We Don’t Care
30th September 2023
ZMan looks behind the curtain.
Has everyone stocked up on milk, bread, and toilet paper? Did you lay in a store of canned goods and dehydrated emergency meals? Did you get gas for the generator in case the power is off for an extended period? How about bottled water? No doubt some of you are laughing at the idea of such planning, but come the government shutdown, it will be those who planned ahead who will be laughing.
The absurdity of that paragraph captures the absurdity gripping Washington as they head into another “government shutdown” which is never a shutdown. To date none of these phony dramas has resulted in government employees missing a paycheck, so the proper word for it is government holiday. The rank and file are given time off without pay, but then the eventual deal gets them paid for their time off.
Many government workers have racked up so much PTO that they can avoid the hassle and use it for an extended holiday. That assumes they are actually going into an office to work, which is rare these days. About 20% of government employees commute into the office now, which means they are home doing even less than normal. The government shutdown means they stop logging in until it is over.