So, we've postponed the debate for like... 3 months. And everyone seems to think that's a huge victory because the Congress will definitely never go through this same game again in 3 months because reasons.
Also the bipartisan bill to reopen the government does include concessions to the crazies, like modifying the registration process for ACA subsidies to be more difficult and a greater barrier to entry.
It was a victory in one important sense: the attempt to hold the debt ceiling and government hostage in order to effect unrelated change was shot down HARD.
I'll agree to that, but still grumble about unnecessary concessions. Also we're still under sequester and about to go into Sequester 2: Electric Boogaloo, no?
Actually I'm not so sure about how hard it was shot down. We'll be talking about this again in January.
I feel like the debt ceiling was a bigger bargaining chip for Obama in the long run though, so while I will grumble I think this was a battle lost for the better of the whole effort.
All sorts of high risk populations, like Head Start kids, are still getting fucked while the sequester stands, has been my understanding. I just don't see the massive decisive victory that all the liberal pundits are crowing over this morning.
All that demonstrates to me is that Dems were too cowed and fragmented to include meaningful Defense cuts in the sequester that would have made it an adequate poison pill for the Right.
After all, TURRISM!!
How many Iraqi civilians died while we created a terrorist paradise in Iraq again? Like half a million? Heroes, our military is brimming with them!
All that demonstrates to me is that Dems were too cowed and fragmented to include meaningful Defense cuts in the sequester that would have made it an adequate poison pill for the Right.
You are misguided. There were some pretty severe cuts.
All that demonstrates to me is that Dems were too cowed and fragmented to include meaningful Defense cuts in the sequester that would have made it an adequate poison pill for the Right.
You are misguided. There were some pretty severe cuts.
Not severe enough. The sequester has been wildly popular among Republicans, which is the exact opposite of its intent.
They changed the rules for the debt ceiling as part of the deal. Now they need to vote to not raise the ceiling. So it's been returned to a chance for politicians to score brownie points instead of a mechanism for holding the country hostage.
It's only going to apply to the next debt ceiling thingy, but hopefully it'll set a good precedent...
Sometimes... I just wanna gut the whole house; leave the foundations and some of the subfloor, but start over with fresh flooring, insulation, walls, furniture, paint, drapes...
Bet we could flip this bitch for a cool profit too.
Well essential staff got bent over. Those who were sent home get Authorized Absense, which is paid time off but no use of their actual accrued leave. So they basically got to stay home and chill with little to no penalties other than catching up on work.
Essential staff, like myself, just get paid. No incentives for having to come into work and all that fun stuff. So yeah. Morale is pretty low. People are angry. I'm not bitter at the peole who were forced to go home, but angry at the whole thing and the GOP.
You can think I'm stupid for going into work. Part of me thinks that, but I have no problem working. It's my own work ethic and desire to show my dedication for possible future promotions. So I'll use that as the only silver lining, but I won't forget this if it happens in future.
I'm really glad the Republicans lost Government Shutdown 2K13, and that the noble Democrat party is there to keep those crazy bastards in check and look out for the common citizen. Really looking forward to Government Shutdown 2K14, I think the blue team will really give it their all yet again.
Well essential staff got bent over. Those who were sent home get Authorized Absense, which is paid time off but no use of their actual accrued leave. So they basically got to stay home and chill with little to no penalties other than catching up on work.
Essential staff, like myself, just get paid. No incentives for having to come into work and all that fun stuff. So yeah. Morale is pretty low. People are angry. I'm not bitter at the peole who were forced to go home, but angry at the whole thing and the GOP.
You can think I'm stupid for going into work. Part of me thinks that, but I have no problem working. It's my own work ethic and desire to show my dedication for possible future promotions. So I'll use that as the only silver lining, but I won't forget this if it happens in future.
I'm right there with you, Ro.
I work for the VA and everyone in my department is "essential." Yes, we worked and got paid for it, but like you, we're a little bitter that other government employees got to essentially stay home, play videogames and grow beards all day long, and still get paid. Some kind of appreciation would be nice like an extra day off, or time and a half or something.
Being a federal employee has huge benefits, and it has risks like this. That's part of the deal.
While I certainly would never wish it on anybody to go a week, two, three without pay because of a shutdown, I'm having a little trouble sympathizing with "Bob got a paid week off and I didn't." You get a federal pension and I don't. I demand compensation!
Life ain't fair. There's plenty salaried employees out there working 80 hours and getting paid 40 every week. There's always the Walmart model of employment.
Sucks this happened to you, sorry about all that, but you want a bonus because some other people got furloughed..? Pffffffffft.
Yes I understood that. Lucky them. Hopefully if you're an essential employee, your salary reflects that, but at any rate, shit like this happens. Where I work the nurses sometimes get catered lunches at their training sessions and I don't. The doctors get all sorts of perks I don't get, and etc. That's life.
While I understand the feelings of Ro and her fellows who came in and worked whilst others were furloughed and ended up being paid, I'm not entirely of the mind any sort of special concessions or "rewards" would be appropriate. Ro mentioned the only upside, IMO, that being consideration in performance, etc..
On a related note, the work ethic of most Americans is so polar it's stunning. I work with some of the hardest working people I have ever seen and simultaneously work with some of the laziest. One woman gets in *constant* arguments with management that her job is unfair whilst another works harder than a dozen of her ever could.
I just put my head down and work as hard as I can. It's all I can do, it's all I was ever raised to do, and, hopefully when my annual review comes, it'll be enough to get me another year. I never seek easy paths and lazy people just piss me off sooooo...
I think that can be said for the world. I've worked some menial jobs where people have busted their arses to get stuff done where as others have scrapped by. Take my current job for example, and I don't want to blow my own trumpet please don't think that. The guy before me used to do the bear minimum to get by and slept a load. As I don't sleep and want to get stuff done my work load has dont up ten fold. Do I mind? well it eats into dicking around time but I'd rather do a good job than a shitty one. I would say it comes down to people ethic towards work in general.
Hopefully you'll never have to take a job so demoralizing that your work ethic is subverted by your situational depression.
Someday I'll find something else though. My childcare situation will change next year.
That's not to say that I'm lazy. I bust my butt for the sake of my internal customers. I just don't go out of my way to please my passive aggressive, sociopathic boss.
There have certainly been jobs that have made me feel like shit. Being a waiter for example and suffering continual abuse from chefs with god complexes, which as an aside seemes to be indicative of the proffesion, I guess that for the most part I have been lucky to have been brought up to care about what I do.
In my job we had a guy who was narcoleptic and would sleep for half of his shift. However, because he knew how to game the time reporting system he always had the best numbers of anyone in the office.
Comments
Also the bipartisan bill to reopen the government does include concessions to the crazies, like modifying the registration process for ACA subsidies to be more difficult and a greater barrier to entry.
So... no caving huh?
Also this was an interesting read, even though plausibility seems low to me:
http://www.starnewsonline.com/article/20131012/LETTERS/131019872/1107/opinion?Title=Republican-Govt-Shutdown-
Actually I'm not so sure about how hard it was shot down. We'll be talking about this again in January.
"How about we agree to do exactly what you want if we can't agree to a compromise?"
After all, TURRISM!!
How many Iraqi civilians died while we created a terrorist paradise in Iraq again? Like half a million? Heroes, our military is brimming with them!
It's only going to apply to the next debt ceiling thingy, but hopefully it'll set a good precedent...
Bet we could flip this bitch for a cool profit too.
Essential staff, like myself, just get paid. No incentives for having to come into work and all that fun stuff. So yeah. Morale is pretty low. People are angry. I'm not bitter at the peole who were forced to go home, but angry at the whole thing and the GOP.
You can think I'm stupid for going into work. Part of me thinks that, but I have no problem working. It's my own work ethic and desire to show my dedication for possible future promotions. So I'll use that as the only silver lining, but I won't forget this if it happens in future.
I work for the VA and everyone in my department is "essential." Yes, we worked and got paid for it, but like you, we're a little bitter that other government employees got to essentially stay home, play videogames and grow beards all day long, and still get paid. Some kind of appreciation would be nice like an extra day off, or time and a half or something.
Oh well.
While I certainly would never wish it on anybody to go a week, two, three without pay because of a shutdown, I'm having a little trouble sympathizing with "Bob got a paid week off and I didn't." You get a federal pension and I don't. I demand compensation!
Life ain't fair. There's plenty salaried employees out there working 80 hours and getting paid 40 every week. There's always the Walmart model of employment.
Sucks this happened to you, sorry about all that, but you want a bonus because some other people got furloughed..? Pffffffffft.
On a related note, the work ethic of most Americans is so polar it's stunning. I work with some of the hardest working people I have ever seen and simultaneously work with some of the laziest. One woman gets in *constant* arguments with management that her job is unfair whilst another works harder than a dozen of her ever could.
I just put my head down and work as hard as I can. It's all I can do, it's all I was ever raised to do, and, hopefully when my annual review comes, it'll be enough to get me another year. I never seek easy paths and lazy people just piss me off sooooo...
Someday I'll find something else though.
That's not to say that I'm lazy. I bust my butt for the sake of my internal customers. I just don't go out of my way to please my passive aggressive, sociopathic boss.