Disclaimer: The thoughts and feelings expressed in this post are solely the author's and do not represent the official position of any government agency.
Oh, hey!
Happy Winter Solstice!
Merry Christmas!
Joyous Kwanzaa!
And (maybe even) Happy New Year!
We are headed into another government shutdown. Just in time for Santa!
So, to recap: The President and Congress, once again, disagree about funding the government. As of about 7:00 p.m. Eastern, the House had adjourned with plans to reconvene at noon on Saturday, December 22nd. And the Senate has no deal. That means, barring a miracle, that the government shuts down at midnight (Eastern) tonight.
Welcome to the Yuletide Shutdown!
We won't go into the whys and wherefores of the reason there is yet another impasse. You know the whys and wherefores. And you know that at least one side of the budget tussle predicts that it will be a long shutdown.
I don't know about you, but this governing-by-crisis is getting kind of old. And not just because I am a to-be-furloughed government worker . . . but because I am an American who wants a functional government.
Meanwhile, the stock market is on track for the worst December since the Great Depression. Yay.
This week alone has been the worst week for the Dow Jones Industrial Average since 2008. Super.
You remember the market crash in 2008, right? Here's a graphic to remind you:
Same website, The Balance, has another graphic highlighting the ten biggest one-day losses in the history of the Dow. Guess what years have had 4 each. Hint: They both begin with "20" and end with an 8. Here, see for yourself:
But, don't give up on 2018 just yet. It still has 10 days left to surge ahead of 2008 and win the title of DJIA Shittiest Year Ever.
My cup runneth over.
To add to that happy news, and, as a reminder, non-excepted government employees have no guarantee of being paid after a government shutdown. In the past, we have gotten back pay. But we are not guaranteed the back pay. Only excepted employees are guaranteed back pay. (Excepted employees still have to come to work and will get paid, but not until the shutdown is over. So it could, conceivably, be weeks before even they see a paycheck.)
Here's a fun fact: A lot of us were planning to take paid annual leave over the next week or two to spend time with our families. So you might think that this is No Big because we can just take the paid leave during the shutdown and not suffer the economic consequences of no pay. Alas, no. Paid leave is not allowed during the shutdown. So you're just furloughed and you can't draw salary from your annual leave time. Also, if you were an employee who had "use or lose" leave hours that you were hoping to spend during the holidays, those hours are now going to fall into the "lose" category on account of the shutdown. Total bummer.
So here we are, just before Christmas, and we may not be paid for what could be a long time. So bills, mortgage payments, food, incidentals . . . all that has to come out of savings or be charged up on credit cards. And so . . . that really, actually, totally, and completely sucks.
So, yeah, I guess I'll just watch the news and wait and drink a liberal pour of mulled wine.
Merry Christmas!
P. S. I wonder if NORAD's Santa radar will still run on Christmas Eve. Probably will . . . probably deemed essential . . . national defense and all.
