4 ms·

I can't help but wonder what impact this is going to have years or decades in to the future. The government has had a hard time as it is to keep positions fill

I can't help but wonder what impact this is going to have years or decades in to the future. The government has had a hard time as it is to keep positions filled as they are competing with better pay in the private sector. Who would ever want to work for the government if whether or not you're getting paid is constantly up in the air.

prmph 8y ago
Maybe, for the right wing, this situation is working out as intended. They want to starve the beast (government) into becoming as small as possible. Trying to show that things can go on just fine without much of the government, and reducing the attractiveness of government jobs, are all means to this end
- rabidrat 8y ago
  I think this is exactly what is happening, and why the GOP senators are complicit with the shutdown.
  - bwb 8y ago
    Which is frustrating as its a self-fulfilling prophesy, treat people like shit, and when that department/gov agency doesn't work well blame it on vague big government rather than the fact you don't pay competitively and you ran out everyone who had talent. Government service should be honored, these people take a pay cut in most cases to keep OUR society running. I miss the days when public service was respected.
    - FeloniousHam 8y ago
      > Government service should be honored, these people take a pay cut in most cases to keep OUR society running. Government "service" is just a job, and these people take a pay cut in exchange for job security (and in the cases I'm personally familiar with, fantastic health insurance). The shutdown is nonsensical, expensive, and a pointless hardship for everyone affected, but there's no need to elevate government employees to sainthood.
      - rabidrat 8y ago
        Honor != sainthood. Like teaching and nursing, some people feel a calling to help, and are willing to make not-insignificant sacrifices to do so. They're not in it for the money and won't be transferring into fintech for better wages. My partner is a "civil servant" and I see on a weekly basis how she is consistently overworked and undervalued. But she has a mission to improve our city's infrastructure for cyclists and pedestrians, and you just can't do that effectively as an engineer outside of the public sector.
        bwb 8y ago
        Well said, I am so tired of people like FeloniousHam who do not understand the work that goes into making society and civilization work. It is a calling and should take an honored place in society just like teachers, firemen, police, etc.
- dopylitty 8y ago
  Except things aren't going on just fine. There are huge consequences for everything from people who depend on HUD for housing to domestic violence shelters who depend on Justice Department grants to be able to afford diapers. New weather models haven't been published because the scientists creating them are furloughed. Air traffic control is impacted. Craft breweries can't release new beers because there's nobody to validate that they're safe. The list goes on and on. Imagine the things we're not seeing yet because the impacts will only be felt years later. In fact if there's not already a gist of impacts from the government shutdown there should be one. I do agree that they may be intentionally reducing the attractiveness of government jobs and decreasing the quality of government programs in an effort to shift more wealth to their already wealthy private sector buddies.
  - rmah 8y ago
    To many people with certain political leanings, that's just fine.
    - dopylitty 8y ago
      That's true. I took the original poster as meaning things appear to be just fine from a regular person's point of view rather than a libertarian extremist point of view.
  - t0mbstone 8y ago
    Things that many Republicans don't want their tax dollars going toward: 1. Poor people who are in need (those lazy people who are abusing welfare just need to get a job). 2. Weather models (global warming is a lie made up by liberals). 3. Air traffic control shouldn't require federal participation and should just be handled by private companies. (All that regulation just gets in the way of airline profits!) 4. Craft breweries should be able to release beers without having to go through months of red tape. (All that government regulation is hurting business owners!) 5. etc, etc... Many Republicans actually love the idea of less regulation, so a government shutdown is great!
    - 8y ago
rm_-rf_slash 8y ago
This could easily circumvented by passing the Stop STUPIDITY Act, which basically says if the government can’t pass a budget or continuing resolution in time, the government automatically adopts the previous year’s budget and suspends all pay for the legislative and executive branches until a new budget is passed. Instead of using government workers keeping intact our very thin veneer between civilization and barbarity as bargaining chips at best and hostages at worst, the pain would fall squarely on the President and Congress.
- jacobr 8y ago
  It works sort of like this in Sweden (we just got a proper government after the election in September). It led to interesting things like some extra millions for celebrating Ingmar Bergman's 101 anniversary, carried over from the 100 year anniversary last year. But at least people got their salaries.
- scarface74 8y ago
  Looking at the net worth of people in Congress, they may be inconvenienced, but they wouldn’t starve if they didn’t receive their pay. https://bigthink.com/news/heres-how-much-senators-and-congress-members-are-worth-compared-with-us-common-people-surprised https://bigthink.com/news/heres-how-much-senators-and-congre...
  - criddell 8y ago
    I think the act is more about protecting workers rather than punishing legislators.
  - asteli 8y ago
    It'd be better, in my estimation, to adopt the system used by Commonwealth countries (iirc) wherein failing to pass a budget triggers elections for representatives. I'm dead sure if that were the case here we wouldn't have this problem.
    - manicdee 8y ago

prmph 8y ago

Maybe, for the right wing, this situation is working out as intended. They want to starve the beast (government) into becoming as small as possible. Trying to show that things can go on just fine without much of the government, and reducing the attractiveness of government jobs, are all means to this end

rabidrat 8y ago
I think this is exactly what is happening, and why the GOP senators are complicit with the shutdown.
- bwb 8y ago
  Which is frustrating as its a self-fulfilling prophesy, treat people like shit, and when that department/gov agency doesn't work well blame it on vague big government rather than the fact you don't pay competitively and you ran out everyone who had talent. Government service should be honored, these people take a pay cut in most cases to keep OUR society running. I miss the days when public service was respected.
  - FeloniousHam 8y ago
    > Government service should be honored, these people take a pay cut in most cases to keep OUR society running. Government "service" is just a job, and these people take a pay cut in exchange for job security (and in the cases I'm personally familiar with, fantastic health insurance). The shutdown is nonsensical, expensive, and a pointless hardship for everyone affected, but there's no need to elevate government employees to sainthood.
    - rabidrat 8y ago
      Honor != sainthood. Like teaching and nursing, some people feel a calling to help, and are willing to make not-insignificant sacrifices to do so. They're not in it for the money and won't be transferring into fintech for better wages. My partner is a "civil servant" and I see on a weekly basis how she is consistently overworked and undervalued. But she has a mission to improve our city's infrastructure for cyclists and pedestrians, and you just can't do that effectively as an engineer outside of the public sector.
      - bwb 8y ago
        Well said, I am so tired of people like FeloniousHam who do not understand the work that goes into making society and civilization work. It is a calling and should take an honored place in society just like teachers, firemen, police, etc.
dopylitty 8y ago
Except things aren't going on just fine. There are huge consequences for everything from people who depend on HUD for housing to domestic violence shelters who depend on Justice Department grants to be able to afford diapers. New weather models haven't been published because the scientists creating them are furloughed. Air traffic control is impacted. Craft breweries can't release new beers because there's nobody to validate that they're safe. The list goes on and on. Imagine the things we're not seeing yet because the impacts will only be felt years later. In fact if there's not already a gist of impacts from the government shutdown there should be one. I do agree that they may be intentionally reducing the attractiveness of government jobs and decreasing the quality of government programs in an effort to shift more wealth to their already wealthy private sector buddies.
- rmah 8y ago
  To many people with certain political leanings, that's just fine.
  - dopylitty 8y ago
    That's true. I took the original poster as meaning things appear to be just fine from a regular person's point of view rather than a libertarian extremist point of view.
- t0mbstone 8y ago
  Things that many Republicans don't want their tax dollars going toward: 1. Poor people who are in need (those lazy people who are abusing welfare just need to get a job). 2. Weather models (global warming is a lie made up by liberals). 3. Air traffic control shouldn't require federal participation and should just be handled by private companies. (All that regulation just gets in the way of airline profits!) 4. Craft breweries should be able to release beers without having to go through months of red tape. (All that government regulation is hurting business owners!) 5. etc, etc... Many Republicans actually love the idea of less regulation, so a government shutdown is great!
  - 8y ago

rm_-rf_slash 8y ago

This could easily circumvented by passing the Stop STUPIDITY Act, which basically says if the government can’t pass a budget or continuing resolution in time, the government automatically adopts the previous year’s budget and suspends all pay for the legislative and executive branches until a new budget is passed. Instead of using government workers keeping intact our very thin veneer between civilization and barbarity as bargaining chips at best and hostages at worst, the pain would fall squarely on the President and Congress.

jacobr 8y ago
It works sort of like this in Sweden (we just got a proper government after the election in September). It led to interesting things like some extra millions for celebrating Ingmar Bergman's 101 anniversary, carried over from the 100 year anniversary last year. But at least people got their salaries.
scarface74 8y ago
Looking at the net worth of people in Congress, they may be inconvenienced, but they wouldn’t starve if they didn’t receive their pay. https://bigthink.com/news/heres-how-much-senators-and-congress-members-are-worth-compared-with-us-common-people-surprised https://bigthink.com/news/heres-how-much-senators-and-congre...
- criddell 8y ago
  I think the act is more about protecting workers rather than punishing legislators.
- asteli 8y ago
  It'd be better, in my estimation, to adopt the system used by Commonwealth countries (iirc) wherein failing to pass a budget triggers elections for representatives. I'm dead sure if that were the case here we wouldn't have this problem.
  - manicdee 8y ago