Doomsday: Will you be on the bus or under it?

Doomsday preppers come in all shapes, sizes and levels of paranoia. Some are stocking candles, batteries, blankets food and water to ride out crippling bad weather. People in New England found out, this winter, it can happen.

Some are concerned about a long-range of permanent change: Like the end of civilization as we know it. Others have high-ground bolt holes where they’ve stocked bullets and beans in case a rise in sea levels, or the mother-of- all-tsunamis.

Some preppers fear that Yellowstone National Park will blow, blocking out the sun. That could kill off animal and plant life.

There are groups that expect the North and South Poles will change place, ruining a lot of people’s day. The National Geographic network had a long- running, very popular reality show about preppers.

Within the federal community, there is another kind of prepper. While they may fear some kind of natural disaster or collapse, they are also worried about their future pay and pension.

While nobody knows the magnitude of the feds-specific disaster, or when/if it will happen, they know where it will come from. If it comes.

The bad-stuff-for-feds epicenter is Capitol Hill, specifically the House and Senate sides of the U.S. Capitol Building.

Last year, the GOP-run House came after feds but inflicted little or no pain. This year, both the House and Senate are controlled by Republicans who believe they were elected, in part, to slim down the government. And the number of people who work for it, and their benefit package.

The House budget plan calls for $280 billion in cuts over 10 years. While long-range budgets usually don’t make it to their expiration date, they can do lots of damage (good?) until they are changed, replaced or revoked.

The budget evolving in the Senate would make smaller cuts — saving an estimated $170 billion — over the often mythical 10-year period.

Most feds are familiar with the threats facing them: Higher contributions to their retirement plan (thus reducing take-home pay), and a variety of changes ranging from reduced retirement benefits to elimination of the defined-benefit portion of the FERS program.

In the past in those rare instances where benefits were changed, they were prospective: Implemented for new hires but not current employees. Many Hill-watchers fear that this time around, in the interest of making real, immediate savings, any changes would be applied to the 2.8 million people currently on the payroll. That means you.

Feds have a few friends on Capitol Hill. Mostly, but not exclusively Democrats. The White House (except for the 2014 election year) proposed plans to slow the rise in future cost-of-living adjustments for retirees.

Meeting with a group of feds last week, Sen. Ben Cardin (D- Md.) said he would jump in front of any legislative bus bearing down on federal workers. Maryland is home to 306,000 feds and many retirees. But so are lots of other states, like California, Texas, Illinois, Pennsylvania, New York, North Carolina, Virginia and Florida. For instance: click to read a related column.

Many representatives may not be aware of how many federal and contractor-related voting age families they represent. Many Senators probably don’t know that feds-and-families are important voter blocks in their states. Unless somebody makes it a point to inform they before it’s too late!

Nearly Useless Factoid by Michael O’Connell

Will Smith’s 2007 post-apocalyptic feature film “I Am Legend” is the third film to be produced based on Richard Matheson’s novel of the same name. The two earlier films were “The Last Man On Earth”, a 1964 Italian production starring Vincent Price, and the 1971 Charlton Heston science fiction thriller, “The Omega Man”.

(Source: IMDB)

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