For those not paying attention, the Government is shut down. I am an employee, but not deemed essential to the functioning of that government.
Furlough day two. Felt like a regular day off, hasn't sunk in that it's not like any other day off. Did a few errands, watched a movie I had been meaning to see.
Day three, finished up my errands, got in a workout, and doom scrolled on my phone for far too long. I'd rather be at work.
Day 6 through 8, groundhog day. This is getting old. Normally when I have this much time off it's either Christmas or I'm on a trip. I'm very fortunate that I will not struggle with a missed paycheck or two. I do think about a couple co-workers that are GS-9 and 10 on the pay scale, as they are not retirees with a VA disability payment. One is a single mother. USAA is offering us a $6,000 interest-free loan. While I will not partake, I wonder if other financial institutions have that, especially because I doubt that single mother coworker is eligible for membership.
Day 9, boss called to check in on me. I expect the command sent out a list of resources, both financial and mental health related, advising supervisors to reach out and pass it along if needed. Fortunately it's not. While I am bored, I realized this is just politics, and will be over just as soon as one side blinks. My boss is "exempt" from furlough which just means he has to stay working, yet also doesn't get paid. Sarge's "Nuke" daughter is in the same boat. However, due to a law passed during the last Trump administration, we are all going to get back pay anyway. He gets it for the work he did, I will get it for the time off I had, which is kind of crazy but that's the government.
The shutdown over illegal alien health care is almost hilarious. The Democratic leaders involved have gone on the record in the past saying we must avoid a shutdown at all costs, and that we can't pay for the illegals' healthcare. However, now that Trump is in office the script has been flipped and they are all for it. I recently heard that politics is show business for ugly people. Seems like a pretty apt description. The wailing and gnashing of plays well on CNN. It doesn't with me though.
There may be some RIFs in the Govt, but DoD DoW* is exempt, as is DHS. Health, Education, and HUD- not so much. Good riddance for the most part. There is so much bloat that something's gotta give. Let it be the redundant agencies that should lie within state authority, or don't actually do anything to help.
There's rumor of another DRP- Deferred Retirement/Resignation Program. That's when the govt gives civilians a chance to leave (and thus shrink) the government with 6-9 months of pay while you sit at home until the end of the calendar year. We shrunk enough to prevent any RIFs. This DRP has further incentive though- 5 + 5 + 5. Five years added to your years of federal service, 5 years added to your age (so you can reach minimum retirement age), and $5k in severance. 5 years would take me right to where I'd want to be when I plan to retire, but I'd lose some incremental raises, miss out on getting my boss's GS-15 job (no guarantee there though), and 5 years of additional funds in my TSP.** I also probably need SSI to comfortably retire and that isn't part of the deal. So, rumor or not, I'm staying put. I like my job anyway.
Anyway, that's my furlough log. If my daily activity in retirement is going to be like this, I will definitely have to find more to do. KofC stuff and maybe some volunteer docent work on the USS Midway Museum can fill the time. Travel will for sure. Going to Cancun on Sunday, which is going to be a semi regular stop on our timeshare journeys. Call me crazy, but we bought more points on our last visit, and will be going back every other year. We're going to walk into the Tijuana airport on the US side of the border and fly out of there this time. Far cheaper and better schedules than using a domestic carrier.
I just thought of something I could do in my spare time. Relearn Spanish por que me español es muy pobre!*** Dos Margaritas por favor!
*Department of War
**Thrift Savings Plan - think 401K for feds.
***My Spanish sucks!
Thanks for showing one side of the government shutdown circus Tuna, finding a place to volunteer is a good thing thing as Martha says. More time to travel but be careful, that can cost pesos señor......:)
ReplyDeleteI've been volunteering for a long time (Catholic guilt has an upside), just haven't found time for the docent gig.
DeleteHusband is deemed emergency essential, therefore still working. No free vacation for him. Son works for the Army Research Lab and expects to be called back any day now.
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear you both are in a financial bind. Wouldn’t it be nice if the same thing happened to congress? Didn’t pass a budget? No problem, no pay for you until you get off your fat asses and pass one!
ReplyDeleteJust me being pissed off at congress. ( Yes, pissants don’t get capitalization!)
juvat
Hah. Congress vote on something that actually negatively affects them? Pshaw. Might as well hope for term limits for all congresscritters. Pshaw Pshaw...
DeleteNo pay for them and they stay in DC til it’s finished!
ReplyDeleteI have to say this and I just hope I'm putting it politely enough, though I tend to be blunt at times.
ReplyDeleteIt's not just the bloat that pisses off WTP, it's the total lack of (any) attention to detail; it's the total lack of desire to do the job properly; it's the total Insouciance to WTP; it's the total attitude of "I am your better, you'd best genuflect before me."
I think that's why most people (I know) are saying, "Good! give it to 'em - hard."
I have no idea how to "fix" government. There's no incentive to solve anything, no one is empowered to do it, Congress cares a little, but only as far as their next election goes, etc. And since our "product" isn't goods and services for the the most part, there's no fiscal drive to improve anything like capitalism does for regular businesses.
DeleteTuna, thanks for the insight into the shut down. That I can think of, you may be the only person I "know" that I would actually feel comfortable asking about it.
ReplyDeleteTo your point about being bored, think of it as a trial run for retirement. Learning that you need more to do is valuable now when you can plan for it.
Ask away. I'm an open book.
DeleteI'm with juvat and boron! When shumer crows about the shutdown being good for the dhimmicrat party, you know all you need to know about them.
ReplyDeleteBeing a Docent on Midway would be a great use of time; I'd do it if the commute wasn't so long. I greatly enjoy being a Docent at our National Museum of WWII Aviation here in Colorado Springs. Shameless plug; we recently started a podcast, and that's been great fun as well, we've been talking to some amazing people!
Rob Gale
It pays better than Sarge does- free parking and a big discount on food at the Fantail Grill!
DeleteActually, Sarge lets me park for free on his street and he said he'd make me a sandwich if I visit.
DeleteThe DRP 5³ reminds me of wife telling husband that she saved money by buying a dress marked 50% off. So she bought two.
ReplyDeletePaying people to take retirement. My money, your money, our money. Think how much money we saved.
I guess it pays off in the long long run because we have a smaller government, but a bean counter would have to run the numbers.
DeleteNot trying to be mean or anything. But if a position is considered non-essential, why is it a position in the first place?
ReplyDeleteExcellent point!
Deletejuvat
What about the people who do services for other people who are no longer at their desk. IT people, people who deliver the mail (do they still do that) That shows how long I've been retired.
DeleteFirst rule of bureaucracy is bloat the bureaucracy.
DeleteSecond rule of bureaucracy is the less effective an employee is, the harder it is to get rid of said employee.
Third rule of bureaucracy is the more effective an employee is, the greater chance said employee will be fired, RIFfed, furloughed permanently, shuffled off to a job that is useless and soul-sucking and spirit-crushing.
This is how you have offices with 60 people in them and only one person actually is working.
I totally get your point about essential or not. But some workers are essential for keeping the lights on, trains on the tracks, planes in the sky, and so forth. While others, like myself, provide additional value to the government. Think of it as customer service, or in my case the testing and experimentation of new systems that will someday help the fleet. That's nothing that needs to be done right now, so I'm not essential. It doesn't mean we never need that capability, but we can do without it for a little while.
DeleteYour points are valid other than 'customer service'. There is no such thing with the federal govt.
DeleteThere are lots of really good workers in the Fed Bureaucracy that actually do their work, do it well, often do their cow-orkers work (and do it well, too) and are essential in that they're the ones that produce anything positive within whatever bureaucratic hell they're in.
DeleteThey often don't get recognized. Nor get promoted or given bonuses if available. Screwed on the vacation and holiday schedules. They are also the ones usually first to be let go or furloughed by managers who are scared of competent employees.
Painting all government workers as 'lazy shiftless bastids and bastidettes' is basically using a house-painting rig to paint one's wargaming figures.
The thing is, do you trust the performance reviews of piss-poor managers? Oftentimes the best way is to look at the reviews and look at the managers and HR sign-off weenies and assume someone listed as a 'bad employee' often needs to be actually interviewed as most likely the reason they're getting bad reviews is they scare the managers, don't fit DEI/EEOC requirements and piss off the actually lazy and shiftless cow-orkers who complain behind said good workers' backs.
Hang in there, Tuna. This too shall pass.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely, could I survive on retirement and VA right now? Probably. We just curtail a lot of activities. And I would probably get another job or file for unemployment which I'm actually allowed to do right now.
DeleteNo work, no pay- starting with the congress critters. For any FY for which all funding bills have not been passed before the 1 October start of that year, they should not get paid a penny of salary, expenses, benefits, or diddly squat.
ReplyDeleteEveryone else, any day you don't work, you don't get paid. No retroactive paid vacations. Yeah, it will hurt people, but I know over 37 trillion reason why cutting ANY government expenditure is a plus, not a minus. Talk to Chuckie Schumer and tell him he and his insame clown posse should have passed the clean CR back on 30 September.
Of course, the need for any CR or omnibus pork bill exists ONLY because the 535 clowns did not get their main job done on time- for about the 25th year in a row.
I feel sympathy for those workers not getting paid (on time) but I feel a lot more for the unborn generations who will be enslaved to paying most of their earnings into taxes to pay off the debt we are running up now. That has got to stop. NOW.
Yeah, I identify as a miserly curmudgeon.
JB
No, I can think of at least 535 names that you are infinitely more intelligent than, plus about 7000 others that are equally mentally adverse to doing their jobs for the good of the country rather than padding their wallets. (I wonder does SES stand for Stealing Everyone's Salary, Seems logical to me)
DeleteA pox on them all.
juvat
Deferred retirement program 5+5+5. Would be interested in any verifiable rumors you have on that or any information. It would be a great way to get rid of the bloat in the top management.
ReplyDelete