Thread: Federal Budget Cuts

Here come the DOD cuts

In all honesty, though, the DOD should be hammered by about 10% - 15%. We are spending like drunken DOD employees.

Originally Posted by CountryBoy

White House is directing agencies to cut budgets

The White House is directing agencies to develop plans for trimming at least 5 percent from their budgets by identifying programs that do little to advance their missions or President Obama's agenda.

The request, made amid rising public anxiety over government spending, comes on top of a pledge by Obama this winter to freeze spending at most agencies for the next three years. In a joint memo to be delivered Tuesday morning, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and budget director Peter Orszag order agency heads to go further by listing the programs that "are least critical" to their overall goals.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...t&hpid=topnews

Uh oh, I might end up on the unemployment line! Obama's agenda includes amnesty, which directly conflicts with my job of deporting aliens.

I figure the DOD is going to see a massive budget reduction like they have never seen since to BO and Rahm they are the least critical to their overall goals of growing the Entitlement Class and socialism. So social programs are in the clear.

The only thing that may keep in reasonable is that the DOD privide millions of private industry jobs. So as much as he'd love to destroy our military and install his own thugs, he has to keep some semblence of an economy to keep his entitlement class happy.

Maybe they'll offer early outs to us old farts, since we remember and tend to recognize what is going on with the reduction of our freedoms and the increasing interference in our private lifes.

When we are gone, who will they come for then?

A little more specific on Defense.

http://defensesystems.com/Articles/2...DEFENSE&Page=1
I don't think this is more massive than the historical off budget increase we had recently.

Not sure about early retirement - Hiring freeze (for the non-combat positions) much more likely if you don't already have one (we are under one right now). At least where I work, the last early retirement was counter-productive and actually ended up costing more (one office lost almost their entire staff, almost all the adminitrative/accounting/personell staff left for better private sector pay, and of course those already planning just left early because they could). Now our agency won't touch early retirement with a 10 foot pole.

Doesn't help when retirement numbers drop suddenly due to bad economic factors?

http://www.opm.gov/feddata/retire/

I shudder to think that they could draw a line in the paychart and say, "See ya!, wouldn't wanna be ya!"

Oh, and CB, maybe we could get this administration to reduce the number of Czars and their staffs?

One of the reasons I paid off my house....a pink-slipped GS-15 engineer taught a Get out of Debt class I attended back in about 01-03 (somewhere in there). When he got laid off, he had a boat payment, 2 vehicle payments and a hefty mortgage. He got them paid off in 7 years, never got back to the pay level he'd been at, he went to work for the nonprofit that taught the class. $25/3 hours, 1 night.

I got notice my job might be surplused by 05-in late 03-looking 2 years budget forecast ahead. I still had 2 years to go at the time, before I'd be age 50 and have 20 years in for involuntary early retirement purposes. Peak of the housing market-everywhere I job hunted, housing was completely unaffordable (30 year fixed-the only way I've ever gone).

I focused on paying off the house and praying I'd make it to age 50 before I had to move someplace unaffordable or else stay in place in a paid-off house and find lower-paying work to stay in place. Fortunately by the time 05 rolled around, the budget changed enough they decided they could afford to keep me after all.

If it rolls around again-I'm over 50 now and have 20+ years in, AND have the house paid off. Not that there's many jobs around here, but some-not in my profession. would be significant paycut but I'd find a way to survive. I have options now that I didn't back then-yet.

Originally Posted by alevin

If it rolls around again-I'm over 50 now and have 20+ years in, AND have the house paid off. Not that there's many jobs around here, but some-not in my profession. would be significant paycut but I'd find a way to survive. I have options now that I didn't back then-yet.

They are always placing MCRD San Diego (USMC Recruit Training Base) on the BRAC. If the 'Black Swan' doesn't value the military where do you think the Marine Corps falls.

My guess is that the USMC will be a falling knife - and, we investors know that you don't want to be catching a falling knife (which I seem to be doing right now!!!).

Regardless, I now am almost 46 and have a bit over 20 years in. Plus - thanks in no small part to the folks here - I have a modest sum in my TSP account.

Regretfully, I think I would jump at an early retirement offer. There was a day (before NMCI and current Bureaucratic Leadership) that I would be a job clinger. Now, not so much.

Originally Posted by Silverbird

A little more specific on Defense.

http://defensesystems.com/Articles/2...DEFENSE&Page=1
I don't think this is more massive than the historical off budget increase we had recently.

Not sure about early retirement - Hiring freeze (for the non-combat positions) much more likely if you don't already have one (we are under one right now). At least where I work, the last early retirement was counter-productive and actually ended up costing more (one office lost almost their entire staff, almost all the adminitrative/accounting/personell staff left for better private sector pay, and of course those already planning just left early because they could). Now our agency won't touch early retirement with a 10 foot pole.

Not sure about early outs either, and you do use alot of experience, maybe that's just wishful thinking on my part, but we have had several RIF's in the past 4 years. That is another option ,that is pleasant to think about.