Way to support the Troops. So now we can see Trump supporting veterans are in the FAFO phase by allowing that guy to take office, and put into implementation Project 2025. Red states are next to find out, just watch. ‘We’ve been betrayed:’ Local veterans angry after being laid off by Trump administration
So they’re being told they’re fired because of their performance. But it’s really because he’s new to the position?
That seems to be the cover for all firings. At least with the VA from what I’ve read there was some discretion, as they only fired 1,000 of 43,000 probationary workers. In that context the VA trimming doesn’t sound too crazy. I’m guessing the people fired didn’t directly provide healthcare but were other types of staff (accounting, IT, etc). If they’d fired 40,000 Nurses and therapists that would likely lead to instantly worse quality of care. That doesn’t mean it’s right to jerk people around like that, but it’s not outlandish sort of layoffs either if it’s streamlining non front-line staff.
Those probationary workers not fired are in mission critical areas that are desperately needed. The ones who were fired are in areas involving veteran services, and a large number in the area of research. These are government research projects involving things like TBI, paralysis, and TSD. These Republican plan has always been to privatize the VA, and this is just a part of the plan.
I didn’t say it was a good idea, just that (so far) it isn’t crazy. With Park Services sounds like they fired 100% of probationary workers with no discretion, and something near 30% of all staff. Hard to imagine them not having to close some parks down due to safety concerns, and yeah that’s what they want.
Especially if there are minerals/energy to me mined or prime real estate to be developed. Want to see wilderness: watch a video, there's $$$$$ to be made. right?
Let’s go to Huntsville, Alabama to see how this state is being affected. America's 'Rocket City' faces total shutdown as Trump's federal worker bloodbath leaves town spiraling into the abyss | Daily Mail Online
Maybe he should hold maga rallies in places where his cuts have hit the hardest. Think of the ratings.
Not all that surprising. In another post I mentioned that Trump, Musk and the boys are totally oblivious to the macroencomic impact of their mass terminations of federal employees. The Trump/Musk purge is virtually certain to adversely affect the economy as a whole. It's a virtually certainty that either in March when the labor market data for February is released or the following month when the data for March is reported that we will see the largest jump in the unemployment rate since the Covid shutdown of 2020.
All will be fine. The problem with bureaucracy is that sometimes good employees are in the wrong spot at the wrong time. But I am 100% confident any of the good employees that were let go will be fine and excel in their next position...
Since its a red state, Im confident that there will be a "workaround" or "adjustment" for the Bama folks much like what happened with the trump tariffs last time.
^ This. It's just like in that red state that will lose appx $1.8 billion in farm revenue that it had old to USAID. The felon will just provide a subsidy to them that the rest of us will pay for. Who ever imagined that electing a fraudster felon would just result in politicized criminality and fraud?
The VA is in desperate need of overhaul and it is not a Dem or Rep issue. It is a both party issue and it needs to happen sooner rather than later. Continuing the status quo is not going to cut it. For instance, I contacted the VA in late Feb last year to let them know that I would be on orders for a specific number of months and they needed to stop my disability benefits for that time period. It took until mid-August for the VA to be able to update their system and stop the payments. At which point, I was given a bill for the months that I told them to stop paying me the benefits and was told I had to pay them back and would not receive the benefits again until the bill was paid. I paid that bill in early Oct and have still not had my payments resume.
The systems in most govt agencies are often obsolete. How many years of talking about new records management software and hardware, ATC software , etc. It sometimes happens often piecemeal with crappy continuity to old records. The irony, it ends up needing a number of employees needed to hold things together. Gubmit It would seem competent folks would evaluate prior to wholesale cuts. Unless you want to push private contracts to buds.
From 2000-2022, the VA budget increased from $76B to $276B despite a 30% drop in the veteran population during the same period. That is a a problem and it needs to be addressed.
How does this compare to inflation? Looks like per capita spending has roughly doubled for *everyone*. So one would expect the budget to have doubled. But the VA budget has outpaced that. We did have W’s pair of wars, the gifts that kept on giving. If the “expected” budget accounting for inflation was about $160B I bet war related injuries and rehabs and long term care is a huge chunk of that extra $100B. But that is certainly something that should be looked at. edit: apparently the “Burn Pit” issue alone is $25Billion in current budget. I’m sure that’s a legit issue and we need to take care of veterans, but I’d also bet something with big dollars like that is chum for fraudsters. So what do you do? Cancel the money and make those with issues suffer? Or hire inspectors to go after fraudsters?
I think a lot of that probably has to do with the OEF and OIF veterans requiring VA benefits, while the WWII and Korea Vets passed away. I'm willing to bet more OEF and OIF veterans have put in more claims than Korean and Vietnam vets because 1. those wars lasted longer; 2. more common injuries Vets could claim from OEF/OIF (ie TBI, PTSD, etc); 3. more veterans being able to survive life threatening injuries; 4. better understanding of the VA process.
