The socialists and the Keynesians would have you believe that austerity is a bad thing, and that firing government workers when unemployment is already high is the wrong thing to do.

Anyone believing those myths needs to consider Euro Countries (and the IMF) Can Learn from Latvia’s Economic Success.

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Mike Shedlock

Mike Shedlock

Mike Shedlock is a registered investment advisor representative for Sitka Pacific Capital Management.

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16 Comments So Far
Dr_Zinj Wrote: Dec 06, 2012 11:38 AM
A shining example. Too bad the the feds, Congress, and Prez are all wearing extremely dark welding goggles.
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Frank130 Wrote: Dec 06, 2012 11:28 AM
"Are Austerity, Shrinking Wages, and Firing of Public Workers Bad Things?"
-No, they are good things! We need to drastically cut the size & scope of government & end our out-of-control welfare/warfare/police state that is quickly bankrupting us!!
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Boisebob Wrote: Dec 06, 2012 11:06 AM
Some Fed agencies might be looking at the handwriting on the wall. They are offering fairly significant sums of money to employees to retire early. If you could retire early with enough cash to pay the house off and still get FULL Fed retirement most would take the deal. Then you just need to find another job and collect two pay checks.

Federal employees are fairly well trained and have job skills that can be valuable in other areas. Makes me wish that I had become one long ago.
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Michael2944 Wrote: Dec 07, 2012 11:29 PM
Note that typically, the best buy-out offer for taking an early retirement is limited, by law, to $25K. A Federal worker at GS-12 or higher can make that amount of money by not retiring and working 3 additional months. In reality - when buy-outs are being proposed, many workers will hang in there for the added time for the buyouts to become law...and then they take it; without buyout offers, they might have retired earlier.
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Zdravko Wrote: Dec 06, 2012 9:30 AM
Eliminate:
(1) Department of the Interior;
(2) Department of Agriculture;
(3) Department of Commerce;
(4) Department of Labor;
(5) Department of Health and Human Services;
(6) Department of Housing and Urban Development;
(7) Department of Transportation;
(8) Department of Energy;
(9) Department of Education;
(10) Environmental Protection Agency;
(11) Small Business Administration;
(12) Federal Housing Administration.
Then a thorough review must be performed to eliminate about 70-100 various boards, commissions, panels – such as NLRB, FCC, EEOC, etc. Obamacare nightmare and that monstrosity invented by Frank & Dodd must be repealed in their entirety, and all bureaucrats there fired without delay.
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Frank130 Wrote: Dec 06, 2012 11:32 AM
I'd go along with that, but we also need to phase out or privatize Social Security & Medicare/Medicaid. If you phase them out on the Federal level, let the individual States decide if they want to keep them & pay for them 100% on the State level.
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dahni Wrote: Dec 06, 2012 12:16 PM
c'mon Frank! A lot of us paid a lot of money into SS for a lot of years. I'm for removing payments to anyone who hasn't contributed more than they want to take away, and to remove SS funds from government spending control, and to start reducing Medicare welfare programs. And stop paying for the medical benefits for illegals,...etc...
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dahni Wrote: Dec 06, 2012 12:17 PM
As a matter of fact, I'd be happy to get all my SS funds back, plus 4% interest.
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johnm h Wrote: Dec 06, 2012 7:59 AM
Of course removing dead weight from the economy would help it grow. Even if Keynesian spending weren't bogus, federal employees notices could be programmed over several years and programs offered to help them find jobs. Moreover they earn generous leave and if given several months notice could save still more leave to use during their job hunt. Of course they would earn less, but that tells us something about their value doesn't it?
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Pistol Wrote: Dec 06, 2012 12:49 AM
alej and triage are sybil posting irrelevant spam. Flag and scroll on.
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binc Wrote: Dec 06, 2012 7:51 AM
It seems that all of sybils various personalities emerge and fight for dominance in the middle of the night. That's probably when the meds wear off.
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