What If They Closed Government and Nobody Noticed?

James Joyner · · 10 comments

Dave Schuler reports that this is exactly what happened in his hometown of Chicago. The Monday furlough that was touted as a draconian way to cut the budget wound up hurting only the government employees who get screwed out of a day’s pay.

Dave suggests, “If this keeps up the people of Chicago may decide that a permanent 20% cut in the city’s payroll achieved by cutting the work week for city employees to four days and cutting their pay accordingly might not be a bad thing.”

I suspect most city services could be provided adequately with four-day staffing; indeed, most government agencies and even many businesses could probably gain efficiency by going to that model. The 20% pay cut, however, would surely sting.

Photo by Flickr user masonliu under Creative Commons license.