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Those workers who are right now on paid leave from the gubmint? They're all whining about their paychecks. So are people like Nancy and Chuckie. Waaa waaa.
Here's the real deal. Those people are already paid through the 15th of January, so they haven't yet BEGUN to feel a squeeze of any kind. THey are pulling your sympathy leg.
Give them whatever they have earned in vacation time (equate it to dollars and give them a check) and do the same with medical benefits they haven't used up yet, and whatever other freebies they're entitled to simply because they work for the gubmint. Us self-employed people don't have those "luxuries" but the gubmint workers do. I can tell you for a fact that not one of them would be willing to do my humanitarian job as an infant day care provider for about $2.00 per hour with no benefits. When I retire shortly, my income stops. There is no one in the background who is going to "fund" me for the rest of my born days. I gave up the last 30 years of my "working professional life" (and I had one!) to watch tiny little infants so that THEIR parents could go to a job and support them in years to come. Those parents had jobs with benefits, or at least most of them did/do. And they worked for a helluva lot more than $2.00 per hour, but no one wants to pay a day care provider (who is responsible for their most precious possessions for the better part of the day M-F) more than that. They will call around to every day care in town looking for the cheapest rate rather than find one who is qualified, whose house is clean, who has good references, etc. They are always more concerned about the money than they are about the actual care of their child. It sickens me sometimes when I do interviews with people and they will argue with me about my price. I always tell them they have the right to go and find someone else if they think my price is too high.
But really - - can you see one of those workers deciding to open a day care facility and help other people, rather than going back to a teat-sucking gubmint job? Ha. In your dreams, pal.