President Donald Trump desires you to consider the American financial system “is the very best it has ever been” — however he additionally desir
President Donald Trump desires you to consider the American financial system “is the very best it has ever been” — however he additionally desires you to consider that “critical financial system situations affecting the overall welfare” justify his proposal to chop a scheduled pay increase for federal staff.
The juxtaposition illustrates each how nothing Trumpworld says may be taken at face worth, in addition to the disdain the administration has for non-military authorities staff.
Trump made the aforementioned declare in regards to the financial system being “the very best it has ever been” throughout his State of the Union speech on February 4. He reiterated it on Tuesday.
Throughout congressional testimony on Wednesday, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin echoed Trump’s theme, telling senators that the president’s “financial freedom agenda is working” and that “American households are incomes extra annually … development [will] scale back our debt and deficits over time.”
However similtaneously Trump and administration officers are portray this rosy image, the president quietly despatched a letter to Congress on Monday asserting that as a part of his 2021 funds proposal, he desires a scheduled pay increase for civilian federal staff minimize from 2.5 % to simply 1 %. The letter cites a “nationwide emergency or critical financial situations affecting the overall welfare” and claims federal businesses “can not maintain such will increase.”
From the letter, which was first reported on by Slate:
Title 5, United States Code, authorizes me to implement various plans for pay changes for civilian Federal workers lined by the Common Schedule and sure different pay methods if, due to “nationwide emergency or critical financial situations affecting the overall welfare,” I view the will increase that will in any other case take impact as inappropriate.
Below present legislation, locality pay will increase averaging 20.67 %, costing $21 billion within the first yr alone, would go into impact in January 2021, along with a 2.5 % across-the-board improve for the bottom Common Schedule.
We should keep efforts to place our Nation on a fiscally sustainable course; Federal company budgets can not maintain such will increase. Accordingly, I’ve decided that it’s applicable to train my authority to set various pay changes for 2021 pursuant to five U.S.C. 5303(b) and 5 U.S.C. 5304a.
One factor that has negatively affected the “sustainability” of the federal funds is the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Although that package deal resulted in tax cuts for many Individuals, it principally benefited wealthy individuals and firms, creating a massive spending gap whereas only modestly stimulating the economy. Trump’s 2021 funds proposal cut entitlement programs whereas making these tax cuts everlasting.
And whereas the American financial system is robust, it isn’t the very best in historical past. Because the Washington Post notes, Trump “has by no means achieved an annual development price above three %, however in 1997, 1998 and 1999, the gross home product grew 4.5 %, 4.5 % and 4.7 %, respectively.” The unemployment price, whereas low, will not be the bottom in historical past, and Trump’s job creation report lags behind Obama’s. Nonetheless, the notion that the federal government can afford to spend $738 billion on defense however not a modest increase for federal staff is tough to purchase.
The inventory market is hitting all-time highs and company income have hit unprecedented ranges. However that is chilly consolation to federal staff who, according to one recent study, make 27 % lower than their private-sector counterparts.
Alluding to the disconnect between the haves and have-nots in Trump’s financial system, Tony Reardon, president of the Nationwide Treasury Workers Union, stated in a statement that “[f]or an administration that has added $three trillion to the federal debt, gouging federal worker pay and advantages within the identify of deficit discount is ridiculous.”
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