Today’s Los Angeles Times reports that in order to save money in the ongoing fiscal calamity, the state has furloughed a number of employees. So the employees still on the payroll (some evidently at reduced pay) are working overtime, and the cost of the overtime is offsetting the savings effected by the furloughs. See Patrick McGreavy, Overtime Pay May Be Putting a Dent In State’s Furlough Savings, L.A. Times, March 6, 2010, at p. A1. See http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-overtime7-2010mar07,0,1578628.story
Your tax money at work.