First of all, bad pun. Also, most federal workers don’t have their work year compressed into 3 months of the year, so the impact is greater on the crabbers. And finally, no crab fishing = no delicious crab legs. In freshly drawn butter.
This whole thing is nuts.
“Government is bad. Useless. Get rid of the waste and red tape”
“Oh, except for the parks. We like parks. And the national monuments. And those programs in my area. Those ones that I use. I like those. Oh, and lets’ help those guys on that TV show I like.”
Reminds me of the Monty Python bit:
Reg: And what have the Romans ever given us in return?
Xerxes: The aqueduct.
Reg: Oh yeah, yeah they gave us that. Yeah. That’s true.
Masked Activist: And the sanitation!
Stan: Oh yes… sanitation, Reg, you remember what the city used to be like.
Reg: All right, I’ll grant you that the aqueduct and the sanitation are two things that the Romans have done…
Matthias: And the roads…
Reg: (sharply) Well yes obviously the roads… the roads go without saying. But apart from the aqueduct, the sanitation and the roads…
Another Masked Activist: Irrigation…
Other Masked Voices: Medicine… Education… Health…
Reg: Yes… all right, fair enough…
Activist Near Front: And the wine…
I wasn’t talking about Federal employees who are being hurt by the shutdown. I was talking about farmers, consumers, miners, beer brewers, fishing guides, campground owners, and other “normal” people.
But your point about not having yummy crab is very compelling. Very, very compelling…
Those 500 or so deckhands who make $40k in six weeks go on to fish for other crab and/or fish later in the season, and they have other jobs when they’re back home too. From what I’ve seen on the show, their various ventures add up to a seriously good living. I feel for them, but I’m not losing sleep over it. They make in six weeks what thousands of furloughed workers make in a year and they have ten and a half months to make other income as well.