In Minnesota shutdown, workers who calculate the cost are laid off

[alp227]

Source: The Washington Post

Even Minnesota’s leaders don’t know the cost of the state government’s shutdown. That’s because the people who would calculate the price tag were put out of work. 

Now more than six days old, the shutdown has continued to shutter parks and toll booths and to leave thousands of government workers at home. The state’s Democratic governor and Republican lawmakers continued to wrangle, without resolution, over a $5 billion budget gap Wednesday.

The talks were continuing without clarity on the shutdown’s cost. The staff members who would calculate those figures are “currently laid off,” said John Pollard, a spokesman for Minnesota Management and Budget.

Almost all state agencies are operating with minimum staffing, and some are closed entirely. Only government work deemed “essential” is continuing.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/in-minnesota-shutdown-workers-who-calculate-the-cost-are-laid-off/2011/07/06/gIQA7nnJ1H_story.html

[tomm2thumbs]

1. irony is so ironic /nt

[David Gill]

2. Every Minnesotan

If you live in Minnesota, write and call your state representatives! Do it every day! The amount Republicans are willing to compromise depends on how much they think this shutdown is costing them politically.

[geardaddy]

3. "Now more than six days old, the shutdown has continued to shutter parks and toll booths"

The author of this should do some research. We don't have toll booths in MN.