See Shutdown specials: DC-area deals for furloughed government workers at WTOP.Brief excerpt (Yes, brief. The list is extensive):
The Harlem Globetrotters are offering two free tickets to the 2019 Fan Powered North American tour for furloughed workers. Just show a valid government ID at the box office.Much, much more HERE.
Alamo Drafthouse Cinema at Stonebridge in Prince William County is offering free movies to federal employees throughout January.
Anytime Fitness locations in Poolesville, Maryland, and Kensington, Maryland, are offering 14 days free for furloughed workers, which includes access to fitness classes and private fitness consultation.
The Audubon Naturalist Society has free memberships available for furloughed workers. But, if you’re already a member and a furloughed employee, there are free extensions on membership renewals. Also, free “Yoga in the Woods” and guided sanctuary tours. Get the full details here.
Government workers that need to sweat it out can try an indoor cycling class at the CYCLED studio in Silver Spring or try the Cycling, Barre or Yoga Sculpt class at the Takoma Park location. Furloughed feds should use the code “SweatItOut@CYCLED!” to sign up and flash a government ID at the check-in desk.
Burns Heating & Air says it will help furloughed workers stay warm in the freezing weather with furnace repair. The company, which serves Loudoun and Fairfax counties in Virginia, is offering a payment plan allowing furloughed workers to pay their bills whenever the government reopens. Call 540-208-5660, or text and call 703-884-7130, and have a pay stub and government ID ready.
Michael and Son is doing something similar, offering furloughed employees six months of no payments on plumbing, electrical, heating and cooling repairs carried out while they go without a paycheck....
Your thoughts?
Perks for people who need no perks.
ReplyDeleteFJ,
DeleteThat's how some people see the matter -- particularly people who were eating beans and franks for a while during the 2008-2009 market downturn.
The average government worker used to be underpaid relative to the rest of the market and traded that underpayment for "security". That underpaid worker has become a myth. Average federal salaries have outpaced the private sector market for many years now. So the differential for job security is no longer justifyable.
DeleteI've been laid off many times and survived.
DeleteCombination of benevolent acts and calculated sales and advertising tactics, by private companies. People who long to be offended......will be.
ReplyDeleteI agree with CI. It's good business.
ReplyDeleteThe big thing done to help those furloughed was by banks like Navy Federal Credit Union and USAA. Reportedly, they extended interest-free loans based on paycheck history and offered leniency on late payments for insurance, loans mortgages, etc.
I'm not pointing fingers at AOW or anyone here, but I don't like how many conservatives cavalierly dismissed the plight of those furloughed. Our government hired them and promised to pay them, and most---like TSA employees--don't make a lot of money.
Further, many contractors will not get backpay, so they are just SOL. Our government is a shambolic farce, and this was just the latest sad episode.
Face it: Most Republicans care as much about border security as the man in the moon. President Trump is fighting both parties.
SF,
DeleteI understand what you mean by the contracting of the federal employees.
But some who are not government employees are frustrated in that so many government employees run through their money like water.
Good point:
many contractors will not get backpay, so they are just SOL. I must say that all the contractors whom I personally know put aside a lot "for a rainy day" and don't seem to be have suffered at all. I do know many government contractors here in the Washington, D.C., area.
Another good point:
Most Republicans care as much about border security as the man in the moon.
--------------------------
In any case, we are seeing yet more divides in America.
Another load of malodorous offal emanating from the conservative commentariate sold this shutdown as a great way to cut government.
ReplyDeleteAre people really that stupid? That's like someone who needs to lose 40 pounds doing it by cutting off one of their legs.
Well said. Many on the Right are simply peddling articles of political correctness where it regards Government employees.
DeleteThe size and scope of the State should be drastically reduced, but temporary shutdowns and furloughs are not remotely effective in that pursuit.
The government has been kicking the wall for immigration can down the road since '86. Without a "crises" the governments abrogation of their responsibilities for controlling immigration will NEVER be addressed. So what do we need a federal government FOR?
Delete
DeleteThe Federal government should be constrined to its enumerated powers, obviously. Immigration control and accompanying barriers being a part of that. But the timing of this “crisis” and the emphasis misplaced on tertiary avenues of illegal immigration.......only serve to illustrate the political game being pursued.....rather than seeking a legitimate solution.
The President has given the Congress 3 weeks (and 33 years) more to complete their work. But the "regular order" of Budgetary Process /Spending bills passed on time, has not been accomplished in a DECADE now. Enough's enough! No sympathy.
Delete"Crisis" is now the ONLY mode of operation the Congress is influenced by.
DeleteNo argument there. Congress shouldn’t receive a salary as long as they fail to pass a legitimate budget (no CRs).
DeleteAgreed!
Delete...but most are bazillionaires protecting their own "class" interests.
DeleteI they weren't we'd have a secure border already.
DeleteCI,
DeleteCongress shouldn’t receive a salary as long as they fail to pass a legitimate budget (no CRs).
Hear, hear!
How long has our country been limping along with CR's, anyway?
Not to mention that we’ve been funding the nebulous “war on terror” largely on OCO (Overseas Contingency Operations) money; the Defense equivalent of CRs.
DeleteSorry, but "good business" is the antithesis of what government actually is, a liberal "cure" for the ills of "good business".
ReplyDeleteThere is only one class of people more risk-averse than the proletariat (who sell their labour to others) and THAT is the government class who tax business profits to "do good".
Not getting paid is a lesson to government workers that their labour represents the charity of the taxpayer, who has many voluntary outlets for that same charity (as exampled by the businesses offering "perks" to them.) The latter is INFINITELY more moral than the former (taxation).
The government is FORCE. Using FORCE to "do good" is the antithesis of morality.
ReplyDeleteAnd if you think I'm alone in this perspective, Madison's Memorial and Remonstrance backs up this "foundational" perspective.
DeleteI agree with you, and your comments and mine are not mutually-exclusive.
DeleteI agree. I simply disagree as to the characterization of my support for the shutdown and non-payment of government employees as "cavalier". I am very familiar with the plight of the government workers during shutdowns.
DeleteI said in my initial statement I was not pointing fingers at AOW or anyone here, and that includes you.
DeleteYour arguments are always well-reasoned and grounded in principle.
So are yours... but I don't agree that disgust with dysfunction and government incompetence is ever cavalier. What has become cavalier is that said dysfunction is accepted as normal.
DeletePresident Trump is a spent force. Nancy and Chuckie kicked his ass and ate his lunch. This will also have global repercussions--like Reagan firing the air traffic controllers--only in reverse. I don't know how he has any leverage left.
ReplyDeleteThe only bright spot is McConnell implementing the Reid Rule on judge nominations. The constitutionalist President Trump restocks the federal judiciary with will be the final bulwark against the rising progressive tyranny.
We'll see in 3 weeks.
DeleteWhat leverage does he have?
DeleteThe leverage every ahole has. To clamp tight till the body dies... or votes with a 67% override.
DeleteHe gave up that strategy when he surrendered yesterday.
DeleteDid he? He has yielded three times at Democrat/ public media insistence... and what have the Democrats yielded in return? Whoever initially could blame Trump for his unreasoned obstinance can now readily see from whence the "unreason" originates.
DeleteThe press will be spinning it the opposite way. I hope I'm wrong, but he's Trump Toast.
DeleteWhat shutdown? I didn't see any mail carriers broke down on the side of the road out of gas. No DEA planes fell out of sky out of fuel.
ReplyDeleteYeah, but how can the public survive without NEA grants for Vagina Monologue performances? What will become of the "culture"?
DeleteThe purpose of having government employees is to help administer government programs. The more “services” government provides, the more employees are needed to administer them. At the lowest level, which is to say local government, it is not uncommon to find department heads actively seeking to enlarge their fiefdoms in order to increase their responsibilities (and salaries). It is easier to control the size of local bureaucracies because they aren’t as entrenched as those at the state and federal level, but when combined, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (government workers), the ratio of government to private sector workers is 1.8 to 1.
ReplyDeleteThis is probably not as bad as we might have imagined, except that government workers do not add to our economy —they take from it. For some reason, we like having tens of thousands of people showing up for “work” every day in Health & Human Services, the IRS, Department of Education, Bureau of Land Management, and literally hundreds of other departments, bureaus, and offices. The question I have is this: how is it possible in a rational society to have anything even remotely resembling a “non-essential” government employee? If these people aren’t essential, then why are we paying them phenomenal salaries?
No matter, Trump made a big mistake shutting down government over the wall issue —but this is only my opinion. Worse, he agreed to “take responsibility” for it. Very bad move. Nan-Chuck kicked his butt ... which is not the end of his administration. There is always a lesson from getting one’s butt kicked; let’s hope Trump has learned it. I have my doubts about that. I disagree with the positions taken by Pelosi and Schumer, but I won’t impugn their motivations —just as I won’t question Trump’s. I do challenge each camp over the results of this impasse, however. Trump’s argument should have been that additional funding is needed to bolster border security, period. The “wall” was the wrong argument. At present, there is no change to the border situation ... and Trump walks away from this confrontation with a loss of his base support. Really dumb, IMO.
Sam,
Deletegovernment workers do not add to our economy —they take from it. For some reason, we like having tens of thousands of people showing up for “work” every day in Health & Human Services, the IRS, Department of Education, Bureau of Land Management, and literally hundreds of other departments, bureaus, and offices
And the Bureau of Indian Affairs, too. Lately I've been doing some research about the BIA. Corrupt to the core -- for the most part, anyway.
Nan-Chuck kicked his butt ... which is not the end of his administration.
Not yet. It remains to be seen if San Fran Nan will permit President Trump to give the SOTU from the House chamber.
AOW
DeleteIt remains to be seen if San Fran Nan will permit President Trump to give the SOTU from the House chamber.
I think that for most of our history, SOTU was delivered to Congress in writing. Television gave us the personal address offering a better platform for grand-standing, pro or con. TR's written address was frequently more than a hundred pages. I would delight in the media having to sift through several hundred pages of Trumpisms. Ha!
Until 1913, I believe, the SOTU was generally provided in written form. Not only would I like the media to have to read it in its entirety....I would prefer to prevent taxpayer dollars funding a PR spectacle that only the cable news outlets and assorted sock puppets benefit from.
Delete