‘Plight facing many US workers is a far bigger emergency than a border wall’
US PRESIDENT Donald Trump addressed America, failing to make the case that the need for a wall at the Mexican border with the United States is an emergency. At the same time, he did not once mention the emergency caused by his intransigence: the financial crisis hitting the roughly 800,000 federal workers and contractors who are going unpaid as a result of the partial shutdown of the federal government.
If you ever wanted to know what the downsides of government by millionaires and billionaires is, this is as good an example as you can find. Trump doesn’t have a clue how Americans who don’t inherit fortunes live, and he has little desire to fix that.
This past weekend, Trump claimed federal employees – whether they are still on the job minus salary or officially furloughed – should be doing just fine. “I’m sure that the people that are on the receiving end will make adjustments. They always do,” he said on Sunday.
Yes, they will make adjustments. But whether they will be just fine is another issue. Some 44pc of Americans cannot come up with $400 (€347) without turning to credit, begging from family members or beginning to sell off possessions. Increase the number to $1,000, and the number goes up to about 60pc. In the real world, most people can’t make it financially with “adjustments” for a shutdown that could last “months or even years”.
While Trump claims he can “relate” to the federal workers, the most he knows of financial hardship is the time when, after one of his multiple bankruptcies, the banks he owed money put him on a household and personal budget of $450,000 per month. He survived. He did not need to turn to GoFundMe to pay the rent.
The fact is, despite that Trump is so cheap he once cashed a 13-cent cheque, he’s never needed to worry about whether he can afford to buy food or pay the mortgage on one of his many residences. That’s not true for federal workers.
Federal workers minus pay cheques are cutting back on discretionary spending such as holiday gifts for the children and grandchildren, and non-discretionary spending, such as the rent. Their “adjustments” include selling their plasma and draining personal savings accounts. Their idea of hard times does not involve hitting up their father for more than $60m in loans to buy real estate.
Trump, who has survived on the family handout known as inheritance his entire life, was apparently unaware that a government shutdown meant food stamps could get cut, tax refunds would not go out and certain housing subsidies would go unpaid. Despite claiming he’s an ace businessman, Trump didn’t seem to realise retailers and restaurants in towns with a heavy federal presence will suffer from a lack of traffic if the shutdown goes on.
Trump’s lack of knowledge for how the other 99pc get by shouldn’t surprise us. Meanwhile, Transportation Security Administration security screeners at the nation’s airports are calling in sick at higher than normal rates, and who can blame them? Many of them earn about $30,000 annually; if they can get a side gig, they are likely taking it.
They are being asked to work a vital job for no immediate salary, while the president is more concerned about a wall intended to solve a mythical problem at some point in the distant future, instead of the real-life financial harm being done to many people who rely on federal pay cheques now. (© Washington Post Service)