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Post by jdd2 on Apr 1, 2013 2:56:50 GMT -5
The sequester seems to have dropped off the news feeds. Maybe it was a non-issue? (or a hammer about to fall, surprising everyone)
It doesn't seem like anyone is paying attention to it anymore.
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Post by theevan on Apr 1, 2013 5:02:15 GMT -5
Poltical theater du jour. It is like so yesterday,man.
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Post by dickt on Apr 1, 2013 5:44:00 GMT -5
Not here, I need to schedule my days without pay over the next six months--so does my wife and so does my son. Our agency did fairly well because we anticipated a budget shortfall but other agencies, like most of defense will face 14 days off without pay out of the next 120 work days. So it's a little more than theater. Meanwhile today our managers have a big budget meeting to learn that everything we needed to spend money on this fiscal year will be severely cut which will curtail some major digital preservation programs.
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Post by mnhermit on Apr 1, 2013 9:40:00 GMT -5
I find it fascinating that to curtail 7% spending you have to stop work for over 10% of the time.
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Post by dickt on Apr 1, 2013 9:49:27 GMT -5
Hermit,
The year is half over so a 7 percent annual cut accomplished in six months is a 14 percent cut.
Pretty simple really
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Post by patrick on Apr 1, 2013 10:23:31 GMT -5
In my agency, nearly all travel has been cancelled. Entire conferences have been cancelled. We've already held budget meetings to decide which contractors in my office will be let go. There will be no more equipment purchases and little in the way of even office supplies. Grant and contract recipients are being told they are not getting as much money as they had been originally granted.
A friend is a contractor for the Navy, he's being furloughed.
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Post by aquaduct on Apr 1, 2013 11:35:11 GMT -5
The only impact to us so far is the postponement of our opening gig for Joe Nichols and OCMS. It's down near Quantico and apparently the county asked that it be moved back to the Fall because of the sequester.
Other than that all our federal worker friends are complaining about furlough days and cuts to thier programs. But our company hasn't seen any impact and isn't anticipating any.
It looks to be what one Obama aide described as Obama's worst nightmare, a sequester that nobody notices.
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Post by Doug on Apr 1, 2013 11:51:27 GMT -5
Seems to be getting all the people that weren't badly hurt by the continuing recession are joining those that were hurt. The only people up to now that weren't hurt were fed workers and fed suppliers so they aren't getting a lot of sympathy.
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Post by dickt on Apr 1, 2013 12:44:37 GMT -5
Nobody notices when the federal govt stops almost all purchases and cancels contracts for six months? Guess again. It's just getting started.
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Post by patrick on Apr 1, 2013 12:48:48 GMT -5
Sympathy doesn't enter into it.
The effects have only started to be felt. Yosemite has had to delay plowing the road across the Tioga Pass and opening the park, so gateway communities and outdoor suppliers and servicers, etc. are complaining.
If USDA furloughs meat inspectors, that means meat can't leave the processing plant, which is going to slow down the entire supply line.
Etc., etc., etc.
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Post by Chesapeake on Apr 1, 2013 13:28:01 GMT -5
It's too bad the crimes of politicians have to be paid for by government workers.
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Post by patrick on Apr 1, 2013 13:49:43 GMT -5
It's too bad the crimes of politicians have to be paid for by government workers. We're used to it. It's the others who really get screwed. |
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Post by Russell Letson on Apr 1, 2013 15:19:34 GMT -5
The tower of the St. Cloud airport will be closing down thanks to the sequester. We lost regular commuter service when Delta pulled the plug on their flights, but no working tower means that the city's attempts to lure another carrier in will be hurt. Not sure what it means for the carrier that recently has stuck its toe in our market (weekly flights to Phoenix, go figure)--they fly regional jets, which might want something better than VFR to operate in our often-exciting midwestern weather.
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Post by aquaduct on Apr 1, 2013 15:37:13 GMT -5
Nobody notices when the federal govt stops almost all purchases and cancels contracts for six months? Guess again. It's just getting started. It's not even close to a federal government shutdown. There will be plenty of government purchasing going on, just not quite as much as insiders are used to. |
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Post by aquaduct on Apr 1, 2013 15:41:18 GMT -5
Sympathy doesn't enter into it. The effects have only started to be felt. Yosemite has had to delay plowing the road across the Tioga Pass and opening the park, so gateway communities and outdoor suppliers and servicers, etc. are complaining. If USDA furloughs meat inspectors, that means meat can't leave the processing plant, which is going to slow down the entire supply line. Etc., etc., etc. Communities that are located by and are hugely dependent on government work will fell it, but that's generally localized and not felt by much of the population. And the only folks who have preemptive type-certification that requires a certificate before operating are the EPA. I don't believe lack of inspection shuts down meat plants. Again, not much impact outside of the government people directly affected. |
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Post by Russell Letson on Apr 1, 2013 16:12:41 GMT -5
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Post by patrick on Apr 1, 2013 16:55:41 GMT -5
And the only folks who have preemptive type-certification that requires a certificate before operating are the EPA. I don't believe lack of inspection shuts down meat plants. The meat inspectors don't simply inspect the plant, they actually inspect the meat. No meat inspector, no meat leaves the plant. |
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Post by Supertramp78 on Apr 1, 2013 17:12:43 GMT -5
Meat packing plants can't operate at all unless a meat inspector is present. But the House passed a bill back on March 21 (the Senate approved and Obama signed it) to shift funds to that department to keep meat plants running.
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Post by aquaduct on Apr 1, 2013 17:34:47 GMT -5
Excellent. So the sequester will be even less noticed out here in the real world. Keep those cheeseburgers and fried chicken rolling. It's summertime!
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Post by Doug on Apr 1, 2013 18:24:46 GMT -5
It's not that meat packing plants can't operate with out an inspector it's that they can't slaughter. Many small plants only see an inspector once every two weeks and all slaughter is scheduled for that day. In the early 80s E. WA was served by one inspector who did 3 big plants and 40 little plants. At our little educational slaughter house we would do 20 cows 30 pigs and maybe 100-200 chickens in the 1/2 day he was there. The big operations in Spokane and Yakima had him every week for a whole day. I am just guessing but I think he did something like 1000 cows in a day at the big places.
I don't know how big an operation it would take to have a full time inspector but maybe 20k cows a week or something like that. So cutbacks won't stop any inspections but I bet the little guys get moved to a once a month schedule rather than twice a month and the big guys keep truckin' like before. The only reason he spent a 1/2 day with us is we had to clear the line after each species, the big places have multiple lines. He drank a lot more coffee than inspecting waiting for the lines to be cleared.
Slaughtering is the only part of the operation that requires the inspector, but cutting etc doesn't.
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