Bush cuts pay for Federal workers
You may have missed this story, but it shows vividly the mean spirit and contempt for average Americans of George W. Bush.
The Great Leader on Wednesday ordered that Federal government employees living in the more expensive areas of the nation--New York City and Washington, D.C., among them--get only a 0.5 percent "bump" for their added living costs, not the 12.5 percent they were due under a formula written into the law to allow for higher living costs and what comparable private-sector employees are paid.
Just in time for the holidays. Work for the Federal government and live in an area where you have to pay $400,000 for a "starter" home in an iffy neighborhood? Too bad.
So how can Bush override the law? Here's where it really gets good. "National security." He says that if Federal employees got all they were due under the law, it would exceed his budget by $12.7 billion next year. This from a man who stands to pour nearly a trillion dollars down the rathole of Iraq. But rather than, say, cut payouts to Halliburton or Blackwater, Bush will take it out on hard-working Federal employees.
To do otherwise, he said, "would unacceptably interfere with our nation's ability to secure the homeland and pursue the war on terrorism."
I'll leave it at that.