While I am always grateful for the good news stories, I specifically reference repeatedly those that fall through the cracks and helping those would be my point. You have no sympathy for the ones you cannot help? A country that can make war but not take care of it's own citizens is not much of a country no matter how it hypes its greatness.

https://www.arcamax.com/newspics/169/16950/1695062.gif

TSA and air traffic control and probably all airport management should be privatized . When all the dust settles ;the real debate should be what functions SHOULD the Federal Government be doing ? 850,000 non-essential furloughed employees ? I have worked for my employer for 30 years and have held jobs every year since 1973 . The concept of a non-essential job is foreign to me . That is a cost of $86 billion annually for the taxpayers of the nation. Anyone except for those in favor of a top-down government owned economy should be appalled at the size of the Federal work force.

I think the greater lesson is you cannot run a government like a business, especially with the kind of business practices of the self serving, lying, cheating dufus at the helm. That's the root cause of the chaos.

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850,000 non-essential furloughed employees ?

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Great point. Almost a million employees that are "non-essential".

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you cannot run a government like a business

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Why not?

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Originally Posted by jlisenbe

Great point. Almost a million employees that are "non-essential".

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A misnomer. E.g., some of those are IRS employees. They can return to work but are now behind over a month. When will we get our tax returns?

"Monday is the start of federal tax filing season. But fewer than half of the furloughed IRS employees recalled during the shutdown to handle tax returns and send out refunds reported for work as of Tuesday, according to congressional and government aides. The employees had been told to work without pay." From today's Chicago Sun-Times.

https://reason.com/reasontv/2019/01/...n-shows-privat

I cannot get over the fact that these people have not worked for weeks and weeks, and yet will be full back pay. Just basically a paid vacation by the taxpayer. Why weren't they told, "If you want to get paid, show up everyday and do your job. if you do, you will get paid when funding resumes."

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Originally Posted by jlisenbe

I cannot get over the fact that these people have not worked for weeks and weeks, and yet will be full back pay. Just basically a paid vacation by the taxpayer. Why weren't they told, "If you want to get paid, show up everyday and do your job. if you do, you will get paid when funding resumes."

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What would you have done, JL, as one of those workers? Would you have shown up every day to work? You would have had enough money for fuel for your vehicle, perhaps a car payment and/or mortgage, grocery money, church tithe, utilities, insurance premiums, dental and doctor visits, etc.? And the furlough was said to be indefinite until Congress approved the Wall. And no, it wasn't a vacation. Remember, tRump had threatened an indefinite furlough -- until he got his Wall.

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Originally Posted by jlisenbe

I cannot get over the fact that these people have not worked for weeks and weeks, and yet will be full back pay. Just basically a paid vacation by the taxpayer. Why weren't they told, "If you want to get paid, show up everyday and do your job. if you do, you will get paid when funding resumes."

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Typical exploiter of labour, failing to recognise there are costs such as transport. Would you have demanded that the buses, trains, fuel outlets, car parks operate for free. All you are concerned about is whether they might get something for nothing when what you should be concerned about is the mechanism of government that could allow this to happen. The workers are considered non-essential, then why do they exist?

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Originally Posted by jlisenbe

I cannot get over the fact that these people have not worked for weeks and weeks, and yet will be full back pay. Just basically a paid vacation by the taxpayer. Why weren't they told, "If you want to get paid, show up everyday and do your job. if you do, you will get paid when funding resumes."

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Simply unbelievable. No comment needed.

You're all right. Just take the taxpayers' money and pay people to stay home and do nothing. That's a great plan. They could work overtime and weekends to make up the time, but just having a paid vacation is ridiculous. That's exactly why we are 22 trill in debt. The feds act like money grows on trees. In public education, if we stay home a day because of snow or ice, we had to make that day up by working a holiday. We didn't like it, but it was understandable. But the state of Mississippi, like many states, has to balance its budget. We don't have a money tree like the feds.

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Originally Posted by jlisenbe

. We don't have a money tree like the feds.

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You don't have a money tree, how disadvantaged you are, but they only grow in Washington if it be known. How can your country be great without money trees all over. I have a solution; grow them along the border instead of steel slats and the huddled masses will never need to cross the border

215 Democrats voted yesterday to NOT PAY federal workers as negotiating to secure our border & open the government continues . Every Republican voted YES. Democrats are so committed to their open border agenda that they've TWICE voted to deprive federal workers of their paychecks.

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Democrats are so committed to their open border agenda that they've TWICE voted to deprive federal workers of their paychecks.

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Just about right.

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Originally Posted by tomder55

215 Democrats voted yesterday to NOT PAY federal workers as negotiating to secure our border & open the government continues . Every Republican voted YES. Democrats are so committed to their open border agenda that they've TWICE voted to deprive federal workers of their paychecks.

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That was a procedural vote last week and I am aware the right wing noise machine squealed like stuck pigs but let me help you try and keep up.

https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-...ew=closed#tabs

https://archives-democrats-rules.hou...commit_mot.htm

https://www.natlawreview.com/article...pay-government

Wanna make any changes to your misinformed propaganda?

https://ecp.yusercontent.com/mail?ur...Op6988zaHw--~C

I don't read your links. They invariably have nothing useful to say about the subject at hand. I frequently wonder if you even read them.

Of course I read them, and the links that come with them.