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US shutdown: Flight delays caused by staff shortages

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441–450 of 612 posts

Re: US shutdown: Flight delays caused by staff shortages

#441

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…

It seems like this will have far-reaching consequences for the government's ability to hire, too. They don't have the ability to promise a steady job with steady pay anymore so they're going to have to pay more for labor.

Re: US shutdown: Flight delays caused by staff shortages

#442
post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If the airports remain shut down, the economic cost will quickly balloon to multiples of the $5.7B requested for the wall. It's literally a rounding error in the budget.

I wouldn't say its a rounding error, it's roughly the budget of the National Science Foundation which seems more sensible than a ...wall

That's one of the things that I find most infuriating. When it comes time to defund something like public broadcasting, it's all supposedly about the cost. When it's time to build a wall, it's a tiny fraction of the budget. We have such whacked priorities.

Re: US shutdown: Flight delays caused by staff shortages

#443

There's no way the federal shutdown lasts too much longer. The heat is on and too many people feel the hurt now, especially in a place like New York. If I were a betting man, I'd say 3-4 days max.

I think you are probably right, but I think it will end because the admin will declare a border emergency to try and get funding. The senate will then pass a clean bill and the emergency bill will get stuck in the courts. Right now this is only going on because of the admin wanting to save face.

> Right now this is only going on because of the admin wanting to save face.

To be fair, the administration has made several concessions (steel instead of concrete barrier, a multi step funding proposal, DACA extension, etc), while the Democratic leadership has been unwilling to compromise on increased funding for border security. It is on both sides that this shutdown has gone on so long.

Re: US shutdown: Flight delays caused by staff shortages

#444

That should get Pelosi moving? BTW, title nazi, the title of this post doesn't match the title of the article. That should be easy enough to automate?

If you won't start posting civilly and substantively we'll ban the account.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Re: US shutdown: Flight delays caused by staff shortages

#445

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If the airports remain shut down, the economic cost will quickly balloon to multiples of the $5.7B requested for the wall. It's literally a rounding error in the budget.

Nobody actually cares about the $5.7 billion dollars, it's chump change for the government. This is all about appearance. The Democrats will lose face if they sign off on a budget which allows him to build his wall, and Trump will lose face if he fails to start building it (presumably in time for the next election). (It's also notable that neither party, politically, has a good reason to end it. Trump will have a har…

As another commentor noted, this is a matter of precedence for the Democrats.

Trump has refused to accept continuing resolution proposals unless they include a down payment on the wall [1] - these proposals continue prior funding while the budget is discussed, alleviating the shutdown.

[1] https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/the-latest-2-dozen-h...

Re: US shutdown: Flight delays caused by staff shortages

#446
post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

A lot of people have a hard time showing empathy for others. Part of it can be due to immaturity or being overly sheltered, lack of social skills, etc. It's easy to be critical of others that make bad decisions but EVERYONE makes bad decisions, being imperfect and making mistakes is part of being human, and what might be easy for one person might not be easy for another person.

Empathy is the crux.

You don't have to accept someones view point to have empathy for people.

You also have to remember that life is messy and complex and there is rarely a single proximate cause for anything.

I tend to regard any sentence that starts "It's their fault because " or "It simple, you just do " with deep suspicion.

It would be nice if life actually had simple answers once in a while though.

Re: US shutdown: Flight delays caused by staff shortages

#447
post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honest question: I still don't understand how the "federal workers must work during furlough" thing doesn't violate the 13th Amendment. What's the story there?

It’s not that they literally must work. It’s that they can be fired for not showing up despite going without pay. Any private employer could also try this, although it’s questionable whether or how long people would put up with it. When the government is the employer, there’s some level of confidence that at least you’ll get paid in the future, whereas with a private employer once they stop paying on time they usuall…

Military personnel have to work.

Re: US shutdown: Flight delays caused by staff shortages

#448

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh, no! That wasn't what he meant. The president clarified that he meant to say that grocery stores and banks will work with you and extend you credit.

“Banks will work with you and extend you credit” is exactly the same as “getting a loan”.

No. In the context in which he said it, it means what happens in bankruptcies when debt-holders renegotiate terms and vendor contracts are restructured, something that the president is, sadly, well qualified to talk about (and commerce secretary, for different reasons)

Re: US shutdown: Flight delays caused by staff shortages

#449

Both sides are being stupid here. Trump knew the #resistance mindset makes it impossible for democrats to even trade something they supposedly care about, DACA protections, for the wall he cares about. I just find it mind-boggling that this path was even tried when it was a big gamble on popular opinion overruling #resistance. I find it hypocritical that the democrats are willing to spend more money on #resistance th…

> Trump knew the #resistance mindset makes it impossible for democrats to even trade something they supposedly care about, DACA protections, for the wall he cares about.

Trump's offer on DACA was a temporary preservation of the status quo on DACA, which opponents of his attempt to eliminate it have already acheived through litigation.

If he offered the more comprehensive legislative solution—the DREAM Act—for which the Obama Administration implementing DACA was a stopgap alternative, maybe that would actually be something. But what he has offered is essentially nothing.

Re: US shutdown: Flight delays caused by staff shortages

#450

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

American shutdowns were invented when someone realized that the Antideficiency Act probably prevents the government spending money if Congress failed to pass a budget. We could, if we wanted, amend that act to provide for an automatic continuance of funding, but we haven't. Deadlocks like this are definitely a feature of our system that Westminster-style systems resolve differently, but shutdowns are an artifact of a…

Other countries have a "If we have no functioning democratic government the budget is the same as last year" clause as well as a "In the event the government can't do it's job, the civil service (when it's called that) keeps the lights on"

Continuity of government is kinda the #1 priority of government as everything else they do is subordinate to that.

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