Biden wants RTO

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The pandemic has made people very selfish. Using the reasoning in this thread, one could question almost any public/social expenditure. Why should old people pay taxes for your kid’s education? Why should today’s workers fund Social Security for old people? Why should US taxpayers pay for the defense of Ukraine? I hope people on this thread realize that their isolationist arguments are at the core of social disintegration. They may think that they’ve isolated themselves in a larger home in the distant suburbs, working from home visiting the local deli, but their retirement funds are still in the stock market and their neighborhood isn’t that far from a decaying city. We’re all more interconnected than most seem to realize.

Lol. The selfish thing is forcing middle-class workers to waste 1-2 hrs of their day commuting to save the giant corporate interests of commercial real estate. It’s just not a tenable moral claim, I’m sorry.

+1
This argument is so off-base. Workers are the ones who FUND social security, Ukraine, schools. We should keep them happy to keep getting taxes to do all that. Forcing them into offices when they don't need to be is the selfish behavior. What is your stake in this, first PP?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because the country cannot tolerate WFH.

Banks are sh!tting bricks right now about huge losses they would be on the hook for as commercial real estate values tank due to WFH. City govts across the country are also in deep dookie as they are losing massive amounts of tax revenue due to commercial real estate vacancies. Converting offices to living space doesn’t solve the problem either, because local govts get 2x the amount of tax revenue from commercial RE as they do from residential.

Biden is moving t push fir RTO because our banking overlords will losing trillions of dollars due to huge losses in commercial RE value. Tons of local govts will also go bankrupt and spiral into insolvency. SF has now blown up its budget and is running almost $1B in the red now. DC warned the same, and is almost $500M in the red over the coming years due to huge losses in tax revenue from office vacancies. Our entire stupid system is built upon RE speculation, thus when the model gets completely upended the country is now at dire risk for a massive black swan event that will crater the economy. All it is going to take is one bank going belly up and citing commercial RE losses for a economic maelstrom to be unleashed.

Biden didn’t order Feds to RTO. A member of his staff wrote a lukewarm memo. If the President was serious about RTO, he could simply demand tomorrow all feds report. By the way it’s not the responsibility of the good citizens of MD an VA to prop up the District’s economy. I guarantee you that a month from now commuting into DC will be unchanged from what it’s been over the past 18 months. No agency head is going to give two cents to what Zients says.

This. Our agency is plowing ahead with giving up space and moving to a hotelling model for the two days a pay period we’re required to be in office.

Yea the WaPo and the rest of the media in the DMV seriously jumped the gun in celebrating an en email (from a staffer nonetheless!).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The pandemic has made people very selfish. Using the reasoning in this thread, one could question almost any public/social expenditure. Why should old people pay taxes for your kid’s education? Why should today’s workers fund Social Security for old people? Why should US taxpayers pay for the defense of Ukraine? I hope people on this thread realize that their isolationist arguments are at the core of social disintegration. They may think that they’ve isolated themselves in a larger home in the distant suburbs, working from home visiting the local deli, but their retirement funds are still in the stock market and their neighborhood isn’t that far from a decaying city. We’re all more interconnected than most seem to realize.

Lol. The selfish thing is forcing middle-class workers to waste 1-2 hrs of their day commuting to save the giant corporate interests of commercial real estate. It’s just not a tenable moral claim, I’m sorry.

You are myopically focused on CRE interests. You need to think a little larger.

Apple owns its own headquarters, not a CRE company. It is also a tech savvy company. Yet, it still wants its workers in the office. Explain that to yourself.

What do Apple and my federal employer have in common? But sure - if the feds would like to pay me an Apple salary and build me an office complex like in Cupertino, maybe I’ll consider it.

💯 My federal office has regular breakdowns of the AC/heating, drain backups, and infestation with rodents, just to name a few problems.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The pandemic has made people very selfish. Using the reasoning in this thread, one could question almost any public/social expenditure. Why should old people pay taxes for your kid’s education? Why should today’s workers fund Social Security for old people? Why should US taxpayers pay for the defense of Ukraine? I hope people on this thread realize that their isolationist arguments are at the core of social disintegration. They may think that they’ve isolated themselves in a larger home in the distant suburbs, working from home visiting the local deli, but their retirement funds are still in the stock market and their neighborhood isn’t that far from a decaying city. We’re all more interconnected than most seem to realize.

+1. It’s a domino effect.

If commercial real estate collapses, that affects the entire economy.

It also highlights the laptop class’s attitude. Who gives a crap about those cities that are crime-ridden and full of homeless on the streets with shuddered businesses and buildings as their tax base has fled? We’re good in the ‘burbs!

Feel free to return to the office full time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The pandemic has made people very selfish. Using the reasoning in this thread, one could question almost any public/social expenditure. Why should old people pay taxes for your kid’s education? Why should today’s workers fund Social Security for old people? Why should US taxpayers pay for the defense of Ukraine? I hope people on this thread realize that their isolationist arguments are at the core of social disintegration. They may think that they’ve isolated themselves in a larger home in the distant suburbs, working from home visiting the local deli, but their retirement funds are still in the stock market and their neighborhood isn’t that far from a decaying city. We’re all more interconnected than most seem to realize.

+1. It’s a domino effect.

If commercial real estate collapses, that affects the entire economy.

It also highlights the laptop class’s attitude. Who gives a crap about those cities that are crime-ridden and full of homeless on the streets with shuddered businesses and buildings as their tax base has fled? We’re good in the ‘burbs!

This would happen even if you made every single fed go in person every day. And this issue pre-dates the pandemic.

Basically CRE got greedy. And cities were happy to tax the results of that greed. But the costs were born by small and mid-sized businesses that are the backbone of the US economy. The pandemic just exposed the greed for what it is.

You cannot rationally take the position that businesses that already operate close to the bone should take on commercial leases they don’t need or want for charitable purposes. It makes no sense and your temper tantrum about how you are entitled to the rent they pay is not persuasive.

[Anonymous]

My agency posted jobs as “ remote”. They have now resorted back to “telework based upon agency policy” like before for most jobs.

I think it’s going to come down to supervisor discretion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The pandemic has made people very selfish. Using the reasoning in this thread, one could question almost any public/social expenditure. Why should old people pay taxes for your kid’s education? Why should today’s workers fund Social Security for old people? Why should US taxpayers pay for the defense of Ukraine? I hope people on this thread realize that their isolationist arguments are at the core of social disintegration. They may think that they’ve isolated themselves in a larger home in the distant suburbs, working from home visiting the local deli, but their retirement funds are still in the stock market and their neighborhood isn’t that far from a decaying city. We’re all more interconnected than most seem to realize.

+1. It’s a domino effect.

If commercial real estate collapses, that affects the entire economy.

It also highlights the laptop class’s attitude. Who gives a crap about those cities that are crime-ridden and full of homeless on the streets with shuddered businesses and buildings as their tax base has fled? We’re good in the ‘burbs!

Well a PP in DC thinks residents in VA and MD should be commuting in to help subsidize her $75/week camp (not to mention free pre-k). How about tax DC residents and make them pay for pre k and camps and whatever else themselves. I already pay a not insignificant amount of property taxes to keep my own locality funded. It’s not my job to keep DC funded.

[Anonymous]

My management said they are waiting for additional guidance to the memo. Changes are coming though.

[Anonymous]

Do you want a beautiful Nation’s Capitol or what? It’s time to return folks and be a part of it all.

[Anonymous]

Let not and say we did. Find a way to pay for DC’s needs without taxing federal employees who are already underpaid for their work and can’t afford to live within an hour of the city as it is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Let not and say we did. Find a way to pay for DC’s needs without taxing federal employees who are already underpaid for their work and can’t afford to live within an hour of the city as it is.

If you’re underpaid why are there 100s of applicants per job opening? Serious question. Seems like your benefits and job security still make it appealing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let not and say we did. Find a way to pay for DC’s needs without taxing federal employees who are already underpaid for their work and can’t afford to live within an hour of the city as it is.

If you’re underpaid why are there 100s of applicants per job opening? Serious question. Seems like your benefits and job security still make it appealing.

Those applicants are not qualified. Lots of jobs go unfilled or are “filled” internally by staff doing more than one person’s work. The benefits are not that appealing once you hit mid career and max out your pay with 20 more years to go before you’re eligible for retirement. Seriously.

[Anonymous]

They are also forcing private companies to return to office. My spouse has to return and they don’t have desk space for everyone and most calls and business will still be on zoom. It’s all about making business happy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let not and say we did. Find a way to pay for DC’s needs without taxing federal employees who are already underpaid for their work and can’t afford to live within an hour of the city as it is.

If you’re underpaid why are there 100s of applicants per job opening? Serious question. Seems like your benefits and job security still make it appealing.

For some people I am sure. Not sure what that proves or disproves.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They are also forcing private companies to return to office. My spouse has to return and they don’t have desk space for everyone and most calls and business will still be on zoom. It’s all about making business happy.

The pay is higher though—at least for the kinds of jobs that could be done remotely fairly easily. Those are the people the government is going to lose. Many held on and helped out because the WFH flex is comfortable. Now they’re not willing to do the same work as PS employees for much less pay and a hostile management environment.