Why do we have non-essential gov't workers?

[Deleted]

Why do we have non essential Body Functions? Like Eyes ears and such useless things.

Lungs, Hearts and other essential things should be enough.

[Masark]

To make weapons grade plutonium?

Not make anymore, but maintaining the US nuclear arsenal is a plurality of what they do. The remainder is providing enriched uranium for fuel, dealing with nuclear waste, managing the other kinds of energy, and some R&D (much of it related to the nuclear arsenal).

[Verain]

It's already been answered in thread, but OP should not assume that "non-essentially" means "unnecessary".

[ViciousAequitas]

Non-essential =/= non-important. Your sense of smell is non-essential in your everyday life, as is your sense of taste. Doesn't mean you'd function as well without them.

/thread.

I understand that saying that someone is non essential does not mean that they do not add some sort of value or serve some meaningful purpose, but I think it may be a bit of a stretch to say that every non essential employee is important. From a numbers standpoint, our government has deemed that 800,000 members of its workforce are not needed to operate our country safely and securely on a day to day basis. Are some of these people valuable? Of course; but at a time when we are currently running nearly one trillion dollar budget deficits, does it really make sense to keep nearly a million people in positions that we don't absolutely need and can't currently afford?

[Spectral]

but at a time when we are currently running nearly one trillion dollar budget deficits, does it really make sense to keep nearly a million people in positions that we don't absolutely need and can't currently afford?

How much of the federal budget do you think is non-essential employee salaries?

[Kellhound]

How much of the federal budget do you think is non-essential employee salaries?

Does all mid-level management count?

[tiporispit]

Oddly enough, the DHS wasn't part of the shutdown, even though the medical divisions of government save exponentially more lives per year. Government Logic 101. Let them leave it shut down. Not a single fuck is given in this household.

[Kujako]

Does all mid-level management count?

Of course not. The non essentials are the ones that do stuff, the essential people are the ones that sit around debating if it should be done. That's why Congress keeps getting paid when the government is shut down and why they refused to take pay cuts under the sequestration.

[Jaxi]

dealing with nuclear waste

As a radiation protection engineer working in nuclear decommissioning, I wish that was true.

[Spectral]

Does all mid-level management count?

Count whatever you like. Any method you use will wind up showing those salaries to be a trivial expenditure in the context of the federal budget.

[tiporispit]

How much of the federal budget do you think is non-essential employee salaries?

Does paying a high school-educated clerk at the DMV around 300% more than the high school-educated clerk at the local Best Western count?

[Kellhound]

Count whatever you like. Any method you use will wind up showing those salaries to be a trivial expenditure in the context of the federal budget.

It was a joke...
However, one does have to wonder how much budget is wasted in keeping "fiefdoms" intact....

[Nelrock]

With the government shutdown now in 'full effect,' it begs the question (from an economic standpoint, if nothing else) as to why we have so many 'non-essential' government workers. Logically, it would seem that if someone's job is not important, then there really is no need to keep paying that individual to perform a job that is not needed. With over 800,000 of our government employees now deemed non-essential by their very own employer, shouldn't the American people be looking for a much better return on their investment than simply continuing to pay billions of dollars each year to those who are 'essentially' not important?



cnn.com/2013/10/01/politics/government-shutdown/

Air traffic controllers...if they didn't show up for work today...there would be an immediate impact. Therefore categorized as essential.
The people who train air traffic controllers...the schoolhouse instructors...are non-essential...and are not at work today. In the long term though...new controllers will be needed.
So...non-essential doesn't mean not needed. Just means there's no immediate impact that is deemed detrimental.

[Spectral]

Does paying a high school-educated clerk at the DMV around 300% more than the high school-educated clerk at the local Best Western count?

Sure, count every single one of those federal DMV employees. My wager is they'll tack on approximately $0 to the count.

[Shinagami091]

What would be nice is if the shutdown meant we could fire any existing congressman. But unfortunately, Congress is considered an essential part of the government. At least I think so...

I don't understand politics very well so I'm confused that the government gets shut down because a law can't be agreed upon. Doesn't that typically mean that the law is vetoed?

[Orlong]

We should just get rid of all the non-essential government workers. If they are non-essential then that means they arent needed. Why do we even hire people that arent needed? To buy votes I guess

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The term "essential" basically means, "if this person isn't here, something bad will happen immediately". Here's a few example of people that are "non-essential", but you'd probably regard as a reasonable investment of money:

- NIH Scientists
- NASA Scientists
- Smithsonian Curators and visitor staff
- Park Rangers
- Passport Administrators

To me, other than passport adminstrators, those all seem like wastes of money to me. They dont contribute to maintaining infrastructure nor do they support our national defense so therefore not needed

[YeahNo]

Actually, the government stopped using the terms "essential" and "non-essential" a while back, but the media keeps using these terms. The correct terminology: excepted and non-excepted. Because they keep using the term "non-essential," now we have a good chunk of people who are going to think that the government employs 800k people who are not needed for services to run.

[Shinagami091]

Sure, count every single one of those federal DMV employees. My wager is they'll tack on approximately $0 to the count.

You have to put up with way more shit and deal with much more ghetto people working at the DMV than at the Best Western. The pay rate usually reflects the amount of bullshit one has to deal with.

[Kujako]

What would be nice is if the shutdown meant we could fire any existing congressman. But unfortunately, Congress is considered an essential part of the government. At least I think so...

I don't understand politics very well so I'm confused that the government gets shut down because a law can't be agreed upon. Doesn't that typically mean that the law is vetoed?

The law was agreed upon, and then upheld by the supreme court. But a minority group of republicans are opting to not pass an unrelated budget unless it defunds said law. And I say minority group, because it seems that if they allowed a vote their efforts would be defeated. However Boehner is using the Hastert Rue to prevent anything coming up for a vote without majority Republican support.

[Shinagami091]

We should just get rid of all the non-essential government workers. If they are non-essential then that means they arent needed. Why do we even hire people that arent needed? To buy votes I guess

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To me, other than passport adminstrators, those all seem like wastes of money to me. They dont contribute to maintaining infrastructure nor do they support our national defense so therefore not needed

I'm pretty sure NASA is responsible for the satellites we use to communicate and watch our enemies with. At least they're responsible for getting them into space in the first place.