The sight was staggering in Prince George’s County, Md., home to more than 60,000 federal workers: middle-class professionals lined up for boxes of pasta, protein and produce to feed their families.
After a two-hour wait, Wanda Bright had finally reached the front of the line — just as the first batch of supplies ran out.
The Capital Area Food Bank had started the day with 300 boxes, enough for 150 government employees to receive two boxes each. It turned out that the need was even greater.
I’m a Republican and I’m PISSED! I’m DEFINITELY Going to vote REPUBLICAN AGAIN to Teach them a LESSON!
When a 6 figure income has people living pay check to paycheck and that same paycheck would make others live comfy you have a problem.
We have been pitted against each other.
My salary is around 200k and to much of America I’d be considered a crybaby bitch saying how I live paycheck to paycheck and the shutdown might break me.
My plight is closer to the plight of the underemployed worker in middle America who makes a quarter what I make working as many hours or more, their boss can up and fuck them over too on a whim.
If we want the workers in middle America who don’t make near as much as the govt workers or workers on the coasts / in cities do then we have to go out of our way to lift them up too.
Anyways. This shutdown is bullshit and I know of at least 4 projects that have already cost the government in excess of 2 million dollars that are just going to die because the funding is gone and the facility is closed and the product can’t be delivered. Everyone is being laid off, all the knowledge going away.
There are a couple issues the left-of-center crowd have pushed that would help everyone’s wages: Higher minimum wage would raise wages beyond those at the minimum. Universal healthcare would allow workers to be less tied to their current jobs (and enable more entrepreneurship Anti corruption measures and progressive taxation aren’t quite as popular among mainstream Dems, but would go a long way as well. There’s a lot of work to do and the longer this shotshow goes on, the harder it will be later, as you say. America is losing so much expertise and power to this fascist garbage
workers in middle America who don’t make near as much as the govt workers or workers on the coasts / in cities do
Those are two different things. Gov workers, especially if unionized, aren’t living large; maybe contractors will be ‘on par’ with outside jobs because their job is an outside job. But internal gov workers typically make noticeably less than their external counterparts because their either union or they work for that higher-purpose feeling and their bosses have optimized wages down to suit.
For example, even though I’m a contractor to merely a gov-adjacent group, I work a 200k job for barely half that. And yes, the dead sea effect is chronic. (But I am union, so I get perqs)
Anyway, gov people will feel a crunch very early too, as “care for our fellow human” isn’t a payment option at Kroger.
I’m lumping the contractors who work adjacent to the gov employees as the same group tbh because I’m seeing them laid off in droves too.
Shutdown means no contract extensions means employees just aren’t there anymore instead of laid off. It’s another method of hurting his opponents.
200k? Yeah you’re a crybaby bitch—and bad at managing money.
Thank you for proving my point
Do you have a bunch of debt, or are you seriously spending over $16k (pretax) per month?
I don’t take 16k home a month.
I have a family.
I live in a high cost of living area.
I live below the median income for my area.
You’re just out of touch with my circumstances in the same way I’m out of touch with the circumstances of workers who make minimum wage and similarly struggle.
The point is that I’m made to be the enemy of middle America workers because of this notion that my larger salary makes me a cry baby bitch when in reality it’s the folks who are taking all the money from us who are the cry baby bitches.
It is admittedly difficult for the average wage earner in most of the country to understand how $200k/yr isn’t the lap of luxury, because I live in a “high cost of living” area relative to most of Maine, and I’m pretty comfortable with my $45k and my wife’s 35. We just bought a house. We drive cars we own, we don’t use credit cards. We’re both college drop outs with no loans left, so I’m sure that’s part of it. But yea, not trying to bash, just more politely explain than “cry baby bitch”, because that gets us nowhere.
My salary is below the median where I live.
Could your salaries work in New York City or San Francisco?
I work for my money and use most all of it for the survival of my family. I’m not saving vast quantities and I’m not the problem.
My 5x the USA median salary isn’t the problem. The fact that the median salary is 5x less than mine IS the problem.
Median salary for san francisco is about 105k, median salary for new york is about 80k.
Youre budgeting terribly if you are having issues.
Right now it looks like you are lying.
The house down the street from me just sold for $1.4m. It was a single story, 3 bed, 1 bath. Tiny yard with no privacy. Oh did I mention that it literally didn’t have a roof? And I live in the poor part of my high cost of living area.
Why do you live in such an expensive area?
Hey my dude I’m not going to answer your trove of questions trying to poke holes in my reality.
Take care of yourself.
If I was making minimum wage and tried to live in Manhattan, I’d also have problems – but those problems would be because I’m an idiot.
I don’t need to poke holes in your reality, you are already saying there are holes in your reality.
Take care of yourself too, make sure everyone in your family gets a new iPhone.
Smash through the gates and demand your pay
On the bright side at least their health insurance extends during furloughs up to a year.
It’s important to be sympathetic but not capitulative imo.
