Have A Great Holiday - By The Way Monday You're Laid Off

That's the message about 26,000 Commonwealth of Pennsylvania employees received on July 3, except the state calls it "furloughed".

Every couple of years the elected officials who "run" the state government seem to have this outcome. By law. the fiscal year budget must be approved by June 30. If it is not approved, there is no money to run any of the state services. And every couple of years, some kind of political wrangling results in an outcome of no budget approval and no money to run the government services.

Effective next Monday (July 9), about 27 or 28% of the state employees will be furloughed until there is a budget approval by the state legislatures. That means no pay, but benefits will continue. The rank and file state employee are not highly paid. In fact, many will experience severe financial impact if this budget impass lasts more than a couple of days. And the effect will be greatest in the Harrisburg area since the majority of the state employees are located here.

It's got to make you wonder. They've had 6 or 8 weeks to get this together but our elected officials have decided to take a few days off rather than try to work this out this week.