer will take a look at how little the shutdown has affected their personal lives and consider whether a smaller and less intrusive government might not be a better idea.
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I do appreciate your struggles. I hope that you guys are getting by without too much financial pain. Have you applied for unemployment benefits? And have you considered looking for temporary work or just another job during the shutdown?
The shutdown has affected our business as well, both at my store and Karla’s business. A fair number of her clients are Federal workers or subs.
While I empathize with your personal situation, the plight of all of your coworkers and friends hits me on the same “what a shame” level as reading about mass layoffs in many industries. Remember when I posted about the glass factory my dad used to work at shut down? That was the largest employer in the region. Recently, the second largest employer in the region also shutdown (Fourth Street Foods) but that’s actually a good thing, IMO, because that’s the company that was importing and keeping all of those Haitians in an indentured servitude system. On a national level, we typically see 70K-80K layoffs every month. Each and every single one of those are a shame and a crisis on an individual level. I see no reason to carry more moral outrage and contempt for the federal government and the current shutdown than I do those employers and organizations that laid off those 70K employees.
And yes, I know that these employees will still get back pay when the shutdown ends and it’s tax dollars waisted. But personally, I don’t see much difference between that waste and the waste of actually paying them for working. Since I feel that much of the Federal Government’s work is well beyond it’s scope and ultimately has negative repercussions despite their intentions, I’d rather have that money wasted paying them not to work… But I have a small hope that people around the United States living in areas where Federal Government’s is not the top employer will take a look at how little the shutdown has affected their personal lives and consider whether a smaller and less intrusive government might not be a better idea.
@LuFins-Dad said in Shutdown Length:
I do appreciate your struggles. I hope that you guys are getting by without too much financial pain. Have you applied for unemployment benefits? And have you considered looking for temporary work or just another job during the shutdown?
Thanks - it hasn't been painful, I've been able to get a number of projects done around the house. Can't file for unemployment because I am employed and the "unable to work and bill hours for it" is a pure policy issue, our contract is funded for multiple years already. This week there have been "critical cybersecurity bugs" identified that we have been allowed to work on, so I'm once again working a bit...all good.
And yes, I know that these employees will still get back pay when the shutdown ends and it’s tax dollars waisted. But personally, I don’t see much difference between that waste and the waste of actually paying them for working. Since I feel that much of the Federal Government’s work is well beyond it’s scope and ultimately has negative repercussions despite their intentions, I’d rather have that money wasted paying them not to work…
In specific cases yes, but your paint brush is so extremely broad that I don't think we'll agree on that. Although as I said with DOGE, if there was a way to require a 5 or 10% decrease in workforce each year until agencies started really seeing pain points, I'd be ok with that. There is certainly fat to cut.
