Not surprisingly, the man who responded to poor U.S. earnings by saying China is "feeling the blow" of Trump's trade war also has some particularly idiotic ideas of what it means to be an average employee of the federal government.
Trump's economic adviser Kevin Hassett was asked if an extended government shutdown will harm the great economy and he responded by saying federal workers are "better off" because of the government shutdown because they're getting a vacation without taking any vacation days.
From PBS:
Workers are furloughed, and right now, it's about 25 percent of government workers are furloughed, which means that they are not allowed to go to work.
But then, when the shutdown ends, they go back to work and they get their back pay. A huge share of government workers were going to take vacation days, say, between Christmas and New Year's. And then we have a shutdown, and so they can't go to work, and so then they have the vacation, but they don't have to use their vacation days.
And then they come back, and then they get their back pay. Then they're — in some sense, they're better off.
If you asked federal employees who are visiting food pantries for the first time ever or begging their landlords to accept less money, I doubt they would tell you they're "better off."
Employees who work for the federal government under a contract rather than direct employment may not even be paid when the shutdown is over.
Hassett is the chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers. These are the idiots whispering advice in Trump's ear.