I'm in Washington DC for a work trip right now. It's a city and region very much on edge. ...... [View all]

[marmar]

..... after all the DOGEing, and more rounds of indiscriminate job cuts to come. And many of the private employers in the Beltway obviously do a lot of federal government contracting, so the uncertainty and nervousness is off the charts.
I was talking to a small business owner who operates tours, and he brought up the cuts to the National Parks Service. Rangers, educators, cleaning and maintenance staff etc have all been slashed. Hardly the stereotypical "big government bureaucracy", the NPS has to rely on volunteers and private fundraising groups just to cover the most basic staffing and funding needs.
Taking it down to a micro level like that just made me realize how big and how long a reconstruction we'll need when this nightmare is finally over.