Years ago, a (then) young friend had a minor production job with a major TV network. His group was tasked with coming up with a low-budget show that would attract eyes and sponsors. Tougher than it sounds. Quiz shows were, and still are, a dime a dozen. So …

After a particularly long, bitter meeting, he cracked. He suggested they setup a panel (of over-the-hill and therefore cheap celebrities) who would be tasked, each week, with guessing what ailed various guests. In the tradition of What’s My Line, the $64,000 Question, or the Weakest Link, he suggested the network cast its lot with a show called What’s My Disease? He said it would be catching!

Buzzzzz!

Gong!!!

Sound of jackass braying!!!!

Shortly after leaving N.Y. and the world of TV, my friend came to Washington. He worked briefly for a newspaper. Then he landed a dream job. With the government where, he thought, he was safe.

Ha!

While most federal workers (and retirees) are probably normal, well-balanced individuals who want to do well, working for Uncle Sam can mess with your health. Mental or otherwise.

Most American workers don’t depend on a board of 535 directors to set the job rules and pay. Nor does the management of their store, company or industry spend most of its time trying to get reelected. who spend most of their time working to get reelected. Many sincerely want to do a good job. Many do. But others often make a career of “fixing” government programs (originally designed by congress) that are broken or in need of that dread word, “reform.”

In recent years Congress has implemented, then rescinded, a performance pay system for the Defense Department. It implemented, then rescinded, then revived, then killed for the second time, a program to have private debt collectors go after tax deadbeats. It is currently choking the Internal Revenue Service (for a variety of reasons) while demanding it collect more and be nicer to, and more prompt and more polite to customers with questions.

It has been quit a while since it was fun to be a fed. There was a 3-year bipartisan pay freeze. That was followed by back-to-back annual pay raises of 1 percentage point. And ever increasing health premiums. And new higher retirement contribution rates for new hires.

Now feds face the possibility of various job changes. Congress is looking at the size of the 2016 pay raise (1.3 percent, 3.8 percent or none of the above), new classification and promotion procedures, a major change in the retirees cost of living program, and a program to take-back bonuses awarded to some Department of Veterans Affairs staffers. Plus a variety of other “reforms.” So what’s real, and what is bluff?

Today at 10 a.m. EST on our Your Turn radio show, our first guest is Jennifer Mattingley. She’s director of government affairs at the law firm of Shaw, Bransford and Roth. She’ll talk about the possible mine field feds must cross this year. Later, we’ll be joined by Andy Medici, senior writer for the Federal Times who will also talk about the status of phased retirement and possible changes in Defense per diem rates.

NEARLY USELESS FACTOID

By Michael O’Connell

The DNA found in mitochondria, the small organelles that are in almost every cell in the human body, carry evidence of an ancient infection that predates human life. In fact, the “proto-disease” that caused that infection predates animal life.

Source: How Stuff Works

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