Current Events > Trump cuts scheduled federal pay raise, citing 'serious economic conditions'

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https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/02/trump-cuts-scheduled-federal-pay-raise-serious-economic-conditions.html

In public, President Donald Trump likes to boast aboutand usually inflatethe performance of the American economy on his watch. He picks through the numbers to take credit for everything good and sorts out everything not-so-good for dumping on his predecessors. The result: lots of exclamation points!

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1227224631754489857

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1224722351125823491

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1198981079723589639

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1203363921995980801

If you lived in a bubble where Twitter Trump was your sole news source, youd be pretty fired up, which makes it odd that on Monday the very same Trump White House said it intends to slash a scheduled pay raise for civilian federal employees. Cutting the 2.5 percent raise set for 2021 to 1 percent for millions of federal workers seems a bit austere in the face of such self-proclaimed boom times. Even more absurdly, Trump is justifying ordering the cut on the grounds that the country is in the midst of a national emergency or serious economic conditions affecting the general welfare, which the White House says authorizes the president to implement alternative plans for pay adjustments.

So which is it? The best economy in the history of economies or a national economic emergency? Either way, somebodys lying.

CNN article as well, cited in the Slate one.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/10/politics/trump-federal-employee-pay-adjustments/index.html

Washington (CNN)President Donald Trump on Monday justified a smaller-than-anticipated proposed pay raise for civilian federal workers by citing "national emergency or serious economic conditions," despite his frequent statements that the nation's economy is booming.

Trump proposed that pay raises for civilian federal workers be limited to 1% in 2021 in a bid to "maintain efforts to put our Nation on a fiscally sustainable course." He described a pay increase above 1% as "inappropriate."

"This alternative pay plan decision will not materially affect our ability to attract and retain a well qualified Federal workforce," the President wrote.

An across-the-board 2.5% increase for federal workers is slated to take effect in January 2021.

In limiting federal pay raises, Trump cited his statutory authority to adjust pay because of "national emergency or serious economic conditions affecting the general welfare," but the President frequently touts a growing US economy, including a strong growth rate for the gross domestic product and low unemployment.

"In just three short years, we have shattered the mentality of American Decline and we have rejected the downsizing of America's destiny. We have totally rejected the downsizing," Trump said at his State of the Union address last week.

"We are moving forward at a pace that was unimaginable just a short time ago, and we are never, ever going back."

In addition, a yearly adjustment of paychecks based on the region of the country where a worker is posted -- the "locality pay increase" -- is due to take effect, but Trump now proposes that those salaries "remain at their 2020 levels."

The implications of Trump's decision on the locality pay increase were not immediately clear. Workers based in more expensive parts of the country are paid higher salaries to compensate for the higher cost of living.

Congress has an opportunity to effectively ignore the President's proposal if lawmakers pass a spending bill that includes a federal pay raise.

The suggested pay adjustments align with Trump's larger 2021 budget proposal, which calls for major spending cuts but would not eliminate the federal deficit in the next 10 years.

The $4.8 trillion budget plan essentially serves as a statement of priorities for the President ahead of the 2020 presidential election, but like any budget proposed by the White House, Trump's 2021 plan must be passed by Congress. And with a Democrat-controlled House of Representatives and a GOP-controlled Senate, what ultimately passes may show little resemblance to what the President has proposed.

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But I thought it was the best economy
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This orange fat fuck is fucking with my coin

"This alternative pay plan decision will not materially affect our ability to attract and retain a well qualified Federal workforce," the President wrote.

Of course this moron doesnt realize that the main reason people with advanced degrees, especially in a CS related field, flock to industry instead of the government is because of the pay difference and now he's helping to make the gap even larger. Hope Americans are fine with the US being China and Russia's bitch when it comes to anything AI in the upcoming decades.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/rebeccafannin/2019/10/31/the-gap-between-us-and-china-tech/#12f952ddde71

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3026621/us-tech-chief-china-threatening-americas-lead-global-artificial

And no, them flocking to industry doesn't help the US since the hipsters working at Google get mad whenever their tech and a government/military application are mentioned in the same sentence, so I imagine something like this would anger the nationalists/anti-globalists but I doubt they'll stop blindly worshipping him anytime soon

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Where are the lemmings to defend this?

dolomedes posted...

finally, white collar workers get fucked too

we're all getting fucked. by the many ways of trump.
except for the super rich (they're spared).
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Super rich wealth is the measure of our economy though.

It ain't the workers.

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MacadamianNut3 posted...

Of course this moron doesnt realize that the main reason people with advanced degrees, especially in a CS related field, flock to industry instead of the government is because of the pay difference and now he's helping to make the gap even larger. Hope Americans are fine with the US being China and Russia's b**** when it comes to anything AI in the upcoming decades.

he realizes.

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Odoylerules posted...

Where are the lemmings to defend this?

You kidding? Trumpers want the federal government deleted, including everyone who works there.

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good, bureaucrats don't deserve generous raises on the taxpayer dollar

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Odoylerules posted...

Where are the lemmings to defend this?

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probably slashing raises to fund that stupid fucking wall

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TheMikh posted...

good, bureaucrats don't deserve generous raises on the taxpayer dollar

how much do you think the average federal worker makes?

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TheMikh posted...

good, bureaucrats don't deserve generous raises on the taxpayer dollar

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Weezy_Tha_Don posted...

probably slashing raises to fund that stupid fucking wall

yep it's pretty much confirmed.
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MacDaMurderer posted...

they are hired and paid to address problems they created in the first place

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...this has nothing to do with bureaucrats though, this is average people like us.
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TheMikh posted...

good, bureaucrats don't deserve generous raises on the taxpayer dollar

generous?

TheMikh posted...

they are hired and paid to address problems they created in the first place

most federal workers are paid to address problems businesses create for their customers

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Sackgurl posted...

generous?

most federal workers are paid to address problems businesses create for their customers

businesses would be a lot less free to screw people over without consequence if bureaucrats - particularly policymakers and those who directly or indirectly report to them - didn't enable it

there's a symbiotic relationship between corporations and state bureaucracy, both parasites on the general public

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why is Mikh still going on about bureaucrats when this is for average, civilian federal workers lol

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TheMikh posted...

didn't enable it

it's enabled by a lack of action, not harmful action

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sylverlolol posted...

why is Mikh still going on about bureaucrats when this is for average, civilian federal workers lol

he needed that podium somewhere damn it

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sylverlolol posted...

why is Mikh still going on about bureaucrats when this is for average, civilian federal workers lol

between half and two-thirds of federal employees are a part departments associated with the military-industrial complex

aside from those in departments rendering services to veterans, expenditures in that realm could be streamlined significantly, which in time would also reduce the need for veteran's services as well

effectively reducing expenditures without even needing cuts for non-defense/security departments

Sackgurl posted...

it's enabled by a lack of action, not harmful action

reasonable enough. where there are critical service gaps industry and local/state government cannot fill to satisfaction, the federal government can offer a satisfactory alternative.

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TheMikh posted...

reasonable enough. where there are critical service gaps industry and local/state government cannot fill to satisfaction, the federal government can offer a satisfactory alternative.

not if it's giving 1% cost-of-living increases and constantly being brain-drained because its executive refuses to pay skilled workers what they're worth and selects dept leadership by loyalty rather than ability

what trump is doing here is the problem. you can't deliberately fuck government up and then turn around and say "government doesn't work! elect me and I'll shrink it!"

well, you can, but voters should not be so stupid as to believe you. and they are, but it's not the fault of bureaucrats.

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Strange. I keep being told we have the best economy.

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Republicans platform is doing their best to make the government ineffective at solving problems then using that to prove the government is ineffective at solving problems

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US federal revenue, 2019: $3.44 trillion
US federal spending, 2019: $4.45 trillion

duh.

Trump: *passes massive tax cut for the wealthy*
Also Trump: *sets new records for self contortion by spending three years sucking his own dick whilst patting himself on the back for Obama's economy.*
Also Trump: *completely reverses course and states that economy condition is a national emergency with 'serious economic conditions', and thus it's time to cut the paychecks for the peons. I'm sure it's also a massive coincidence that he's floating Social Security and Medicare cuts too*
Trump slurpers: *wildly applaud bigly brain act of alpha leadership, then head over to The_Donald to blame libs and minorites*

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CyricZ posted...

You kidding? Trumpers want the federal government deleted, including everyone who works there.

except the ones they dont that push their agenda

is a tribe of hypocrisy

TheGoldenEel posted...

Republicans platform is doing their best to make the government ineffective at solving problems then using that to prove the government is ineffective at solving problems

That is referred to as Starving the Beast.
It's sort of a self-fulfilling prophecy kinda thing.
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SiO4 posted...

That is referred to as Starving the Beast.

It doesn't work. The beast just begins feeding on the future.

Questionmarktarius posted...

It doesn't work. The beast just begins feeding on the future.

He's is designed not to work.
But ya, the US has been selling out the future big time.
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