By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher, GwinnettForum
MARCH 14, 2025 | The very callousness of the Trump Administration is what worries us.
What hit home to us this week was when more than 80,000 federal workers in the Health and Human Services Department were emailed—yes emailed – a demanding offer to quit their job and take a $25,000 one time payment and be employed by the government no more. Recognize that these were people responsible for researching diseases, inspecting food and administering Medicare and Medicaid care.
Not only were they losing their job, but these technical employees of a vital department were being paid a paltry $25,000 to quit their job. Yes, in effect, their livelihood was being swept from under them, making their future grim indeed. There was no mention of additional benefits to them, not any word given about a pension for their years of services to this country.
Workers could not start opting in until Monday and then had only until 5 p.m. on Friday to submit a response for the so-called voluntary separation offer. Did you understand that? They were given five days to make a lifetime decision about their very job? Note that the Federal Government was offering no counseling about their future, or about transferring to other departments of the government. It was an open-and-shut deal, take it or not. And there was no thanks for their previous employment.
That’s not what we think of as a reasonable way to treat people.
The email was sent to staff across the department, which includes the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, and the National Institutes of Health as well as the Food and Drug Administration, both in Maryland.
What’s this to say for these individuals and their families? Why were they being so obviously not regarded as vital human beings by the government?
How about the work that these people were providing our nation? Who’s to do this now? Won’t we still need meat inspectors, or people assisting retirees seeking medical care, or keeping people safe from future diseases, such as the recent Covid outbreak? And how about the measles outbreak in Texas? Who is left to monitor that?
What’s this to say for the economy in general, eliminating jobs, and thereby reducing the amount of money in circulation? Does firing these people strengthen the economy? Where will they find work, particularly with other government workers being fired? Are we going to see long lines of people lining up for hand-outs, hawking back to scenes of the Depression?
Think back to January 1 of this year.
Before Donald Trump came into office, the nation was going through an unusually solid period, with the economy humming along nicely, the number employed high, and the outlook solid. Not trying to laud the Biden Administration, but the measures it had introduced in the previous years had worked, and most of the captains of industry were smiling. The Democratic proposals in force spreading the wealth was working. And the stock market? It was churning along nicely, making shareholders happy.
Then enter Donald Trump and his many unqualified henchmen. So began the downturn we are in now. The prospects don’t look good.
These days we try to stay calm and not let the continual antics of our new president vex us. After all, we keep thinking that more sound minds will eventually curtail some of the excesses of this new administration and return our nation to a solid future. Yet it is hard to stay positive. The harshness and callousness of this new administration is not what we have known as the American way.
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