De-Construction<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The government shutdown is moving into its second month. Over 800,000 Federal government employees are going without pay. Around half of these workers are actually showing up at work everyday, some even working overtime hours but are note getting a paycheck. They are trapped: if they don\u2019t show up, they lose their jobs, if they do show up, they lose an opportunity to work somewhere else and make money for themselves and their family. The shutdown has made them make an impossible choice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There is a perception among some, that government workers are making \u201cbig money\u201d and can afford to take a month off. There is the further perception that we don\u2019t \u201cneed\u201d them to do their work; that a smaller government is a better thing anyway. And, I\u2019m sure, someone thinks we are saving \u201ctaxpayer\u201d money by the shutdown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The average salary of a TSA agent, the person keeping weapons and bombs off of airplanes, is around $44,000 a year. That\u2019s less than $4000 a month; and they have already missed a month\u2019s pay. It\u2019s an unsustainable burden; no wonder the \u201csick out\u201d rate is more than three times greater than last year. FBI agents make more, between $70,000 and $140,000; but they are also looking at a month without a salary. And since this crisis is ostensibly about the border, those who are there, the border patrol agents, also without pay, get $70,000 annually. They are still going to work everyday, without a paycheck, or a wall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sure, Congress and the President, unable to agree on anything else, have passed a law granting back-pay for all of the workers, furloughed (not working) or working without pay. They will be \u201cmade whole\u201d when the government re-opens; if they can survive the wait.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Many businesses; banks and utility companies, rental offices and retailers; are floating loans and delaying payments for the Federal workers. There have been food banks set up, treating this as some kind of natural disaster, a flood, hurricane, or fire. It\u2019s a nice thing for them to do, but there\u2019s the other image it creates: the government can\u2019t get this done, so American business will come through.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The \u201cGiants:\u201d Amazon, Microsoft and Apple; are taking \u201ccorporate responsibility.\u201d They are recognizing that their presence in communities so inflates the average income, that the cost of living climb out of the range of \u201cnormal\u201d people. In San Francisco the average apartment rents are near $5000, that\u2019s a month not a year. That\u2019s more than the $4000 average in Manhattan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s all well and good that corporations are stepping in, both to \u201ccover\u201d for the government, and to try to rectify their negative impacts on communities.\u00a0\u00a0But there is a greater point to be made here.\u00a0\u00a0The alt-right agenda, led by the shadowy Steve Bannon, would like to see the government shrunk, with reduced regulations, fewer employees, and less impact on average Americans.\u00a0\u00a0This leaves \u201cthe field\u201d open to private corporations.\u00a0While Bannon long ago left the White House, his views are still in control:\u00a0\u00a0look at the reduced environmental regulations, national land protections, and lax pharmaceutical controls to name just a few.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Shutdown parts of the government, and show everyone that they aren\u2019t needed. Oh wait, we need to file taxes, and control the border, and check passengers are airports. Well, let\u2019s make them work without pay. Maybe the TSA agents will quit, then we can find private companies to overpay for the same services. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Perhaps this shutdown is about \u201cWall,\u201d or perhaps it\u2019s about the giant ego of the President. Or, most likely, it\u2019s about a President who stumbled into a huge political crisis with no plan to get out, and now is stuck between reality and his base. But it may well be part of an alternative agenda. In one of Bannon\u2019s first interviews when the Trump Administration took control, he talked about \u201cdeconstruction\u201d of the government. Even though Bannon is gone \u2013 it\u2019s looking pretty \u201cdeconstructed\u201d to me.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"