No Mid-October Paycheck for U. S. Troops if Government Shuts Down

We hear constant bullshit from Republicans about "supporting our troops" and "supporting our brave service members in uniform."  As the saying goes, talk is cheap and GOP actions tell a far different story.  Not only do Republicans love to send our military out on fool's errands like the Iraq War and the disaster in Afghanistan - many were ready to add Syria to the list - but now in their drive to wound Barack Obama politically, they are ready to have members of the military go without pay.  With a son-in-law in the military, this crap REALLY pisses me off.  One can only hope that members of the military will wise up in 2014 and vote Democrat and send the bums packing.  Here are highlights from the Navy Times:

With one week to go before a potential partial government shutdown, a key Republican lawmaker is warning troops to be financially prepared for the possibility of not getting a mid-October paycheck.

Rep. C.W. “Bill” Young, R-Fla., chairman of the House defense appropriations subcommittee, warns that the troops’ morale and readiness will suffer even though the Defense Department does not shut down when its funding stops.

“All military personnel will continue to serve and accrue pay, but will not actually be paid until appropriations are available,” Young said. The mid-month payday would be the first in jeopardy.

Additionally, he said most travel and permanent change of station moves “would be delayed or canceled” and benefits for line-of-duty deaths also would be suspended.

Military hospitals and clinics will remain open but would scale back on operations, “impacting routine medical and dental procedures,” Young said. He did not specifically mention any impact on Tricare health insurance benefits, but in past government shutdowns, payments to medical providers were delayed but treatment was still available.

A bill to keep the government running is not unusual, but this measure, H.J. Res. 59, is different. It includes a section defunding the 2010 Affordable Care Act health care reform. The White House has warned that President Obama would veto the bill if this provision is included.

There is a second, equally controversial rider on the bill, the Full Faith and Credit Act, which details a priority list for paying bills if the government exceeds its $16.7 trillion debt limit. Creditors would be paid first, with military and federal civilian paychecks, disabled veterans’ checks, Medicare payments to doctors, school lunch programs and other government debts ranking lower.

The GOP House members are basically telling servicemembers "thank you for your service, now go f*ck yourselves."  Again, I truly hope members of the military make a point of voting and sending the GOP a very strong message.  They can start by voting a straight Democrat ticket in the 2013 Virginia elections.

Law School Applications Continue to Fall

Apparently more college age individuals are waking up to what many attorneys of many years have known for years:  The legal profession sucks.  High stress, much lower pay than most people assume, and horrible hours are the norm in private practice.  Not that government positions and in-house positions are sweetness and light either.  All of which explains why attorneys have among the highest alcohol and drug abuse problems and a high suicide rate.  As a consequence, especially given the insanely high expense of going to law school, applications to law schools are down for the third year in a row.  The Washington Post looks at this trend.  Here are highlights:

The number of people applying to U.S. law schools dropped nationwide for the third year in a row, prompting some law schools to slash the size of their entering classes.

As of May 17, about 55,760 people had applied to American Bar Association-accredited law schools for the 2013-14 school year — down 13.4 percent from 2012, according to data compiled by the Law School Admission Council.

Law school enrollment is also trending downward, with 48,700 people entering their first year of law school in fall 2011 — 7 percent below the previous year, and the first significant decline in a decade. The council has yet to compile nationwide enrollment data for fall 2012.

Last fall, George Washington University Law School cut its number of first-year law students from 474 to 398, the smallest in a decade and the second year in a row the school reduced its class size.

The drop in applications follows a period in which too many new lawyers chased too few jobs. The 2008 economic collapse forced many of the nation’s largest law firms to dramatically reduce the number of first-year lawyers they hired in 2009 and 2010. At the same time, law school enrollment continued to climb — hitting a 10-year high of 52,500 in fall 2010 — leading to the lowest levels of employment for new graduates since 1996, a growing proportion of them carrying loans of $120,000 or more.

Cornblatt said growing concerns about the legal job market and law school debt are driving away less-serious potential applicants who a few years ago might have been eager to enter law school to weather the recession.

“There’s been so much noise about the legal job market and how tough it is, whether it’s worth the tuition and borrowing all that money,” he said. “That group of people who weren’t as committed just aren’t applying now. . . . The rest of world won’t weep over fewer people wanting to be lawyers, but for people like me who do admissions, it creates challenges. There are fewer top applicants and the same number of law schools fighting over a smaller pool of highly qualified applicants than four years ago.”

 Hopefully, the trend continues.  There are far too many young attorneys fighting over jobs and willing to stretch the ethical rules to pander to clients.  It's not a pretty picture.

Law Schools’ Applications Fall, Tuition Costs Soar and Jobs Are Scarce

Having been trapped by circumstances in the legal profession for decades I welcome reports that law school applications are plummeting.  The truth is that there are too many lawyers and from my experience, many of the younger ones are only too ready to cut ethical corners in their quest to make a buck.  Such pressure, of course, often tracks back directly to the insanely high debts they incurred going to law school in the first place while career prospects have greatly soured over the last 5 to 8 years.   Many other attorneys like myself who have come to realize what a lousy profession they are in dream of somehow escaping the world of law.  It's not a coincidence that attorneys have among the highest suicide rates of any profession.  The hours are horrible, clients increasingly expect 24/7 service and the pay outside of the mega firms and ambulance chasing personal injury firms isn't what it used to be.  The New York Times has another article in its continuing expose of  the reality of the legal profession that ought to be read by every individual considering law school.  Here are highlights:

Law school applications are headed for a 30-year low, reflecting increased concern over soaring tuition, crushing student debt and diminishing prospects of lucrative employment upon graduation. 

As of this month, there were 30,000 applicants to law schools for the fall, a 20 percent decrease from the same time last year and a 38 percent decline from 2010, according to the Law School Admission Council. Of some 200 law schools nationwide, only 4 have seen increases in applications this year. In 2004 there were 100,000 applicants to law schools; this year there are likely to be 54,000. 

Such startling numbers have plunged law school administrations into soul-searching debate about the future of legal education and the profession over all.

“Thirty years ago if you were looking to get on the escalator to upward mobility, you went to business or law school. Today, the law school escalator is broken.”  

After the normal dropout of some applicants, the number of those matriculating in the fall will be about 38,000, the lowest since 1977, when there were two dozen fewer law schools, according to Brian Z. Tamanaha of Washington University Law School, the author of “Failing Law Schools.”

The drop in applications is widely viewed as directly linked to perceptions of the declining job market. Many of the reasons that law jobs are disappearing are similar to those for disruptions in other knowledge-based professions, namely the growth of the Internet. Research is faster and easier, requiring fewer lawyers, and is being outsourced to less expensive locales, including West Virginia and overseas. 

Last spring, the American Bar Association released a study showing that within nine months of graduation in 2011, only 55 percent of those who finished law school found full-time jobs that required passage of the bar exam. 

“Students are doing the math,” said Michelle J. Anderson, dean of the City University of New York School of Law. “Most law schools are too expensive, the debt coming out is too high and the prospect of attaining a six-figure-income job is limited.”

“In the ’80s and ’90s, a liberal arts graduate who didn’t know what to do went to law school,” Professor Henderson of Indiana said. “Now you get $120,000 in debt and a default plan of last resort whose value is just too speculative. Students are voting with their feet. There are going to be massive layoffs in law schools this fall. We won’t have the bodies we need to meet the payroll.” 

I feel some sorrow for the new attorneys who are finding themselves in a career nightmare.  If they are smart, they will find a way out of law early enough to find other careers.   For those of us older attorneys, we are sadly trapped unless we win the lottery.