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Government employees begin to protest shutdown

Does Trump really have any leverage here?...

I'm not sure. I hope not. But I think that's why he's waited until Dems can be more easily blamed for not getting the wall done. His base will, per always, be solidly behind his con. But, so far, I think the majority are not moving his direction.
 
Honestly the biggest shock to me is how many people truly do live paycheck to paycheck. I understand TSA because they aren’t paid well but a PhD statistician just by the PhD at the end of his last name puts him at GS11, so 50-60 range.

Just think about it for a minute. Consider 32-year-old with a PhD that has $100,000 in undergraduate loans that he/she has been deferring for 10 years. They probably made $18k a year as a grad student teaching assistant so had no capacity to save money during school. Now they’ve been on the job with the federal government for two years, bought a $300K house and has a mortgage to pay on a monthly basis. Has a spouse and young kids, needs to buy groceries, maybe they have a car payment too. Take home pay is about $4000 a month usually. On top of all that they set up 529s for the kids, and have an auto contribution to retirement each month because they are responsible and thinking about the future. Who really has a lot of money to set aside for cash saving with all those regular monthly expenses? Plus it’s right after Christmas when every probably over spent because it Jesus’ birthday. It’s not about being an egg head book smart guy with no common sense, it’s about a sudden, unexpected massive change in your income when the bills keep coming. (Btw, this is a hypothetical loosely based on real life, it is not necessarily my friend’s situation, I don’t know him that well).
 
Just think about it for a minute. Consider 32-year-old with a PhD that has $100,000 in undergraduate loans that he/she has been deferring for 10 years. They probably made $18k a year as a grad student teaching assistant so had no capacity to save money during school. Now they’ve been on the job with the federal government for two years, bought a $300K house and has a mortgage to pay on a monthly basis. Has a spouse and young kids, needs to buy groceries, maybe they have a car payment too. Take home pay is about $4000 a month usually. On top of all that they set up 529s for the kids, and have an auto contribution to retirement each month because they are responsible and thinking about the future. Who really has a lot of money to set aside for cash saving with all those regular monthly expenses? Plus it’s right after Christmas when every probably over spent because it Jesus’ birthday. It’s not about being an egg head book smart guy with no common sense, it’s about a sudden, unexpected massive change in your income when the bills keep coming. (Btw, this is a hypothetical loosely based on real life, it is not necessarily my friend’s situation, I don’t know him that well).

This evening on the PBS Newshour, the chair of the White House’s Council of Economic Advisors, Kevin Hassett, said this about workers who are going without pay as the government shutdown nears its fourth week:

Right now about 25% of government workers are furloughed. Which means that they are not allowed to go to work.

But then when the shutdown ends, they go back to work, and they get their back pay.

A huge share of government workers were going to take vacation days, say between Christmas and New Year’s.

And then we have a shutdown, and so they can’t go to work. So then they have the vacation, but they don’t have to use their vacation days. And then they come back, and they get their back pay.

Then in some sense they’re better off.
 
Does Trump really have any leverage here? Tax season is approaching and I'd have to believe that a mere delay on returns would be a death knell for even his staunchest supporters.

I think a week ago they brought all the IRS employees back in to process returns, they're just not paying them

We need much better civics and personal finance education.

Or we just need to beat the crap outta the banking industry. 25% credit card interest should not exist. Cap it at 10%. Will mean a lot of people will have a lot less access to credit, but those people shouldn't have access to credit.
 

I am sure the loan collectors on their student loans and mortgages will accept vacation time in lieu of money.
 
Or we just need to beat the crap outta the banking industry. 25% credit card interest should not exist. Cap it at 10%. Will mean a lot of people will have a lot less access to credit, but those people shouldn't have access to credit.

Fine with me. We need all that.
 
The withholdings change come April is going to be interesting.

Yep. Imagine thinking your returns or going to be delayed and then finding out you’re going to get far less than normal or even owe.
 
Honestly the biggest shock to me is how many people truly do live paycheck to paycheck. I understand TSA because they aren’t paid well but a PhD statistician just by the PhD at the end of his last name puts him at GS11, so 50-60 range.

If this PhD statistician lives near any major city, 50-60k doesn’t go very far. Especially if he has a family. Sure, if he lives in Rubesville he might be able to make ends meet, but otherwise he’s going to be struggling if paychecks stop coming in.
 
If this PhD statistician lives near any major city, 50-60k doesn’t go very far. Especially if he has a family. Sure, if he lives in Rubesville he might be able to make ends meet, but otherwise he’s going to be struggling if paychecks stop coming in.
I would hope a PhD statistician would make more than 50 or 60.
 
I would hope a PhD statistician would make more than 50 or 60.

Starting salary for a PhD scientist is ~60k in a gs11 position. That’s for a term position, permanent positions are generally hired at gs12 staring at about $70k. Statistics is definitely an area where people can make a lot more in the private sector than in the public sector.
 
Will statisticians and accountants be the first to go when AI becomes more proficient?
 
Report Suggests More Taxpayers Will Owe Tax In 2019 Due To Insufficient Withholding


This kind of thing is probably what's being referenced. I'm sure you know.

Got it, actually I didn’t know or wasn’t terribly aware. Yes, if someone in years past took 5 exemptions cause of itemized deductions and didn’t adjust their W4 down, I could see them being caught off guard at year end. Especially since employers didn’t ask for brand new W4’s from everyone.

On the flip side, ppl would have seen a bigger increase in paychecks from a year ago, but that’s probably already forgotten by most and having to cut a $1-3k check in a couple a months could throw a lot of people off.
 
Well yeah. If their check was artificially inflated and they owe when they usually get a refund, that could be a problem.
 
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