If you fire everyone you can reduce taxes to zero. Isn't that a much better plan? I'm sure the private sector will pick up the slack, right?

Are there too many gov't employees? Of course!

That's not a difficult question for anyone with a brain. It's only a tough one for liberals, that think that there can never be enough gov't employees.

deadsanta: apistat: I didn't eat yesterday, and yet I'm still alive and actually saved some money. Ergo, I'm pretty sure I would do just fine never eating.

This.

Short and sweet.

Notabunny: MeinRS6: Are there too many gov't employees? Of course!

That's not a difficult question for anyone with a brain. It's only a tough one for liberals, that think that there can never be enough gov't employees.

Just don't cut the employees who provide the services you want, right?

I can live without a lot of them. I tell you what, you start firing gov't employees and I'll let you know when I notice.

MeinRS6: I tell you what, you start firing gov't employees and I'll let you know when I notice.

You want to pay for more unemployment checks AND their pensions? Sweet. Great plan.

Your cunning plan, it's half-assed and full of Randian ideology.

Notabunny: MeinRS6: Notabunny: MeinRS6: Are there too many gov't employees? Of course!

That's not a difficult question for anyone with a brain. It's only a tough one for liberals, that think that there can never be enough gov't employees.

Just don't cut the employees who provide the services you want, right?

I can live without a lot of them. I tell you what, you start firing gov't employees and I'll let you know when I notice.

Just out of curiosity, which of the employees do you want to eliminate? Which services do you want you and your fellow citizens to go without?

I thought we established that, let's start with the guy maintaining the author's sewer connection. Let the author swim in the shiat instead of foisting it off on us.

WaitWhatWhy: MeinRS6: Are there too many gov't employees? Of course!

That's not a difficult question for anyone with a brain. It's only a tough one for liberals, that think that there can never be enough gov't employees.

Because the government is never more efficent then private industry at providing services, right?

That's an entirely different topic. But hey, keep arguing that bigger gov't is better for us all.

The Larch: What, in God's name, do the 19,000 people who didn't get paid actually do? And are they necessary? I suppose somebody didn't go around and spray for mosquitoes, but I thought it was an unusually low mosquito year, anyway.

That's the type of hard-hitting reporting that's keeping newspapers in business.

Perfect! Let's eliminate the guy who sprays for mosquitoes near his house, too!

MeinRS6: WaitWhatWhy: MeinRS6: Are there too many gov't employees? Of course!

That's not a difficult question for anyone with a brain. It's only a tough one for liberals, that think that there can never be enough gov't employees.

Because the government is never more efficent then private industry at providing services, right?

That's an entirely different topic. But hey, keep arguing that bigger gov't is better for us all.

Let's eliminate the librarian's job at the library where the author checks out all the Ayn Rand novels crap.

Notabunny: Just out of curiosity, which of the employees do you want to eliminate? Which services do you want you and your fellow citizens to go without?

he doesn't know or care. Like most people on the right he views everything in black and white "government employees = bad". That is where his thought process on the matter ends.

log_jammin: Notabunny: Just out of curiosity, which of the employees do you want to eliminate? Which services do you want you and your fellow citizens to go without?

he doesn't know or care. Like most people on the right he views everything in black and white "government employees = bad". That is where his thought process on the matter ends.

Perfect! Let's eliminate the FDA inspector who checks out the author's meds!

Alphax: Well, the Democratic party isn't liberal. It's just not fascist.

pretty much.

The democrats have liberals, moderates, conservatives along with a few wackos and some crooks, in their ranks. The republicnas are made up of people claiming to be conservative but they are more like the Big Business party.

Bigdogdaddy: sendtodave: thatboyoverthere: Except you know... A whole lot of people got screwed over since none of the government offices they needed to get a license or an inspection from were open?

Eliminate licenses and inspections!

RON PAUL!

RON PAUL!

When I worked at a city-run community center, our manager said she was going to close the place down a couple extra days a week, in order to save some budget money. It pissed me off. I said "You're right, it would. You wouldn't have to allocate payroll for those of us who aren't salaried like you are, so your pay won't change, and it's not like we need to eat or pay rent or anything. You'll have to deal with pissed-off parents who'd have to find another place for their kids to be after school, but we already have their money, so it's not like we'll be losing out there...likewise the people who've signed up for pool and weightroom memberships who've already paid us for providing a service we'd be denying them. We'll be denying the kids a safe and positive environment to go to after school, so they'll be free to spraypaint up the neighborhood, people who use the computer labs won't be able to come in and hunt for jobs, so they'll be screwed and potentially lose out on money for themselves and their families...so we'll be saving a few bucks, and making everyone in the neighborhood our angry enemies. Sounds like a good plan when we should be doing everything to earn goodwill so we can actually make more revenue."

As it turns out, the plan didn't go through, and for some reason, I wasn't called to the carpet for what I said. Maybe because it was in an open meeting, and we'd all been invited to speak our minds, maybe because everyone there agreed with me, maybe because it was a stupid idea and our boss was a dumbass. I dunno. All I know is that you don't scream for job creation on one hand, then casually say cutting 19,000 jobs is a good idea because they don't seem to impact you personally. They impact someone, and they're more than likely important.

/CSB, sorry.

buckler: snip

/CSB, sorry.

You're very very lucky that didn't go the other way and the whole center shut down permanently because they couldn't get employees to agree to a pay cut. I'm really glad it worked out for you, some agencies haven't been so lucky.

gadian: buckler: snip

/CSB, sorry.

You're very very lucky that didn't go the other way and the whole center shut down permanently because they couldn't get employees to agree to a pay cut. I'm really glad it worked out for you, some agencies haven't been so lucky.

I believe at one point I did get sarcastic and say "you know, if we just locked the doors and tossed the key, we could save a whole ton of money"...

GameSprocket: We almost ran out of beer, people. Beer! We can never let that kind of situation happen again. I can't drive all the way to WI to get more beer, I am usually way too drunk for that.

No shiat. How in the farking hell did you guys allow that to happen?

Know who is included in the columnist's 19k workers? Dept of Revenue. There was a skeleton crew during the shutdown.

So, go ahead, fire the DOR staff who were deemed non-essential. See how much money the state brings in then. What's that? No taxes? Sure, will be great for a bit, but hey... winter is here. Snow's coming. Streets are gonna crack, potholes are going to form, and snow is going to be six inches and rising. Yeah, sorry, can't help you with any of that... see, the plow drivers were paid with tax payer funds but since we don't have taxes being collected any more...

Oh, and enjoy not getting your renter's refund. Or your state refund. Or having any schools. Or emergency services. And yes, the roads will get too bad for the Metro to operate and they will shut down.

So, go ahead, get rid of those non-essential personnel at Department of Revenue. They're useless thieving farks anyway, right?

/end rant

spidermann: Know who is included in the columnist's 19k workers? Dept of Revenue. There was a skeleton crew during the shutdown.

So, go ahead, fire the DOR staff who were deemed non-essential. See how much money the state brings in then. What's that? No taxes? Sure, will be great for a bit, but hey... winter is here. Snow's coming. Streets are gonna crack, potholes are going to form, and snow is going to be six inches and rising

thatboyoverthere: Except you know... A whole lot of people got screwed over since none of the government offices they needed to get a license or an inspection from were open?
/I mean everyday here there was another article about how everyone was getting screwed since everything was closed.
//Thankfully the Metrotransit (Our public transportation) is independent and makes it own money so it stayed running so I could get to school.

How quickly we forget, or in this case have our memories whitewashed by revisionist history. I drove through MN for work a couple times during that mess, staying there one time. Both times the papers were filled with articles about how this and that was all screwed up and how it was making everyone's lives suck because essential services needed for a society to function weren't there. Don't even get me started on what would have happened to the economy if those 19k workers had been out of work for several months, and had greatly reduced/halted their consumer spending.

stebain: Poor logic, clearly. We could put all linemen (power lines) on hiatus for a month and maybe not have any real problems. Eliminate them all for long term, and the shiat fails. Good luck with your first storm.

Also this.

apistat: I didn't eat yesterday, and yet I'm still alive and actually saved some money. Ergo, I'm pretty sure I would do just fine never eating.

Also this.

thatboyoverthere: //Thankfully the Metrotransit (Our public transportation) is independent and makes it own money so it stayed running so I could get to school.

Not as independent as you may think.

Metro gets a huge subsidy from taxpayer funds. They had enough to operate for a month from previous revenues before they would've either a) had to shut down or b) raised rates higher than a taxi ride would've cost, which would've shut them down

As one of the commenters on TFA stated; 20 days is not long enough to show the full effect of collapse the shutdown would've caused, especially since it was planned out so well in advance.


And for other states laughing at us: don't worry, because we came out with what is being called "a wash", this shutdown has now become a viable political tactic that GOP and DEM are both looking to use in other states.

And we don't negotiate with terrorists.

Pretty much everything spidermann said was what I was going to say.

As a state worker who was laid off, I know I didn't spend a dime I didn't absolutely HAVE to during the shut down. Usually in summer I like to go out and spend money doing fun things while the weather is nice. This year that didn't happen because I had no spare cash to spend. I asked my coworkers about this and almost all of them agreed. They had vacations planned up north they had to cancel, they had trips to amusement parks, theaters, museums, etc. that they had to abandon. There was a lot of money not spent on the economy because these people were out of work.

There were a lot of really pissed off taxpayers because their refunds were late. Refunds a lot of people relied on to pay bills or rent or feed their children.

It's not nearly as black and white as Mr. Soucheray would like us to believe. But, I wouldn't expect him to actually do any real research or form an opinion that required any thought. My mother listened to his radio show every day for years and I heard enough of his thought process to know this man just does not give a shiat if it does not directly affect him.