Cross posted from Discuit
- On Twitter, the site known for random misinformation
- OP knows their neighbor well enough to know where they work, despite that not being nearly as common these days and OP not seeming like the kind of guy that would befriend Trump supporters
- OP’s neighbor is one of the minority of federal workers who are probationary employees, because that’s the only group Elon has been able to really fire right now
- OP’s neighbor simultaneously being a homeowner with a previously-stable job, but being in such dire financial straits that simply missing two paychecks results in a complete crashout.
- OP’s neighbor then selling the house instead of taking advantage of the large number of hardship programs that would be available for someone with issues paying their mortgage, at least temporarily.
Like is this possible? Yes. However it’s highly implausible, and conveniently matches the whole “stupid Drunpf supporters regret their decision” narrative that both Lemmy and reddit absolutely adore. To take this at any sort of face value without any genuine shred of concrete evidence is insane.
OP’s neighbor is one of the minority of federal workers who are probationary employees, because that’s the only group Elon has been able to really fire right now
This part isn’t true. At this point, probably over half of the fired workers were permanent, from agencies that are closing or are implementing RIFs. Most are still drawing paychecks, but budgeting does (and should) change once someone is informed that they’ll be out of a job in the next month or two.
For many agencies, these satellite offices often have monopsony power over workers of certain job skills. NOAA and the National Weather Service employ a lot of people who have job functions not really available from another employer, especially without moving. The same is true of NIH and CDC. HHS just announced the closure of several lawyer offices, and those specialists are going to have a bit of a rough time finding replacement jobs. USDA is a big organization, and have a ton of economists and scientists who would basically have to take a big pay cut if they’re laid off in this environment.
You’re downplaying just how devastating some of these job losses are, by ignoring that many of these people moved to these cities in reliance on the job stability they expected, and downplaying the number of people affected and the length of tenure these people have.
I don’t have a strong view of whether this story is literally true of this specific account’s neighbor. But I can tell you that versions of this story have happened to thousands already, and will happen to tens of thousands more.
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