Plus, the fact that you think they actually pay less than THEIR secretary is hysterical...

Correct and correct!

That alone is enough reason to work for the federal gov!

Your math is fuzzy...

You forgot that 47% of those people pay ZERO Federal Income Tax (per the IRS)...

They only pay FICA and Medicare taxes...

The number of government employees at all levels has grown exponentially. When I lived in Pennsylvania, once a year our local paper listed the top three employers in our county. Over the years different manufacturers & the hospital occupied the top three spots. But about 10 years ago, that changed. Since then, the top three employers in the county were the Federal, State & local governments…

American holidays celebrate American people and events. I assume the Osiris reference was meant as satire. I think celebrating a day when a significant number of enslaved Americans learned of their freedom is well worth celebrating. Someone once said that slavery was America’s Original Sin. I’m not sure that’s true, but it’s right up there.

Ridiculous.. getting out of hand!

Some things that will complicate the equation:
- If this covers payroll only then there should be an additional calculation for benefits
- Not all taxpayers actually pay Federal Income tax
- This payroll amount might be for just the Executive branch and might not account for the amounts for Congress or the Military

Let's take your number, $3, as a lower limit and allow that it might be as much as $10. So at your number the taxpayer is buying the govt worker a soda and at the higher number the taxpayer is buying a beer.

At a reasonable salary (less than what the President makes, less than most of Congress, more than a McDonalds worker) it would take more than 50 taxpayers donating a beer or more than 160 taxpayers donating a soda to pay for just one government employee to have one day off. (If that salary is too high then just cut the number in half)

$3 or even $10 doesn't seem like much but asking 50 to 160 taxpayers to pony up that amount for just one government person to have an extra holiday makes it feel like a bit more.

I'm not against days off but it certainly is fair to ask the government to consider the cost before adding more.

Combine them
 

As was stated it’s a lot fewer but I do believe we should combine them perhaps Martin Luther King day along with Juneteenth. Another day off for federal employees means millions of dollars in tax payer money going to salaries with no production. We combined Washington and Lincoln’s birthdays to make Presidents’ Day so the precedent has been set.

I don't know what you mean by tone, but I was just stating the facts about the sick leave rules for Federal employees. If you are an employee for 20 years, you can accumulate 260 days of sick leave and 30 days of vacation time. That, added to the current year's weekends, vacation days, holidays, and sick leave, will allow the employee to be away from work for more than a year. There is no way a Federal manager can efficiently manage a project when their employees have that much flexibility in the work schedule.

As far as Federal employees working hard, they only need to work 40 hours per week and, if you want them to work longer, you must pay them overtime. It is illegal to not pay them.

You are not correct about the doctor's certificate. The employee doesn't even need to be sick, but can use sick leave to help a friend or family member. If a manager asks for a doctor certificate, they will usually be charged with an EEO complaint for discrimination. The employee will just ask for the documentation used by other employees who took sick leave, and the manager will not have it, hence, discrimination. In 35 years as a Federal employee, I never saw a case where an employee was prevented from using any sick leave they wanted. There were even some employees who would go on sick leave for a year or so, with no intention of returning to work, and then file for their retirement. That gives them an entire extra year of pay, benefits, and longevity, before retiring.

Not accurate. Check your FACTS on Federal Holidays!

You know........Germany and French citizens get something like 45 days off - and their countries are NOT falling apart because of it. (France can't get a handle on its immigration problems) Germany is still able to sell BMW and Mercedes Benz vehicles at competitive prices worldwide. Germany has Unions that HELP the companies. The US has fallen victim to propaganda that demonizes Unions - for the purpose of higher profits and HUGE salaries for UPPER-level managers and CEOs. US people and workers are JUST STUPID for allowing this to develop since 1950. Don't think it IS stupid? You as a worker could (?) be having MORE days off AND making a higher salary AND US society would be stronger and more STABLE as a result. Only a few, the CEOs and upper-income developers would have to tighten their belts. WHAT is NOT to like? And PLEASE, don't warn of a communist takeover - it NEVER happened in Germany or Australia - that's a red herring!

Pretty much the way it is. Predatory capitalism has taken over the US, and the corporations are sewing fear, uncertainty, and doubt to lock in their ownership of the country and its government.

Growing up in New Mexico I never heard of Juneteenth. When I went into the army in 1965 I went to Ft. Jackson for basic and then played in the band there. Many of the guys in the band were black and in mid June started discussing plans for Juneteenth. I told them I had never heard of it and asked what it was. They told me it was the day Lincoln freed the slaves, not entirely accurate, but close enough. It was very significant to them and understandably so.

Several Pueblos are located along the Rio Grande. Each has a number of feast or fiesta days to commemorate their traditional holidays. Some are open to visitors and I have gone to watch the dances.

I had not heard of Cinco de Mayo until 1990 when I got over to Southern California. Boy it is one HUGE party day there, ironically mostly for Anglos. lol. My Mexican gardener and cleaning lady told me it meant nothing to them so I looked it up. It is the anniversary of Mexico winning a minor battle at Puebla against the French. A Mexican beer company got the big celebrations going in the USA to sell more of their beer!

How Beer Companies Turned a Minor Holiday Into America's Favorite Mexican Drinking Day

But isn’t Good Friday a Federal Holiday?

That is a Historically SHALLOW, racist, and insulting thing to say. It probably violates the intent of the Hippocratic Oath! I would certainly prefer to have as my Doctor, a person OPENMINDED enough to endorse the Historic significance of Juneteenth!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is VERY profound, in that, it signifies the end of one race OWNING another race. That is LONG overdue in the US! It IS a BRIDGE toward a future where mankind demonstrates more humanity.

No, it is not.

Not a federal job, but when I was a prosecutor (county government job) we got the federal holidays off. We were severely understaffed and everyone worked their bootie off.

The difference IS that those ethnic groups were NOT OWNED by another (white) race. Big difference!

Quote:
Originally Posted by Neils View Post
When are the special holidays for American Indians? Italian Americans, Asian Americans, Latino Americans?


FALSE!

"Tribal territories and the slave trade ranged over present-day borders. Some Native American tribes held war captives as slaves prior to and during European colonization. Some Native Americans were captured and sold by others into slavery to Europeans, while others were captured and sold by Europeans themselves In the late 18th and 19th centuries, a small number of tribes adopted the practice of holding slaves as chattel property, holding increasing numbers of African-American slaves.[1]

European influence greatly changed slavery used by Native Americans, as pre-contact forms of slavery were generally distinct from the form of chattel slavery developed by Europeans in North America during the colonial period.[2][3] As they raided other tribes to capture slaves for sales to Europeans, they fell into destructive wars among themselves, and against Europeans.[2][3][4]"

From: Slavery among Native Americans in the United States - Wikipedia

Slaves brought to America were sold by black Africans either directly or to to the Moors, as their middleman.

WRONG!!! :ohdear:

Juneteenth is important to ALL (100%) of HUMAN beings because it ANNOUNCES that NO HUMAN being should own ANOTHER human being. That IS just as WRONG as wrong can be!

My thought is that I was always under the impression that America was about inclusion, not exclusion. Having a specific date made a federal holiday based on race seems to be separating the races instead of impressing the idea of inclusion upon citizens. But, like covid relief checks, everyone would vote for a paid day off and accept a federal holiday, no questions asked. Humans are easily bought with FREE stuff. Another way to "legally" buy votes.
I have to agree with the other poster that said that the holiday should be merged with MLK's birthday, just like Washington and Lincoln's birthdays were merged. It is the practical thing to do. It won't happen as long as the powers that be give away freebies, but no one seems to care about the national debt anymore, not either side of the political spectrum.
Arguing about gov employee benefits is a moot point and has hardly anything to do with it. Leave has changed over the decades,as well as gov retirement. At one time, gov employees did not have social security, they do now. The percentage of pension has changed also. As a matter of fact, since I retired they started allowing sick leave to be used toward retirement, where they didn't before and you lost it if you did not use it. Things change.
Slavery was a bad thing, but none of my family was responsible for it. My family is a family of immigrants that came over well after the civil war. Still, I do not know anyone that is directly effected by slavery, so I can't relate to this. At least, not American slavery. There was other slavery.
This whole discussion is interesting and informative, but not really going to change anything. My opinion is that some folks are just pushing buttons by implementing this "federal holiday" at this time. Other than attempting to buy votes, I can not see where it is doing anything to heal the racial divide.

Do we really need a holiday to tell us this? I would think morality tells us.

and why is it racist to question this new holiday?

Does anyone really believe that this new holiday will improve race relations? I think it will do the opposite.

the racist anti-Semitic congresswoman from Minnesota family is such and are largest entity in Africa dealing in human trafficking. Yet she wants to run your life.

87,000 IRS now in process of being hired. Good Luck to all.

What do you think globalism is. Your dollars and resources spent overseas to support these other countries social programs. Without US Aid, Germany and France will collapse.

reference 1917 Russia. Same playbook. Same result. Millions die.

Open season on federal employees. Please!
I was in the military for 4 years. Not the hardest work of my life, but please don't slander the military. As a medical librarian for a state, I worked with people from the National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health. As a group they were very hardworking and dedicated people. Here in TV the folks in the local post office are working as hard as most in private business. So, lets back off and not take a slap at a lot of people who are working hard to make life better for all of us.

No.

Actually, we have an all volunteer army. Very dangerous!

I will complain that the US is today about 30th on the world list for "upward mobility" - and the US has the greatest WEALTH DISPARITY of ALL 1st world countries. Those are SOME important things to complain about - and I imagine that 50% of Americans are unaware of those facts because the 1% pushes its propaganda SO WELL!

More far left BS, but not surprising. I simply was making the point, if you actually read the whole post, that I didn't think this rated a national holiday, and I feel it is more than covered by MLK day, Lincoln's birthday, and Memorial Day, which honors a president that actually signed the emancipation, the Union soldiers that died to end slavery, and a great leader that helped give civil rights to his people. BUT NOOOOOOO......you skipped the first line where I stated slavery was an abomination and then cherry picked one line out of context to make some point or another, although it is unclear what that may be, and launch a personal attack at the same time. WAY TO GO-----YOU'VE OUTDONE YOURSELF!

This is an EXCELLENT argument in favor of getting rid of Thanksgiving as a holiday. It points out the shame of our country for glorifying the hostile takeover and attempted genocide of Native Americans.

Thank you for bringing it up.

I agree 100%. But does that mean we should declare a national holiday?????

Murder is wrong, should we have a national holiday (I'm willing to bet you are against capital punishment as well)
Embezzlement is wrong---how about a Bernie Madoff Day?
Adultery is wrong......well, you get my point

Everything that is wrong, everything that is important does not rate a national holiday, if it did, we'd have 365 day a year off, and one more in leap year. (Oh, wait, I'm retired so I do have 365 days/year off:1rotfl::1rotfl::1rotfl:)

Not grossly over what most companies give.

It will ABSOLUTELY happen in the NEAR future because A.I. and ROBOTIC will be doing the work of people. It IS the future and could cause some degree of social disruption. Society and government will have to solve the problem of people with maybe too much free time. How can they keep their lives meaningful?