You’re fired

Most people spend their entire careers weaving the most fragile safety nets.

Their household budgets are a mix of optimism and despair. On the fixed-expense side, they negotiate their way every month through mortgage and car payments, credit cards and day care. On the flexible-expense side, they've got groceries, medical bills, entertainment and whatever other miscellaneous perks the family can afford. Putting money into savings is a luxury.

People really do spend hours staring at these budgets. They really do feel their stomachs knot up and cold sweat break out on their foreheads when the incoming and outgoing funds don't match up. They stare at their ceilings in dark bedrooms worrying about when checks are going to be cashed. They smile at each other and take turns saying that everything will be OK.

This isn't an exaggeration. It's not rare. This is the way most people live. They get by. They survive. They even manage to find a level of contentment.

So what do you think happens when one of these people gets fired?

Here's a theory: Their world falls apart. They give up on the household budget because it's impossible with half the money. They pull their kids out of day care. They try to figure out how to get unemployment, where to get it, when it will come. When they're alone, the frustration, fear, anger, resentment and sense of failure can be overwhelming.

Gov. Doyle's administration has its own budget to worry about. It's got to make ends meet just as surely as any family. But it's doing it in the wrong way if it follows through with its plan to cut 10,000 state jobs in the next 10 years.

Dave Buschkopf might be one of those cuts. He's been a state engineer for 19 years, but he was recently told his position might disappear.

Why? Because Doyle made a promise when he was running for governor. Because state employees, particularly those in the Department of Transportation, have become a scapegoat for a bureaucracy covered in red ink. Never mind the fact that the damage done to the hundreds, if not thousands, of people and families will far outweigh any savings realized.

The administration can try to justify its actions by citing budget figures, employment counts and campaign pledges. It can claim that it's keeping its word to the people of Wisconsin, although there's a certain group that might not agree.

Most of those people won't say anything, though. They'll be too busy trying to put their lives back together.

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