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cover of episode The Federal Employee ‘Buyout’ Makes No Sense

The Federal Employee ‘Buyout’ Makes No Sense

2025/2/1
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Slate Money
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E
Elizabeth Spiers
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Emily Peck
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Felix Herrmann
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Emily Peck: 作为记者,我一直在报道联邦政府的“买断”计划。我采访过的联邦雇员都不信任这个计划,没有人真正辞职。即使人事管理办公室(OPM)发布了常见问题解答,承诺支付到九月份的工资,但正式文件中没有任何法律约束力。政府的资金只到3月14日,而OPM没有预算来支付这些员工。特朗普政府鼓励员工辞职,但缺乏法律依据。前劳工部长罗伯特·赖克也警告员工不要相信这个提议。特朗普和马斯克都有不支付员工的历史,这更加剧了人们的担忧。我认为这更像是一种政治恐吓,他们并不真正了解政府的运作方式。 Felix Herrmann: 白宫声称这是一个真诚的提议,但他们真的会尽力支付这些钱吗?从法律上讲,白宫似乎没有能力做出这样的承诺。问题在于,如果政府真的想裁员,为什么不采取更有效的方式,比如针对高成本员工或低绩效员工?这种一刀切的方式似乎缺乏战略性。而且,联邦雇员的工资只占联邦预算的一小部分,即使裁员,也节省不了多少钱。 Elizabeth Spiers: 我认为特朗普政府的目标是减少联邦政府的规模,他们希望通过减少员工数量来实现政府瘦身。他们不仅想减少员工数量,还想清除政府中的“左派”。斯蒂芬·米勒甚至声称98%的联邦政府雇员都是激进的左派,这显然是错误的。我认为,即使是保守派共和党人,也不希望政府瘫痪到无法运作的地步。这种做法是完全虚无主义的,仅仅是为了减少人数而减少人数,他们似乎根本不了解这些人的工作内容。

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This week: The Trump administration offered a resignation deal to millions of federal employees. Felix Salmon), Emily Peck), and Elizabeth Spiers) discuss why this plan seems like a bad idea) – for everyone. Then, Invidia’s stock dropped this week when Deepseek proved AI can be done cheaper. But is this just steam engines and Jevons paradox all over again? Finally, the bookstore is back. The hosts discuss the recent success of Barnes & Noble) and why they, and other bookstores), are the unexpected winners of the digital media age.

In the Slate Plus episode: CVS has a new way of locking up their stuff.

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Podcast production by Jessamine Molli.

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