Federal Workers Receive a Long Overdue Wakeup Call

I haven’t seen this much whine since Ernest and Julio Gallo hosted an all-you-can-drink party at their vineyard in Modesto, California.

OK, different “wine”, but you get the idea.

The whining sound emanating from Washington D.C. ever since Donald Trump rode into town and brought Elon Musk with him has been more deafening – and a lot more irritating – than the planes taking off from the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. Ironically and perhaps tellingly, some of the noise is coming from Democrats (and yes, some career politicians in the GOP) who have been spending taxpayers’ money like drunken sailors for decades and are finally being held accountable.

“How on earth will Columbia be able to produce another transgender opera without American funding?” they scream. “And how can we expect Guatemalans to pay for their own sex-change operations without help from the United States?” they lament.

As despicable and unconscionable as the frivolous spending by USAID and other government agencies has been, the purpose of this article is to focus on the other crybabies whose funding is being slashed by Elon Musk and D.O.G.E.

Namely, the same federal employees who – every time there is a government shutdown – get designated as “nonessential workers”. When that happens, they are sent home on furlough and then, when the impasse is over, they are brought back and compensated for their time off. In other words, they are given a paid vacation on top of their already paid vacations on top of their already paid federal holidays on top of their already paid federal pensions on top of their already paid federal health benefits on top of their already paid federal salaries.

Got it?

While these “nonessential workers” are home watching soap operas in their pajamas, planes are not falling from the sky, trains are not mass derailing, the internet and the stock market are not simultaneously crashing, and the electrical power grid isn’t shutting down. Life simply goes on, with or without them, which is exactly what the Department of Government Efficiency has concluded.

And so, President Trump has offered buyouts to a vast number of federal employees to “take the money and run”. The smart ones did and will be paid through September 30th to sit on their cans. The dumb ones, the stubborn ones, the ones with an inflated sense of their own importance, and the ones who realize they can’t possibly survive in the private sector are whining and complaining about how unfairly they are being treated.

The federal government currently employs more than 2 million civilian workers, a number that has increased by more than 140,000 (7%) since 2017. Whereas some of the increase was due to Covid-19, the largest single-year increase was in 2023 when the federal workforce swelled by more than 80,000 (4.1%) due to the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021.

Of those more than 2 million civilian employees, roughly 20% or 400,000 live in the Washington D.C. metropolitan area. I am sure that some of them are hardworking individuals who love their country. However, I am equally certain that some of them are “Beltway Bandits” who are sucking on Uncle Sam’s teat for all it’s worth.

We all have our own horror stories about dealing with a government agency. Whether it is waiting for months to get a passport or aging in dog-years while on hold with the IRS, we have all come to the same unmistakable conclusion: many of these people couldn’t possibly survive in the private sector, where there are firm deadlines and results are expected… or else.

I have spent the past 42 years working in the non-profit sector and I can tell you that if you give a charity a dollar, it will usually produce $50-$100 worth of results. Unless, of course, it is run by Al Sharpton or the Clinton family cartel.

There is a reason why – when a natural disaster strikes – Samaritan’s Purse, the American Red Cross, and the Salvation Army already have boots on the ground, while FEMA is still gassing up its engines. Non-profits cut through red tape while government agencies create it.

Back to the aggrieved federal workers for a minute…

In a sappy USA Today article titled “Took Away My Hope”, four “journalists” began their slanted news piece with the following words: “The termination notice came just before Valentine’s Day, and her heart was shattered as she broke down crying in front of her two young children. She has bills to pay – a mortgage, preschool tuition, a car payment – and a scared family.”

“I feel so angry now at the administration because I traumatized my kids,” she said. “I wish I would’ve never joined the federal government.”

The woman in question went on to admit that she left her job in the private sector because a government job seemed more stable until, of course, it wasn’t.

I feel actual sympathy for this lady and especially for her two young children, but the reality of the situation is that no job – whether it is in the public, private, or nonprofit sector – is guaranteed for life. Businesses shut down, companies downsize or relocate, and people are laid off every day… and it is going to happen more and more frequently as AI and other technological advances change the way we do business.

Remember when Amazon first came on the scene? Big box stores and shopping malls started taking the hit as did Mom and Pop shops and small businesses everywhere. But did federal workers care? Probably not. In fact, I’m guessing that most of them have an Amazon Prime account of their own. Only when the downsizing hit home did they start to whine and complain.

So, please, save us the crocodile tears and do what Americans do best. Regroup, pull yourself up by your bootstraps, and go get a different job in our ever-changing economy… while being thankful for the years you gorged on Uncle Sam’s gravy train at taxpayers’ expense.