Folks, its time to wake up and smell the coffee! We all need to stop worring about this problem and expect it to happen. There is nothging we are going to be able to do to stop it right now. Congress has less than 2 weeks to act and they are not going to do it. Both sides of the fence are prepared to let sequestration happen and worrying about it is not going to help. We all knew that this time would come if reckless spending continued, and now that the time has arrived the world is now suddenly going end. America is resilient and will bounce back. Times are going to be tough but remember, what we are getting ready to go through took years to accumulate. It will take a good length of time to get through it. Lastly, remember we are the ones who voted those who got us here into office!

There is legitimate worrying that is taking place by those of us who are having our lives hijacked by these constant threats of shutdowns and furloughs of the past few years every time Congress kicks the budget-can down the road. My husband is a federal employee. We've been home-searching for over a year. We've lost five houses to multiple offers when we've put up to $10,000 OVER asking price. We've NEVER offered less than asking. We finally have a contract on a home. So here we are inspection complete, house appraised, waiting for our loan to be underwritten and my husband is facing losing 1/5th of his pay due to potential furloughs! We are a family of five. We have a 4 year old autistic daughter who will be potentially switching school districts and changing professionals who are working with her. We have twin 18 month olds who need more space than our current 900 sq ft, 1 bathroom affords. We need this new house. We are a one-income family. We have faced a pay freeze for two years and now mostly likely a third. We are also facing losing income with impending furloughs. We are living in inadequate housing for a family of five. We have excellent credit. We save money. We do things by the book yet we can't seem to take care of our own family thanks to the out-of-control spending of others. Congress wants to balance their poor choices by robbing my family of income. Federal Employees are made out to be bloated, overpaid, spoiled and entitled people. Reality is they are hard-working, dedicated workers whose families depend on their income. If these furloughs are enacted, it is a good likelihood our loan will not be underwritten and we will lose this house. I know we're just one family but I'm shocked at how little coverage is being given to the affect these decisions are going to have on the employees and their families.

I sort of empathize with your personal situation, but not as much as you would hope. I read your post with a bit of cynicism and could not pass up a response. No where is there, nor should there be, a policy set on a person's personal choice. If that were the case, I could just as easily claim I recently purchased a Lamborghini and wasn't planning on a "pay cut" and thus I should not have to absorb a cut. When stated this way it sounds rather foolish, or perhaps, selfish. Try to understand that a large number of people lost their jobs or were forced to accept lower paying positions to endure the economic calamity. Please also take note that many of the extremely "well heeled" did not suffer during the past 4 years. For the chickens to come home to roost, as history reveals, the larger group (middle class) takes the hardest hit because they can spread out the pain in smaller doses. But, ignoring that this situation has been developing over 40-50 years due to our Utopian form of government, and each side of the aisle should take ownership, it isn't about you, and never has been.

>There is nothging we are going to be able to do to stop it right now Wrong! Write your congress person how much you think their priorities are off, and they better get their butts off their seats and start passing budget deals that actually work! The cost of two F-22s would save the FAA. Single payer healthcare could wipe the National Debt to zero! Cutting military spending in half could save all the agencies and still leave us with the world's biggest military in combined annual spending, bigger than all the other nations of the world. There is no reason why it needs to be so big.

Guess we really have to ask the question, who is this really going to hurt? Sure it will hurt some of the lower grade level feds, but when you consider the Feds still have a job and benefits, just work one day less a week, well that really is not going to hurt the Federal Work Force, matter of fact with Spring and Summer around the corner the next complaint you will hear from the private sector is how much time the Feds have off while they have to work. The ones who will hurt the most are the citizens of our country. Most federal services will not come to a halt, but they will slow down, the opportunity for a slower response, or even a greater possibility of a terrorist attack most likely will not happen, but the odds are greater that it could. Services for Agriculture, Meat Inspections, etc. will slow down, causing backlogs, which in turn will cause prices to rise. ANY EXCUSE by commercial business to raise prices they will take, and you can almost guarantee oil, meat, produce, clothing, and other such items will go up within a few weeks of this being enacted. First small price hikes, as it goes longer, larger. I doubt the stock market will crash, but it will not be healthy, housing will suffer, but banks will grow. As Spring and Summer approach, you will see more Federal Parks modify hours, or close, air traffic will slow down, not stop, but slow down. As well as trains, buses etc. Borders and Ports of Entry will slow down, with heavy backlogs of imports being held up, eventually causing shortages. Military, and intelligence will suffer, and I fear this will take more money to restore then to shut down. IRS, Social Security and other programs like HUD, Veteran Administrations, NIH, etc will all come to a snails pace, not right away, but after a few weeks, the public will see the effect. Look, just use common sense, it would stop, but it will slow way down. The public will feel the affects, and not like it a bit. While Feds get an extra day off.

@Fedman, your assertion is completely fallacious. A 20% cut in pay won't really hurt feds? It most certainly will do so...and it will hurt the people who rely on feds to use their services and pay their bills. I have had three employees approach me and ask how not being able to pay their mortgage will impact their security clearances. I have seen requests, for approval, for outside employment increase tenfold (and the agency is NEVER prompt in responding to these requests). While it's convenient (and highly disingenuous) to talk about all this extra "time off" feds will be getting, your post ignores the reality. Yes services will slow down, and so will the rate at which feds buy things. Restaurants (near where feds work) will see a sharp drop off in business. Purchase of new homes and cars will decline as feds spend less. The rate of loan default will increase as feds find it's just not possible to sustain a 20% pay cut with their current level of indebtedness. Retirement accounts payments and charitable contributions will drop sharply as feds scramble to offset the harm caused by this legislative blunder. Local and state tax bases will take a HUGE hit as less discretionary speinding occurs. So, no, it's not just about feds getting "another day off."

We federal workers have been demonized for years and have had our pay frozen for years - because the public and the congress do not respect us and do not even realize what we do. That situation might change if there were to be a sudden outbreak of Blue Flu on furlough days. Imagine - no air traffic controllers show up at Chicago or Atlanta or LAX on furlough day. Imagine, no prison guards report for duty on furlough day. Imagine no national weather service personnel report for duty on furlough day. Imagine no secret service personnel report for duty on furlough day. If 2+ million fedreal workers were to suddenly have the Blue Flu (on furlough day), I bet the congress and the public would suddenly have a moment of clarity...not that I am advocating such a thing. Why, that would be very bad. Yes sir...that would be a bad thing...I guess.