Live data from Hacker News

20k federal workers take "buyout" so far, official says

axios.com

131–140 of 579 posts

Re: 20k federal workers take "buyout" so far, official says

#131
post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> this was never authorized by congress, Correct. > so the money to pay people to September is questionable if it exists at best Incorrect. The money is budgeted through September (end of federal FY). Things are currently only funded through March 15 (CRs and whatnot). The money is or will be there. Historically, even if there is a furlough, this money is backfilled and folks are paid. Note that there will probably b…

Is it a given there would be a budget impasse, if all institutions of power are held by Republicans? Non-American here with only a Mickey Mouse understanding of US mechanics of power.

[deleted]

Re: 20k federal workers take "buyout" so far, official says

#134
post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

OK so? Do you think the president has to obey the laws? Will the FBI arrest him if they don't? What do you think the consequence will realistically be?

The consequence of those people not being paid is that they'd sue the government as a class, win, and then be paid.

Re: 20k federal workers take "buyout" so far, official says

#135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

…which the public sector is not. It’s highly regulated.

Nothing is currently highly regulated.

Yes it is. That regulation is just not currently being enforced. Which is an important difference because at some point down the line retroactive enforcement might occur.

Re: 20k federal workers take "buyout" so far, official says

#136
post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow, talk about an amazing deal if you already happened to be planning on leaving... I'm guessing the vast majority who take the deal were already planning to leave? So we're wasting tax payer money giving them 8 months severance when it could have been 0.

I also suspect that there really isn't nearly as much "waste" here as Musk is alleging, so we are going to be forced to re-hire people, while still paying a ton of workers for 8 months of no work. This doesn't seem "efficient" to me, but "efficient" is a word that doesn't actually mean anything without context, which they don't provide.

A large part of the GOP playbook around their goal of smaller government is to make the government work worse then use that to argue government can't do the job and it shouldn't do it or it needs to be privatized. "We can't give immigrants their due process before deporting them that takes forever! (We also refuse to expand the number of judges serving those cases)" "Public schools are horrible and don't work! (We've been choking their budget for decades)" etc etc.

Re: 20k federal workers take "buyout" so far, official says

#137
post #15

I think the main issue for anyone wanting to take the offer is simply: this was never authorized by congress, so the money to pay people to September is questionable if it exists at best. Meanwhile, there's a government funding deadline on March 14, 2025. So there's a very real chance at this deal offering something closer to ~1 month of pay before it suddenly gets dropped due to budget negotiations. It would be an i…

Aren't Twitter workers still trying to get their severances and they took the offer when Twitter actually had the money to pay.

Re: 20k federal workers take "buyout" so far, official says

#138
It’s quite similar to the student loan forgiveness in terms of it being about financial obligations to middle class citizens and it being attempted without Congress, as well as the likelihood for overpromising and underdelivering. The ordinary citizens making a choice in a way that would have an effect like promissory estoppel adds an interesting wrinkle but I don’t see how it changes the constitutionality of it. I think that many of those calling it unconstitutional are being hypocritical, even though they may be right.

Re: 20k federal workers take "buyout" so far, official says

#139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Re-hire people for what? They don’t want a functioning government

OK. What do they want? Seriously, what do you claim they want? A fascist dictatorship? You still need a functioning government for that. (It doesn't function for the people , but it still requires a large number of competent employees.) Anarchy? Mad Max? Everybody dies, so no government employees are needed? Takeover by Canada, Mexico, China, or Russia, so it becomes their problem? Or do you just claim that they're s…

You act as if any of these people are logical. My best guess is that they want all of the power in the states and to privatize whatever is necessary for their cronies to profit from much like Putin did in Russia.

Some of the Republicans just want to maintain power after Trump is gone.

Trump is stupid and easily led and operates out of grift and animus. Musk is definitely going to get something out of this. Most likely federal contracts.

Also a lot of Trump voters see him as their best defense to maintain their “way of life” and see the trends where the US is becoming a majority/minority, secular country. It was bad enough that this country let an “uppity Black” run the country for 8 years.

Re: 20k federal workers take "buyout" so far, official says

#140
post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

That's because of a then ongoing pandemic and making an allowance. That's completely different than just do nothing for 6+ months then quit. If you can't see that, there's no hope for this discussion.

So the OPM grants them a sabbatical or extended vacation or a hundred other things they have the discretion to do.

Pretending or hoping everything unorthodox or unprecedented is somehow illegal is already becoming tiresome to read about in comment sections and it hasn’t even been a month of this administration.

Post reply on HN