Posts Tagged: fiscal cliff

Sequestration Obscures Fiscal Reality

The “Fiscal Cliff” was supposed to be a failsafe mechanism. Unfortunately, it now appears likely to fail. Just the threat of a sequester was supposed to ensure bipartisan consensus between Congress and the White House on a host of contentious issues of taxes and spending. Yet the term “compromise” has become a dirty word inRead… Read more »

3 Reasons to Cut Congressional Pay in Half

The U.S. Congress has done it again. On Friday the House of Representatives voted to reject a long overdue end to the two-year old federal pay freeze. In effect, Congress is punishing federal civil servants for serving the public. It should be evident by now that federal employees have been castigated too much, for tooRead… Read more »

So, What Does This Mean For Feds? The Fiscal Cliff Deal

So, what does all this mean for feds? First, the fiscal cliff agreement doesn’t address the pay freeze for federal workers in any way. The bill that would extend the pay freeze for feds is a separate piece of legislation, which passed in the House with a sizeable majority, 287-129, but has not been broughtRead… Read more »

What Happens If We Fall Off the Fiscal Cliff?

Ah this “Fiscal Cliff” looming before us! It threatens economic communities, worldwide yet our legislators still find themselves at a stalemate because of campaign promises. So what should we expect in 2013, if we take this dive? Although agencies don’t intend to start employee furloughs on or immediately after January 2nd, don’t think this optionRead… Read more »

Why Do We Wait for A Crisis?

The current brouhaha over the impending Fiscal Cliff is yet another example of a national culture that waits for crisis before taking action. The irony in this current example is that our political leaders actually created the cliff to force themselves to address this complex economic issue. In other words, because they couldn’t work togetherRead… Read more »

The 2012 Election Results: Four Implications for Federal Personnel

By Ken Gold, Director of the Government Affairs Institute at Georgetown University President Obama’s reelection means that a major assault on federal pay and benefits, which many feared would be a part of a Romney-Ryan administration, will not occur. Nevertheless, there will continue to be long-term pressures to reduce federal spending, and agency budgets andRead… Read more »