US shutdown: Flight delays caused by staff shortages • Hacker News Board

Re: US shutdown: Flight delays caused by staff shortages

#201

Post by nemothekid » Fri, Jan 25, 2019, 4:23 PM UTC

volak wrote: post #59

FWIW - house Democrats have voted against paying workers three times (so far). Most recently yesterday https://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/melanie-arter/house-gop... OK - heres a left biased source: https://thehill.com/homenews/house/425858-house-rejects-gop-...

For anyone else wondering why Dems would seemingly vote against this, the news source seems to be purposefully misleading others in order to place blame on house democrats.

This vote was not a vote to pass the bill, it was a motion to recommit (amend) the bill and delay it further. If you follow the links (http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2019/roll048.xml) to the source you can see it there.

Re: US shutdown: Flight delays caused by staff shortages

#202

Post by dragontamer » Fri, Jan 25, 2019, 4:23 PM UTC

NeedMoreTea wrote: post #87

I hope not too off topic, but I'm puzzled by shutdowns. Every other country I can think of has a system where if the finance is not agreed, the previous budget just continues. The budget sets the yearly amount for each department and it runs on until another budget changes how much everyone gets. Sometimes a new department gets created, sometimes something is abolished. Everyone gets their salary and services run on.…

> Every other country I can think of has a system where if the finance is not agreed, the previous budget just continues

That's called a continuing resolution. And in the USA, Trump defeated it December 2018.

They don't want a continuing resolution, so it doesn't happen. Its about that simple. Lawmakers can write the law however they want. Why would the Republicans decide to shoot down the CR this time? Politics.

To be fair: Democrats filibustered the CR in 2018 as well, which led to a short shutdown earlier in the year.

Re: US shutdown: Flight delays caused by staff shortages

#203

Post by MiddleEndian » Fri, Jan 25, 2019, 4:23 PM UTC

wheaties wrote: post #4

Not surprised by this. I'm patently surprised that Houston has stayed open given the staffing issues around the TSA. Maybe this will be the forcing mechanism to end the stalemate.

The TSA is a facade, perhaps they'll disband and we'll all be better off for it (probably not but I can dream). It's ATC that's the actual necessity.

Re: US shutdown: Flight delays caused by staff shortages

#204

Post by javagram » Fri, Jan 25, 2019, 4:23 PM UTC

clarkevans wrote: post #128

awinder wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the longest shutdown ever, so we're kinda past the "reasonable expectation" line when you're in uncharted historical waters...

In many western countries, when a government can't form a working coalition or agree on a budget, new elections are called.

The US system is so archaic at this point, the founding fathers never anticipated the federal government budget being this important to the country. Provisions for dealing with something like a shutdown just aren’t in the constitution other than 2/3 supermajority requirements for veto override or impeachment, which is a recipe for gridlock.

Many US states have much more sane budgeting systems and manage to run even under divided government without issue.

Re: US shutdown: Flight delays caused by staff shortages

#205

Post by usaphp » Fri, Jan 25, 2019, 4:23 PM UTC

brootstrap wrote: post #151

usaphp wrote: post #69

As a non US citizen, I don’t understand what’s that shutdown even about, seems like absurd thing to do. Is it all because of Trump or he is not the only one to blame? I remember there was some shutdown when Obama was there too? Or am I mistaken? Edit: downvoted for asking a question?

Hello, I am 28 years old and dont really ever recall a government shutdown happening in my years, pre-trump. People up above in the comments have written more details i would recommend reading thru the comments more to get info. However for a quick summary, trump is whinging like a bitch (this is literally all he does) because the democrats wont agree to his finances for the wall. Something like 5.7billion for just a…

Here is the one I was referring to, shutdown in 2013 during Obama period: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_United_States_federal_g...

Re: US shutdown: Flight delays caused by staff shortages

#206

Post by justaguyhere » Fri, Jan 25, 2019, 4:23 PM UTC

tibbon wrote: post #56

wonderwonder wrote: post #24

Bearing in mind that ~40% of american's could not come up with $400 to cover emergencies, this is going to become more prevalent in the next few days / weeks as people will simply not be able to afford gas to get to their unpaid work. I read an article today discussing how TSA workers in HI are living in their cars in the airport parking lot as they cannot afford to commute. The FBI just cancelled its internship prog…

I've seen too many people say, "Oh, government workers should all know this stuff happens all the time, and if they don't have months or years of savings in the bank then it's just their fault". It's really sad that instead of being compassionate, too many are focusing on what "should" be instead of what is the reality for many people. Like you point out, the reality is that most people don't have savings. They shoul…

Lack of compassion/empathy is a much bigger problem than we can imagine, I realize it more and more as I grow older.

If we pause for a minute and watch the words and actions of people around us (or even our own) intentionally, we can see how little empathy a lot of us have.

Re: US shutdown: Flight delays caused by staff shortages

#207

Post by BurningFrog » Fri, Jan 25, 2019, 4:23 PM UTC

This should force Trump to end it pretty soon.

The public clearly blames Trump for the shutdown, so Democrats have no reason to lift a finger to stop it while Trumps approval rating drops, and as more airports close, the situations surely becomes untenable fast.

Re: US shutdown: Flight delays caused by staff shortages

#208

Post by SketchySeaBeast » Fri, Jan 25, 2019, 4:23 PM UTC

runako wrote: post #161

jazzyk wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Strictly speaking, their pay is delayed - they will be paid for all the work, eventually. Still, regular employees should not be going through this, though.

> they will be paid for all the work, eventually The reductio on this argument ("why not just pay them for the year in a lump sum on December 31, 2019?") makes it obvious how inadequate it is given two pay periods have already been missed. There are real financial costs being created (late fees, etc.) that the government is offloading onto its employees. This is dishonorable.

In a little bit we should probably start considering inflation as well.

Re: US shutdown: Flight delays caused by staff shortages

#209

Post by mikeash » Fri, Jan 25, 2019, 4:23 PM UTC

s0rce wrote: post #57

Why can't the ATC adopt a funding model like the USPS so they don't have this problem in the future relying on appropriations. Can they basically charge airlines and other traffic for their services to fund the operations. I'm mostly curious if this is actually realistic.

Better yet, change the rules so that funding automatically continues at previous levels for all agencies if Congress fails to pass a CR.

Re: US shutdown: Flight delays caused by staff shortages

#210

Post by tengbretson » Fri, Jan 25, 2019, 4:24 PM UTC

dkdbejwi383 wrote: post #47

ceejayoz wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, it'd be slavery if they couldn't quit.

What if they can't quit because of the wage-slave capitalist culture brought about by the US government?

Its a bizarre thing to see people feel the temptation to lump themselves in with the 30 million actual slaves in this world today just because they work retail.