Very interesting. I was having this talk a week or so ago about the perception of state workers with regards to furloughs. When they were imposed, it was assumed that the same amount of work would get done. That’s how it was for me while at Tourism. Except the only way to actually handle the situation would be to have to cut services and duties by 4.6% or whatever. If that didn’t happen, then the (mostly wrong) perception would be that the 4.6% was overpayment for the job being done. So, you could perpetuate the political feeling that state workers have it easy (by impossibly extracting more work in less time), or you could actually cut what each agency is doing by the amount being cut from paychecks. This story is the natural consequence of expecting more work in less time (remember, the furlough wasn’t just a cut in pay, but a cut in hours worked as well). You send everyone home for a day a month, you get a day a month per person less of work, and the overtime, where you can earn it (I couldn’t and can’t) increases, resulting in much less savings, or even a net cost to the state.