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I’ve worked in the private sector and in the government sector. During the last five years the private sector has endured what is equal or worse than the sequester and the government side has not. Time to “spread the wealth around” give everybody a “fair shot” a “fair chance” at success.

It is not good that it has come to furloughs, but that is the price one pays for gross mismanagement. Federal agencies could have easily reduced this pin through attrition and a host other cost saving options if they started years ago.

I last two companies I worked for had to use furloughs for the last four years to get through tough business periods. The feds should be no different. Especially since they are bloated beyond belief.

That is ridiculous, you choose your path you live with it. The private sector has taken a beating because you rely on a profit margin. Fed employees provide a service. I will admit there is tons of waste, service often sucks. I provide specialized skills to the government, some come from my degree work others from years as a contractor, GS and service member in the DoD. Can a civilian be taught to do my job sure, but I am already trained with 34 years of experience and a graduate degree.
This spread the pain, fed employees are over paid etc is BS. I make less than I would in private sector but I like what I do. The inflated “average wages” for fed employees is misleading. I could have accepted a job in DC starting between $80 or $85k. Fed employees in major metro areas make far more in wages and that inflates the “average”. Another example are the intel types, some receive extremely high wages because they hold a highly sensitive clearance above Top Secret. A contractor or the Feds would have to pay out nearly $100k and two years to process that clearance for someone off the street. People coming out the military have those clearances. They are hard to get and hard to keep, hold a TS/SCI and have credit problems after a messy divorce, you can lose your clearance and your job. Again, there is plenty of waste, we are all replaceable, but we are not all over paid and need to share in the private sectors pain.