Wake me up from this nightmare

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This Rust Belt talking point is furthering the division.

No, it's about self-awareness.

It's one thing to say you're stressed about job loss. And/or you think Trump and Musk are doing irreparable damage. But to be frustrated not enough people outside the DMV care enough about your personal financial situation is weird and tone deaf.

Tone deaf? Are the people in the rust belt reading this thread? Why would they be?

This is a classic troll tactic. Tone policing people into not discussing an issue in order to minimize its harm, all under the pretext of appeasing an audience that isn’t there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This Rust Belt talking point is furthering the division.

No, it's about self-awareness.

It's one thing to say you're stressed about job loss. And/or you think Trump and Musk are doing irreparable damage. But to be frustrated not enough people outside the DMV care enough about your personal financial situation is weird and tone deaf.

I care about the people being laid off by conditions brought on directly by Trump, regardless of industry, only if they didn't vote for Trump. If they did, they should have expect this.

[Anonymous]

Looks like Fork is no longer blocked. Attempts to block Schedule F likely to fail on same grounds. Good luck everyone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I cannot believe that we may be facing double unemployment. I'm a federal contractor and my spouse is a fed. At the end of 2024 we both received promotions and were doing well and happy in our careers. My company is crumbling around me with contracts being terminated and layoffs and all I can do is watch. We are in our 40s with two young kids and a mortgage. We are financially conservative and can live on one income comfortably without childcare, which has always given us piece of mind. However, we are now in what would usually seem like a remote possibility that both of us would be unemployed at the same time for a potentially extended period. I cannot focus on anything--my work, my kids. I'm depressed just thinking about how happy everyone was in December and now the future looks bleak and uncertain. My kids have no idea what is going on.

I really wish someone would shine a light on what is going on, because we can't be the only ones. DOGE has not even started with NIH, FDA, and SAMSHA and RIFs--Montgomery County is going to a disaster. I think the rest of the country doesn't care.

This is so stressful and I'm sorry you're going through it. I hate what Trump and Musk are doing, and I'm so scared for our country. And if they manage to layoff and cut as many workers and contracts as they want, our family faces a similar risk since our jobs rely on that spending.

I will just say that many communities in the US have been decimated in recent history by cuts in manufacturing jobs since the 80s and most recently during the Great Recession. Obama was in office for 8 years and those manufacturing jobs did not recover. I think we need to be sensitive to that when we talk about others not caring about Montgomery County.

Also - Montgomery County Government is hiring! Look into their budget office for jobs.

Exactly, this type of devastation has hit the US Rust Belt states, and nobody in DC gave a shit about what happened to those jobs/employees.

What a weird conclusion to make without offering a single shred of evidence.

He is speaking for himself from his black heart.

[Anonymous]

My spouse is a fed who's done workforce development and actually tried to bring more manufacturing jobs to hard hit areas, including skilled manufacturing training.

Guess who got notice he's potentially getting riffed. They aren't bringing back rust belt jobs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Youre fine. You can live on one salary. We cannot, and DH just lost his employment. And I'm a fed. Don't borrow trouble for now. Gonna be alright.

+1
Dh and I both lost our jobs. We have 2 kids (8, 15) and a mortgage

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No, I don't think most people in this area cared unless they had some direct personal or professional link to those areas.

This is a ridiculous thing to claim. Not everyone is as uncaring as you.

This. My father was an electrician, his father a truck driver, and his brothers steelworkers. My maternal grandfather was a school janitor who'd been a coal miner before his hand was crushed in the mine. His own father died in the mine when my grandfather was a toddler.

I grew up caring about the plight of blue collar workers and have rooted for them my whole life no matter where they live. In fact, I went to work for the government (I'm deaf in 1 ear and failed the Air Force physical, otherwise, I would have been an AF hospital administrator) in service to people who didn't have the same opportunities I ultimately had. I'm guessing I'm far from alone.

I've certainly NEVER cheered for people to lose their livelihoods.

+1

I also grew up around a lot of blue collared/enlisted people and was the first to graduate college and then law school.

I’ve always wanted to go into public service and have never done anything excise government and nonprofit work, the idea of defending insurance companies or doing business mergers etc. just never excited me. My position now directly helps the public and generally has bipartisan support. But I feel like collateral damage and am just disheartened at everything overall.

The people making all these cuts and cheering them on cannot fathom caring about others or wanting to use their education and skills to help people, so the only thing their brain can process is that we must be lazy for doing this work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My spouse is a fed who's done workforce development and actually tried to bring more manufacturing jobs to hard hit areas, including skilled manufacturing training.

Guess who got notice he's potentially getting riffed. They aren't bringing back rust belt jobs.

I addition they are undoing the very types of work that brought the US out of the depression - government sponsored jobs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I dont get the issue. It is 5 years since COVID.

What are you talking about?

They’re dumb and they think the “nightmare” being referenced in the OP is RTO.

[Anonymous]

The people cheering on layoffs, and generally saying things like the "private sector doesn't have protections, why should you" sicken me. It is like the crab that pulls the crab trying to exit the pot. Rather than hate on people who made job stability and/or public service a priority, why not channel that energy toward making conditions better for all workers, public and private? Anger is mis-directed IMO and it makes me sad and disgusted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The people cheering on layoffs, and generally saying things like the "private sector doesn't have protections, why should you" sicken me. It is like the crab that pulls the crab trying to exit the pot. Rather than hate on people who made job stability and/or public service a priority, why not channel that energy toward making conditions better for all workers, public and private? Anger is mis-directed IMO and it makes me sad and disgusted.

They’re not real people. There is a troll who haunts this board posting that same sentiment in every thread. It’s done specifically to sow division and derail conversations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This Rust Belt talking point is furthering the division.

No, it's about self-awareness.

It's one thing to say you're stressed about job loss. And/or you think Trump and Musk are doing irreparable damage. But to be frustrated not enough people outside the DMV care enough about your personal financial situation is weird and tone deaf.

I care about the people being laid off by conditions brought on directly by Trump, regardless of industry, only if they didn't vote for Trump. If they did, they should have expect this.

I care about all Americans as they feed into our collective economy. How selfish am I?

That said, I can't believe Trump supporters didn't see this. I flagged it with my parents this time last year. They are ardent Tumo supporters. Now DH and I are both out of a job. We aren't going to be able to fly to see them for Easter now either. And I'm still not convinced they understand how it's Trump!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The people cheering on layoffs, and generally saying things like the "private sector doesn't have protections, why should you" sicken me. It is like the crab that pulls the crab trying to exit the pot. Rather than hate on people who made job stability and/or public service a priority, why not channel that energy toward making conditions better for all workers, public and private? Anger is mis-directed IMO and it makes me sad and disgusted.

They’re not real people. There is a troll who haunts this board posting that same sentiment in every thread. It’s done specifically to sow division and derail conversations.

Russians? Chinese?

Let's ban them.

[Anonymous]

OP, we just lost dozens of wonderful employees at my agency. I am sick about it. It had nothing to do with performance or efficiency or whatever. It was done to destroy.

I don’t know what else to say except that I’m so sorry we’re all in this mess. We need to support each other right now. We are being treated like the enemy when we’ve been serving the public.

I’m so sick about all of this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I cannot believe that we may be facing double unemployment. I'm a federal contractor and my spouse is a fed. At the end of 2024 we both received promotions and were doing well and happy in our careers. My company is crumbling around me with contracts being terminated and layoffs and all I can do is watch. We are in our 40s with two young kids and a mortgage. We are financially conservative and can live on one income comfortably without childcare, which has always given us piece of mind. However, we are now in what would usually seem like a remote possibility that both of us would be unemployed at the same time for a potentially extended period. I cannot focus on anything--my work, my kids. I'm depressed just thinking about how happy everyone was in December and now the future looks bleak and uncertain. My kids have no idea what is going on.

I really wish someone would shine a light on what is going on, because we can't be the only ones. DOGE has not even started with NIH, FDA, and SAMSHA and RIFs--Montgomery County is going to a disaster. I think the rest of the country doesn't care.

Could the fed take the fork offer? That at least offers you (somewhat) guaranteed income for several months while you both look for jobs.