Is there life after government work? Absolutely!

"To those government workers who have lost their job, here is what I will say to you. Take some time, get it together, and shake off the fact that you lost a job. There is life after government employment. Heck, there is life after any kind of employment. Losing a job is just a bump in the road - but the road goes on. Focus on the long view. You will be fine."  

True confessions. I was a government worker. Employed by the US Government for 21 years. And now, for the past 15 years, I have been drawing a government retirement check. Okay - my 21 years was in the United States Navy - part of the US Government. As nice as it was to be in the Navy, as nice as it is to draw a very modest retirement check - neither were guaranteed to me. I know a lot of folks who for a variety of reasons, did not make their twenty years. They left the Navy with some memories, and zero retirement.

As nice as it is to get this modest retirement check from the Navy, I could not live on it alone. Not even close. I also had a career in defense contracting, where I got some retirement benefits. I also had a shorter career towards the end of my working days at IBM. Again, I got some retirement benefits. Why bring this up? The Democrats are screaming and crying like banshees that government folks are being RIFFED and will receive no retirement. Most are new hires. Wah, Wah, Wah. Go find a private sector job like I did. Life will go on.

ICYMI - President Trump is bringing back hundreds of industries which will employee tens of thousands of people. As one economist puts it - we will soon have way more job opportunities than available people. It is really as simple as this - it you want a job; you can find one. Period. If you don't want to work, it does not matter how many jobs are available.

Here is the long and short of it. Was every job I worked at a blue-chip job? An "A" job? Not even close. Some were, most were not. But they were jobs. Something to do which brought in money. Paid the rent. Kept food on the table. Most folks when working at a "B" job or even a "C" job, always have their antennas out. Waiting for that better job to reveal itself. That is what the American dream is all about. We are only limited by ourselves - the opportunities are always out there.

Do I feel bad for those government workers who have been RIFFED. Sure do. I feel bad for anybody who has lost a job. But that is part of life these days. When I worked at Control Data in the 1980's, the company was going through a huge downsizing. Every week, another group of people were let go. The standing joke was, we all gained five pounds from all the cake and coffee farewell parties we went to every Friday. The people left, but the work remained. Those who survived the RIFFING, ended up with a lot more work. Same money, more work. But at least it was a job.

To those government workers who have lost their job, here is what I will say to you. Take some time, get it together, and shake off the fact that you lost a job. There is life after government employment. Heck, there is life after any kind of employment. Losing a job is just a bump in the road - but the road goes on. Focus on the long view. You will be fine.