That might be true up in the republican side of Congress, but for the 3 million people working for the federal government that help make the country function? Absolutely bullshit. This guy is bad and he should feel bad.
this post was submitted on 25 Jul 2023
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When Trump shut down the government during one of his tantrums Federal employees were left furloughed or working with no pay for a month.
And while that was truly awful, federal employees got back pay once the government reopened. The federal contractors who arguably do way more practical day-to-day work on behalf of the American people, went fully without pay, and were not able to recoup any of it.
These political ploys impact real peoples’ lives.
Not all Federal Employees got back pay. I don't think DOD employees did, could be wrong, but I have heard some stories.
Ah I didn't realize that. That really sucks. Still, it's important for people to know that federal contractors do soooo much of the day-to-day work of the government. Contractors usually get a bad rap, but much of the public doesn't understand just how ubiquitous they are across all aspects of government. When the media covers the fallout from a government shutdown, they'll either ignore contractors entirely or mention them in passing.
100%. Contractors are largely left out of any coverage when these issues arise. The functional dynamic between military, civilian, and contractors is beyond intertwined (in general), but the contractor workforce is left out of discussions and follow-on support constantly. As bizarre as it may sound, I think Federal Contractors should unionize. Most contractors are regular working people (not the millionaire contract company executives). These employees are not the people negotiating with the government, they go through traditional interviews with the company awarded a contract -- and in general, wages and contract value are not transparent whatsoever.
Many contractors can also end up working along side mil/civ for years and sometimes their entire career in the same role, but have their pay and other benefits reset whenever the contract changes companies (5 years is a common contract duration), this has burned soo many people, especially those not adept at advocating/negotiating... but even then, sometimes every aspect of compensation and benefits simply plummets and the incumbents have to take it if they want to continue supporting that mission. Civilians on the other hand enjoy amazing stability. Long rant and everyone's experience will vary, but there is a lot of truth above in general terms.
The most fucked part of this is the only spending they consider superfluous is the spending that helps regular people. The republicans want to just funnel money to the rich donor class and fuck everyone else.
So little of what the government does is actually effective in helping common people. The amount that goes to their millionaire/billionaire buddies is absurd. As someone who often works in government contracting, the shit I've seen is ridiculous even when I'm the beneficiary of it.
That’s not the quiet part. Their platform has been for decades “government doesn’t work, elect us and we’ll show you”
Step 1: complain about government spending, claim that it creates untenable debt/deficit (they don't care which, their base doesn't understand the difference.)
Step 2: insist Dems just make cuts to social programs to curb debt/deficit. Dems at least partially cave to keep government functional.
Step 3: immediately push to cut taxes for the wealthy and big businesses, creating a massive deficit in the budget.
Step 4: see step 1.
The GOP's core platform and greatest strength is lying and misinforming voters. Democrats consistently have lower deficits and lower taxes for almost everyone and still people think the GOP is the fiscally conservative party. I'm a young guy and have so many friends that always said Biden/democrats would raise their taxes - they'd never done their own taxes and had literally no idea.
At this point, we could just omit "United" from the United States of America. /s
I kinda feel like we should just evict Texas. Maybe Florida.
Watch as they regress into a total shit show and demand being let back in.
Yes. I may be feeling kind of petty.
The older I get, the more convinced I am that the North only won militarily while the South won the real war.
The issue being things like the Kirk-Holden War.
Me, a Texan: At least I don't live in Florida
FuglyDuck: Boot Texas! Florida ain't too bad...
Me, a sad Texan: Get Sally Struthers down here for my disadvantaged ass!
For the record... of all the states that might become a viable, independent nation, Texas is top two or three on that list. It's probably the only red state that really has a chance. assuming it's not horribly mismanaged.
and that's kind of the point on picking on texas. the reason it'd fail as an independent nation is it's horribly mismanaged and relies on federal aid for pretty much all of it's infrastructure. Also, Texas is leading the way in ruining it for the rest of us- even more so than Florida. (For example the cherry-picked judge pushing anti-abortian policies through is in texas.)
“Where the stars at night are big and bright… because our power grid shit the bed again.”
👏👏👏👏
Texan here. I realize this is a hypothetical, but please don't generalize. My ass would be fucked, and places like Austin and larger cities are bastions of blue. Unfortunately it's our rural trash that can't die off fast enough.
Like Brexit but worse
Texit
I think you spelled “better” wrong.
Depends on which perspective you look at it
Well this is horrifying.
It really is and for reasons we may not be considering here in this thread.
In many authoritarian and fascist regimes, you want the public to become disenfranchised and depoliticized. You don't want them to have any interest in politics other repeating than the party line. It's easy if you can just go around saying well, they're all corrupt so don't worry about it.
Speak for yourself asshole, the most vulnerable populations among us are waiting for you to do your jobs. Typical GOP "The govt doesn't work and elect us to prove it" BS
Good job, bob good
The story is too on-the-nose even for an onion article. “REPRESENTATIVE GOOD SAYS REPRESENTATIVES BAD”
At least he himself is Good