More Furlough Fun

[neadods]

I've been offline the last few days so that I could start clearing out my cluttered library. My mother may be right; I might have too many books.

But I thought I would pass on the latest furlough fun a friend passed on before I catch up online tomorrow.

Fact: The holidays paid for by contracting companies never match 100% with the holidays the government takes. (For example, my company gives me the Friday after Thanksgiving off, when the fed is open, but does not give me Veterans Day off, which is a federal holiday. Yes, you take personal leave for times like that.)

Fact: Even contractors who are back at work (lucky Pentagon!) have probably used up a lot of their personal leave to deal with the furlough.

2+2=even people who went back to work are statistically likely to be taking tomorrow not as a holiday, but leave without pay. Those who are out of work will be taking it as *more* leave without pay - the beginning of the third week of shutdown, which means that anyone on a biweekly pay schedule will lose an entire paycheck.

Think about that, as the Christmas decorations show up in stores and the ads start. The lucky ones will be shorted tomorrow's wages. The unlucky ones are out half a month's wages.

The ripples from the shutdown have only just begun.

And I hear that Cruz and Palin had the nerve to protest the shutting of the WWII memorial. Because that's THE most important thing that's missing right now, apparently. The only ones hurting right now are veterans and tourists.

Comments

[fandance.livejournal.com]

I am not normally an alarmist (go ahead, ask Neadods if I am)
But. I am getting worried. Quite worried.
I was conversing with a woman I know and I commented about news reports that if the Government defaults (omg, how that phrase is rolling off our lips - once upon a time, it was absurd and unthinkable), then come November the Social Security checks don't go out (nor do foodstamps, veterans benefits, unemployment, reimbursements for Medicare and Medicaid, etc) and the US Treasury may not make the interest payments on the treasury bonds, and she scoffed at me. "Oh, the Government has plenty of money". Nothing I said had any impact. So I ended the conversation with "Well, we'll see what happens"

[neadods.livejournal.com]

That is the reaction of the Tea Party sympathizing co worker. The government has plenty of money, therefore it cannot possibly run out of money. The unspoken part is "if we just stop paying for crap the liberals want."

I pointed out that last time we even discussed defaulting without doing it, the country's credit rating went down.

[badgermirlacca.livejournal.com]

I don't think we WILL default, if only because doing so would be flatly unconstitutional (okay, maybe I'm being optimistic there).

14th Amendment, Section 4. The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned.

If push comes to shove, the President *can* make a unilateral decision overriding Congress on this issue. Of course, if he does, the Tea Party (which does not read the Constitution for all that they wave it around a lot) and the conservatives will be screaming "La Guillotine!"

[neadods.livejournal.com]

Since we already know that the Tea Party doesn't care about constitutionally passed laws, Obama has nothing to lose by hewing to the 14th Amendment.

I rather wish he'd say so to see if that scares anyone to the table.

[badgermirlacca.livejournal.com]

I don't think he dares to say so; they'd impeach him so fast his head would spin, and who cares what it does to the country?

Also, I think he's learning that he'd better watch what he says (see: chemical weapons are a red line), and I think the ongoing threat of impeachment really matters to him. There are Representatives who have stated for the record they're looking for an excuse.

It's absolutely amazing, isn't it, how threatened they are just by the color of his skin.

Because we have so little else to concern us these days, after all--let's have a Presidential trial to drum up entertainment.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

They impeached Clinton for all the good it did them. You don't *have* to step down a la Nixon if impeached. And they already won't work with him.

Frankly, I think Obama has nothing to lose if they do.

[badgermirlacca.livejournal.com]

I disagree; I think he has a lot to lose, both in personal pride and as regards place-in-history, which he doesn't want besmirched. I have no idea what he's really thinking, of course, but I doubt he wants the first black president to be impeached for high crimes and misdemeanors. (I guess "high crimes" means "felonies"?)

And I don't think he wants the distraction, right now.

But hey, I could be wrong.