Do you care?

[SMS]

I'm not going to bash those that will get hurt by the sequestration but are these same people that will be furloughed once a month or whatever it is; aren't they normally a federal or state employee? If so, why complain when you already have the best pension and benefits our money can buy you? Someone on here said they will lose 20% of their pay for 6 months? How so?

Hate to sidetrack, well really I don't because it's fun, but best pension? Not really. The pension works out to 1% per year of service....based on the average of the last three years of service. For a guy making $50K, that pension equals $10K per year if he bails at 20. It's better than nothing, but not "the best".

As far as the sequestration cut, some folks are facing a furlough of 2 days for every pay period. A typical pay period is 10 working days (for the mon-fri crowd). Basic math brings that to a 20% reduction.

But I agree, given our country's insane financial situation, something has to give and the adjustment period is going to hurt. The bad thing about this sequestration is that an entire year's budget cuts are going to be forced into a 6 month period. If our "leaders" would actually plan out a budget with real cuts next year, things could be spread out to ease the pain....lots of ground could be made with voluntary early retirements, attrition etc...

I'd love to see a corresponding cut in the 70+ social welfare programs to go along with the rest of the cuts, but I'm not holding my breath. And like I said in a previous post, most of this is show. Political theater with no real impact on government spending. That makes a 20% pay cut even harder to swallow.

 

[Hump66]

I'm thinking about going to go back to school and using my GI Bill to make up the difference. Either way, this is going to suck.

 

[SMS]

It could suck Hump, but I think most of it won't actually come to pass.

There are a lot of different pots of money within each organization...for example my guys and I are mostly funded out of the "Franchise Fund" and our work is already funded, and paid for, for the next year or two, so we might not miss a beat.

Something's got to give. I just wish they would do it in a calm, reasoned, planned out fashion rather than this "manufacture a crisis, let it come to a head, and act without thinking method" we've been on for years.

 

[daytomann]

The primary target of sequestration is the DOD, you'll notice there's no talk of cutting so-called entitlements.

Exactly (these types of cuts were carefully calculated as leverage) and now republicans are resorting to the same panic/crisis mode (political drama and posturing) to defend their sacred cow as the dems do to defend their sacred cows. These people are addicted to spending and neither side have the balls to cut what needs to be cut. Is it just going to come down to collapse or severe austerity measures?

I'd rather see rational and necessary cuts now than the alternative. And government employees...you should to. Furloughs suck but the option of complete job elimination sucks worse. It won't be too rosey for the private sector either.

I think that right only only guys like Rand Paul and few others get it. We gotta stamp out the establishment politics and get back to basics!

 

[BadgeBunny]

I care insomuch as a lot of my friends ... And a lot of folks from here who I consider friends ... will be affected adversely. You guys are in my prayers ... Damned politicians ...

 

[daytomann]

I don't think it's 10% across the board look here: http://www.cbpp.org/cms/?fa=view&id=3635 I'll look for information on programs that are exempt.

Lots of spending seems to be exempt from sequestration : http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R42050.pdf

From what I understand that's a common misconception and part of the panic/scare tactics. I gather its $44 billion reduction in projected spending. That is NOT a cut. That's just reduction in future spending and we STILL end up spending MORE than last year. Pathetic.....

 

[SMS]

No, it is an actual cut to the rest of this fiscal year's spending. Money that was promised, allocated, planned for etc...is now not going to be available.

It doesn't matter that the end result might still be fractionally more than last year, it's still less than planned for this year. Hence the need to roll spending back and furlough employees....an entire year's worth of rollback stuffed into 6 months.

Real cuts do need to be made. But they need to do it in advance of the fiscal year, not in the middle of it.

 

[CAR-AR-M16]

I care insomuch as a lot of my friends ... And a lot of folks from here who I consider friends ... will be affected adversely. You guys are in my prayers ... Damned politicians ...

Your prayers are appreciated.

 

[HMFIC]

In past goverment furloughs, they all recieved back pay. Can't say in your situation.

I had heard this too... anyone here part of those furloughs in the past that can comment? I heard someone who had gone through it before on the radio comment that she just laughs because she knows it will end up being a paid vacation is all.

 

[CAR-AR-M16]

I had heard this too... anyone here part of those furloughs in the past that can comment? I heard someone who had gone through it before on the radio comment that she just laughs because she knows it will end up being a paid vacation is all.

I remember that. We were sent home for 3 days. When we returned we received the pay back. The issue then was that the government had not passed a budget or a continuing resolution, so there was no funding to pay anyone. When they passed the budget, the money was there. That does NOT mean that we will receive any back pay this time since this is an actual cut in the funds and they are not going to be replaced in the future. That lady who laughs thinking she is getting a paid vacation is in for a big surprise.