Well said Ehoss84
MHB
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I am not at all shooting it down, really come on…Calif is a hard place to live for a great many reasons, cost of living being the big one to be sure…heck yea you all need a raise a real pay raise, not some bonus thing that can be taken away in the blink of an eye, it has to be real across the board, I can only imagine the anxiety that a lot of folks have to endure wondering when the extra money will go away, it’s kind of cruel if you ask me, people have adjusted their standard of living predicated on having that extra money, and now it may go away, tell me you don’t see anything wrong with that. As I have said calif is it’s ownl standalone problem, it has been for many many years…If you want to experience better living and I mean better everything then consider leaving like a great many already have, yea I know there is nothing on earth like fighting fire in so cal, I know because I did it for a long time and I dug it, but I came to the realization that I would have to leave to improve my living standards and I am glad I did…Retention has been an issue for decades…fixing the pay may not necessarily fix retention, but those that are dedicated do deserve better…much better…My real issue is that they had a real chance to get it right when things were favorable in DC and they chose to go with a ill thought out fix, now look at the mess…Yes I still care, 100% DR/BDF will always be the best part of my career…and you all deserve much better, it needs to be done right…there will be another rough Gov’t shutdown and just maybe they will get this thing fixed, let’s just hope they do…we are so far in debt now that it does not matter if we print a few more bucks, there is a great reckoning on the horizon, we are completely out of money, have been for some time…what a country…Peace…
Not so hard. According to several sources*, California is one of the least Federally dependent States in the Union. California’s contribution of revenue to the Federal budget is nearly double, per capita, than most other states, followed by Texas, New York and Florida. The spend is not a mirror image. Far from it. These are portage facts. The ports represent the main inputs and outputs of goods that then flow laterally and inland, and outward to the world. Air freight is a fraction of sea freight in terms of tonnage.
Ergo, the per capita volume of trade in the coastal portage states is much higher than volume of trade, per capita, in states that carry their own trade, exclusively. This comes with cost, as in California, we are carrying our own trade, plus the trade of states that transit California to buy and sell goods overseas. You don’t get this for free.
As I mentioned earlier, during tech booms, I met many tech workers who discovered that the higher incomes they received after moving to the Bay Area, and other locations in commute range, did not necessarily translate into more pocket cash, because, fairly or unfairly, volumetrics mean everything reflects that higher volume. Its more convenient for a national franchise to price things uniformly across the country, so franchise economics mean that you are often paying a price that reflects the portage of the goods you buy to places very far away from where they were unloaded from the ship.
I mean, what do they think? Goods unloaded from a ship at Port of Los Angeles magically appear in midwestern Walmarts by teleportation? Of course not, they say, but instead of looking at their own revenue vs spend, they argue for economic isolationism and virtual abandonment of Pacific trade partners.
It’s quite reasonable and just for Californians to demand that Federal spending at least attempt to put some of those Federal dollars back into California (Region 5), and require laws to make it happen, instead of letting the Forests and other places and people of Federal responsibility languish, because other States in the National Conventions have hopeless attitudes about ever having a revenue positive relationship with the Federal government.
California is the Golden Goose, the beast of burden, with a higher revenue vs spend ratio than any other State by a mile. I don’t know what kind of gumption leads people to make asinine assertions about Californians being freeloaders on the Federal government.
That is a laughably self-important fantasy.
- just a few sources listed here, because there are metric tons of talk and gossip on this topic, and I’m not an economist.
Federal tax revenue by state - Wikipedia
Compare US Federal Revenue by State 1998-2022 -Chart (usgovernmentrevenue.com)
The States That Are Most Reliant on Federal Aid (moneygeek.com)
(We can start a whole 'nother topic about the so-called ‘state of Jefferson believers’ being on the take, but your not going to like it.)
Done!
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Cost Of Living By State Statistics & Trends In 2023 – Forbes Advisor
(how much federal funding does CA receive - Search)
Let’s see, where to start, first…CA is in the top 5 highest cost of living, 2. largest population, 40 mil, no other state even comes close, and 3. nearly 44 bil in federal funding, not real sure where that is all going, but it is twice as much as the next state, maybe CA could cover the needed pay raises. Some very interesting stats and I am not at all trying to call anyone out…CA is flush with money that it has raised from taxation, let them come up with viable ways to pay CA based FF’s…just saying…
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California is currently running a $25+ billion dollar deficit. About half of that is structural in nature and will continue to get worse.
65% of general fund revenues into California comes from Capital Gains Taxes and are paid by less than 10% of the population.
Under current economic conditions (inflation, interest rates) California’s budget will continue to get worse.
We all have our political opinions, but under the current division of power in Washington DC AND the spending priorities(or lack there of) from Sacramento. I will continue to encourage my Federal Brothers & Sisters to seek greener pastures, take their careers into their own hands taking additional classes and pushing themselves outside of their personal comfort zones when it comes to this career.
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I respect yours and the other comments, you all have valid points to be sure. Yes money is a real factor, it was when I worked on the BDF raising a young family it was hard even with 1000+ OT. When fast food is paying way more per HR than our entry level FF’s make, that’s insulting…I am done, I have said enough…I wish you all the very best…Really I do…back to retirement…
I do the best I can to bring my A-game to these things, but it’s hard to resist the tongue-waggy stuff that leads to passing arguments and assertions that completely fall apart under critical examination and are basically just gossip.
However, if opposing viewpoints, held by people who have some cachet on the issues, are not at least occasionally brought to light, then what looks like a slam dunk policy argument is, really, just an echo chamber. I write things I would like to take back, at times. Sometimes, I take them back. Sometimes, I don’t.
We really need this thing to happen, now.
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Any thoughts on furlough potential- time frame ect?
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Senate bipartisan CR draft includes federal wildland firefighter pay. Unknown on the timing of the vote. After this passes in the Senate, it’s unknown if McCarthy allow a vote.
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Bullet point #2 includes the Poison Pill.
This is sad & should show where one party’s priorities are😡
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Wondering what the upper management of the FS would have said if i went into my programs workplan and tried to make 1 line item out of war fighting abroad AND helping our taxpayers on the homefront. Heck, can you imagine what a local purchasing officer would have done if i tried stuffing two clearly separate funding needs into one line item and calling it “general supplies”. Everyone in congress has promoted beyond their peter principal! #Fact. #GTFO!
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It’s bullet point #2 that just chaps my ass to no end. We have given Ukraine hundreds of Billions of money we don’t even have
While we have added over $5 trillion to the national debt in the last 2 years alone. Yet, we can’t pay our Federal FF what they deserve and they go and attach the WFF pay fix to a “Must Pass” CR that will be DOA in the House and ensure a federal government shutdown.
You are 100% correct. They ALL need to #GTFO😡
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Wrong (though too long to explain here)
Wrong (importantly Debt/GDP has gone down in the last 2 years after increasing about 25% in the previous 4)
What chaps my a** is that we’ve given billion$ in permanent tax breaks to mulit-millionaires and billionaires and unless something changes my taxes were reduced for only 5 years. That certainly tells you where one parties priority is. Continuing pay for Fed FFs were initially not included in the houses bills, the ones the majority party can’t even pass.
There’s one reason there will be a shutdown, the are 25 or so nutters in the house who say unless everyone agrees to everything they want were not passing anything. Even members of their party are pi**ed at them. Lay blame where it belongs.
BTW, there is no “poison pill” in the Bipartisan Senate CR bill. It advanced 77-19.
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That top article was a great fact and numbers based report. It explains in depth the dire straights the current wildland firefighter community is living in. The question now, will congress listen or even have time to read the 340 page document.
Thank you for sharing these @Flyron. If you open the document and search the word “wildland firefighter”, it is a great way to skim thorough the most pertinent information and their recommendations, which are spot on of what we need. Keep this train rolling, it’s gonna get a bit bumpier before it gets better.
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Today the house majority party put up a bill to partially fund the government (the stuff they like). However it actually contained a poison pill amendment insisted upon by the nutters. This poison pill was so onerous that the house majority couldn’t even get their members to pass/vote for it. I guess McCarthy loves to lead with his chin.
Blame where blame belongs. Remember this when you are forced to work without a paycheck.
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There is a poison pill. It won’t pass the house. As for spending, the President keeps saying he’s cut the deficit $1.7 trillion, while actually increasing it. The CBO rates Biden’s debt as record breaking. Under Biden’s current FY 2023 budget, the debt would be allowed to grow by $16 trillion over 10 years. In the 1st 9 mths. of 2023 his deficit grew $1.4 trillion. He’s flat out lying to the American people. First, we need to “close” Biden’s open borders. How much money are we dumping into non-citizens while our own citizens, and FF’s, go without? Inflation has sped back up and increased once again. A recession is around the corner, if we’re not already in it! When is enough, enough? We know one party is destroying America, purposely. That party also had both the House, Senate, and the Presidency from 2020 until 2022. Why weren’t Federal Firefighters a priority then to that party? Just like minorities, they use unions for endorsements and votes and then go silent until the next election. It might just change things for the better to stop giving endorsements and votes away and actually support the opposite from usual. It might actually make them fight for your support the next time and actually do something positive, like pay raises! Just say’in!
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Add a dollar to the debt it’s record breaking…yawn…
the debt would be allowed to grow by $16 trillion
Part of that is because one party made millionaire and billionaire tax breaks permanent (when they were in control of President/Senate/House) while having my and other FFs “tax breaks” expire after 5 years
A recession is around the corner
Been hearing that since the current admin took over…yawn…
We know one party is destroying America, purposely
I hear this stated by the nutters in the House…
Why weren’t Federal Firefighters a priority then to that party?
They were, however the minority party in the senate filibustered legislation to help them. Much to some people desires, government is not run by fiat, it takes collaboration. Currently the majority party in the house can’t even collaborate with themselves.
Sound bites might sound good, but they don’t get legislation passed. That takes work and cooperation. Currently the house majority party priority is not pay raises, they’re concentrated on impeaching the President over…something, they’re not sure what yet. When “one” party had majority control in '20-'22 house/senate/president they got legislation passed, they didn’t get everything they wanted (i.e. pay raises) but they did not threaten shutdowns when the senate minority party said no to that. Why? Because shutdowns harm a whole heck of a lot of people other than FFs.
Just sayin…
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