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I Am A Federal Employee
FedSmith.com ^ | April 6, 2011 | Kelly Arsenault

Posted on 04/07/2011 6:13:38 PM PDT by Poundstone

As we draw closer to a government shutdown, I have been reading with great interest. You see, I am a federal employee employed at Fort Drum as a civilian mail clerk. I am looking at the possibility of a furlough for as long as it takes for Congress to reach an agreement. It could be days or it could be weeks, but regardless of how long, I am more concerned at how much. How much will this affect my family? How much will it hurt us financially? The uncertainty is maddening as I, and my fellow federal workers, watch the stage show that is called Washington Politics gamble with our way of making a living.

(Excerpt) Read more at fedsmith.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: employees; federal; shutdown
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To: Poundstone

If the gubmint shuts down during tax season, 4/15, wouldn’t that be special????


101 posted on 04/08/2011 6:58:31 AM PDT by MadelineZapeezda (MadelineAlbrightZapeezda)
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To: Dacus943; Poundstone

You are correct. We cannot take leave and if you are already on scheduled leave during the furlough that gets cancelled and you go into the no-pay status.

No sense discussing a furlough with the people on this forum. They don’t understand that there ARE a lot of government employees who work hard.

They think because you are a Fed Employee you are somehow fleecing the tax payers and should just be fired.

Narrow minded.


102 posted on 04/08/2011 7:07:31 AM PDT by Neets
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To: Poundstone

Hey “federal employee”, you are not entitled to a job. I don’t care what you’ve been led to believe...and you’re about to see what the rest of the private sector employees have to contend with.

Reality sucks, no one, not even state/federal employees should be exempt from going through what millions of others are.

You [state/federal employees] are NOT SPECIAL!

Shut it down. This crap has got to stop.


103 posted on 04/08/2011 7:19:30 AM PDT by SZonian (July 27, 2010. Life begins anew.)
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To: Neets

I don’t believe that, I know quite a few federal employees who work hard and are going to be impacted pretty hard. However, federal employees are NOT losing their jobs. Just a temporary lay-off, vacation, etc.

I’m supposed to be sympathetic to a group who will either get back pay, get to take paid vacation, etc. while the budget gets worked out? Those kind of things just don’t happen in the real world.

My issue is with the perceptions being espoused that somehow federal employees are “special” and need protection from the realities of this world.

They’re not and maybe a good taste of what’s going on in the real world will wake some of them up.


104 posted on 04/08/2011 7:25:53 AM PDT by SZonian (July 27, 2010. Life begins anew.)
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To: dennisw

LOL.....your compassion is heartwarming (in a funny kind of, “I just spit coffee all over my monitor” kind of way).


105 posted on 04/08/2011 7:28:18 AM PDT by liberalh8ter
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To: SZonian; Neets

Just read about the leave issue, scratch my comments regarding that.

I had heard from others where I work that was what they were planning to do, that’s where I got my info.


106 posted on 04/08/2011 7:28:40 AM PDT by SZonian (July 27, 2010. Life begins anew.)
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To: SZonian

President Lincoln was dismayed that after his first election there were droves of office seekers lined up at his office for days on end. When asked what the problem was, he answered that there were just not enough teats on the pig. Much hasn’t changed


107 posted on 04/08/2011 7:30:01 AM PDT by tenthirteen
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To: SZonian

Trust me. We do not think we are special.

I do a lot of work for cadets at West Point.

I feel humbled to be able to do good things for our future leaders. I do not however feel I am entitled to any “special” things.

I am not looking forward to being furloughed. I have just under 3 weeks to get about 120 cadets to different parts of the world for summer training. My work has been put on “hold” in a sense due to lack of funding.

At the end of the day, this budget game is costing everyone MORE than if we had a budget passed on time.


108 posted on 04/08/2011 7:35:46 AM PDT by Neets
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To: Poundstone

PLEASE... PLEASE... STOP THIS NONSENSE! Its not essential, non-essential (that is sooooo 1995ish). Its excepted, not excepted!!! Comprende?? Bueno.


109 posted on 04/08/2011 7:39:04 AM PDT by Mashood
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To: Neets

You are one of the good guys, the exception. Get back to me after we totally defund the EPA and the Department of Education ...just for starters. Get rid of EEOC too


110 posted on 04/08/2011 7:41:57 AM PDT by dennisw ( The early bird catches the worm)
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To: tenthirteen

It’s been a perception that working for the gov’t. is lifelong job. No worries, there’s always going to be a job.

Federal service runs in our family; my father was a marine engineer on the Panama Canal, my mother was a budget analyst for the Navy, my grandfather a machinist at naval shipyards, my uncle worked at naval shipyards, my cousin works on nuclear subs at naval shipyards, a cousin’s husband is in the Navy, I’m retired USAF (Yeah, I broke the mold). I almost became a civil service employee twice. We work(ed) hard at our jobs.

But my complaint isn’t with their work, it’s with their attitude, that they should be treated differently because they’re somehow “indispensable”. They’re not, no one is.

We’ve gotten to the point though where it’s no longer sustainable. We’re beyond broke.

The piece of garbage occupying 1600 PA Ave. needs to be pushed back and hard.


111 posted on 04/08/2011 7:45:57 AM PDT by SZonian (July 27, 2010. Life begins anew.)
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To: Neets

You’re right, there are many who don’t think they’re special.

My argument is with those who do think they are though.

Articles like this just tick me off, guilty of attributing by association.

My apologies.


112 posted on 04/08/2011 7:48:58 AM PDT by SZonian (July 27, 2010. Life begins anew.)
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To: SZonian

You don’t have to apologize. I understand.

I just hate that people fail to understand that this article is targeting really the top 6 figure earners in civil service. I don’t know the numbers, but I’d guess those toppers are very much in the minority.

People forget there are many lower level GS employees who GET the job done.

Calling for “shutting down” this agency, that agency, etc. I can’t help but wonder if that happens, what the economic fall out will be when those thousands of people lose their jobs?


113 posted on 04/08/2011 7:56:05 AM PDT by Neets
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To: Tijeras_Slim
"I bet she brags about having the clap too."

Un F'n believable! Have you no shame posting such a comment?

114 posted on 04/08/2011 8:33:50 AM PDT by Dacus943
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To: Dacus943

A limited amount, applied sparingly.


115 posted on 04/08/2011 9:39:06 AM PDT by Tijeras_Slim
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To: wac3rd
Wars with no objective, illegal aliens, redundancy that costs billions?

Amen

And abortion which annihilates our future defenders, citizens, laborers, consumers, artists, innovators and entrepreneurs.

116 posted on 04/08/2011 1:46:05 PM PDT by Theophilus (Not merely prolife, but prolific!)
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To: Poundstone
This post is an excellent illustration of why one of the primary tactics used by the Democrats in their effort to turn America into a Euro-style socialist welfare state is to get everybody unionized and working, in one way or another, for the government. They admire the way the entire nation of France can "go on strike" when the primary employer, the French government, threatens tyrannical "sweatshop" measures such as increasing the "work week" from 35 to 38 hours, or increasing the retirement age from 52 to 55, etc.

The more parasites there are knocking each other over at the public trough, the better it is for the Democrats.
No offense...

117 posted on 04/08/2011 2:00:09 PM PDT by Lancey Howard
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To: silverleaf
Mea Culpa, a single grammatical (not typographical) error! Hmm, lets start from the end of your rant supporting a government hack job that is NOT a necessary role- You say I should “ENLIST”.

Interesting, my FR ‘SFC Chromey’ user id would suggest to MOST people that I have done just that! I was a SFC after spending 24 years in the Army. However, I decided to Commission, which for you non-military types means I'm an officer now. So even though I've qualified for retirement for several years, I have decided to stick around to pass along what I have learned to the youngsters that are still joining the service now. Oh and as far as costs go, it costs more in wages and benefits to hire a civilian than it does a military person.

I have several deployments, remember we have been a country at war since 2001, one would have to try not to be deployed at this stage. Regardless, the E1-E4 pay grades mail clerks have done just fine at a fraction of the costs that civilian employees cost all of us federal tax payers. All those benefits you say are so expensive for soldiers are elevated for DOD civilian employees, due to their UNIONIZED bargaining agreements.

Government is not a panacea (yes, I spell-checked it just for you). There are companies that tried to play by the rules installed by governmental agencies and then government steps in and pulls the rug out from underneath them. This isn't something that has just started happening, its only NOW that govt unionized employees are starting to feel the pinch the rest of the taxpayers have been feeling since 2001(not 2007 like you think)!

You seem to discount any anger towards government interference with business before 2007. If we are rolling back the clock, I say go back to 1995 or 1985. Why stop at 2007?

You claim that lots of folks are “middle class or better because of government”. Well that statement says a lot more than you intend. Think it through- government employees are attaining that middle class on the backs of people that aren't middle class. What do you think should happen when the actual number of nongovernmental employees are surpassed by the number of government employees? Why should the nongovernmental employee continue to support their own family and the government employee's “middle class or better” family?

Here is just two examples of corporations being screwed by the government you so dearly love (and I actively defend with my life, against ALL enemies foreign and domestic)

1- pre-2007 FNMA/FHLMC (Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to the rest of us) those govt loans you tout as being such a benefit for “the people” are the same loans that were offered to those that COULDN'T AFFORD TO PAY THEM, because of GOVT agencies like the EEOC and others sued them to force their hands. This is why Countrywide, BofA and others did what they did. Oh and the other govt agency FDIC- no help here!

2- GM/Chrysler debt purchased before 2007 by investors(you know- retirees with 401ks and IRA’s) was CONFISCATED(taken) from those investors and re-issued by the federal government to the UNIONS, the very same organizations that have been bleeding those car makers dry, while building substandard cars.

Your diatribe on the private sector is incoherent and illogical, therefore I can not dissect what point you were attempting to address.

You finally ask what corporation got screwed- well my former employer got screwed because we had invested in General Motors years BEFORE it became GOVT MOTORS. They LOST $300 billion because of the panic steps GOVT took since 2007.

I had a reputable career selling 401k plans to businesses, helping the not yet middle class, and the middle class plan for their retirement, teaching them to plan for the eventuality that GOVT won't be able to pay Social Security like it had been sold.

Because my employer lost $300 billion, they had to cut jobs. When nongovernmental jobs are cut, that affects the tax base for the government. When the tax base shrinks, eventually the government job holders need to realize that their jobs may be cut. Why do you suppose to know what I think may constitute a real job? Is it because I don't believe her job is critical to the successful operation of government? Do tell! Then, why do you go from brain surgeon to cashier at a fast food joint, or road construction flag-man? Is there really nothing in between that you can think of? Enjoy your retirement on the backs of the taxpayers that have to pay for your high priced home (MD does have some of the highest real-estate values in the nation!) and lifestyle.

118 posted on 04/09/2011 12:06:42 AM PDT by SFC Chromey (We are at war with Islamofascists inside and outside our borders, now ACT LIKE IT!)
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