Return to Office

[Bill Cosby]

Also, a point I made in another thread, the spending cuts have to be incredibly quick and substantial.

Tax reform is the most important thing that happens this year. If we get to 12/31/2025 without legislation, it’s an immediate tax increase on the middle class that’s already been getting its ass kicked for 4+ years. We aren’t in campaign season so don’t have to pretend TCJA was “tax cuts for the rich.” The middle class will get clobbered.

That said, there are “deficit hawk” hold outs that are taking unrealistic positions when it comes to spending cuts in the tax package.

Hopefully by quickly cutting a significant amount of waste, the “deficit hawks” that view tax cuts as spending can be strong armed into a position they need to get to for realistic tax legislation.

Taking a scalpel to government spending and being patient with the wasteful employees (who would resist spending cuts) would not provide that opportunity.

 

[bigblueinsanity]

The federal government is by far the most inefficient, wasteful, worthless behemoth in modern history. That's just a fact.

A return to work is simply the first step in trying to voluntarily shed workers. From there, its a gargantuan task for someone to sift through it all and find actually motivated and productive workers. Im sure there must be some somewhere.

 

[JumperJack]

The federal government is by far the most inefficient, wasteful, worthless behemoth in modern history. That's just a fact.

A return to work is simply the first step in trying to voluntarily shed workers. From there, it’s a gargantuan task for someone to sift through it all and find actually motivated and productive workers. Im sure there must be some somewhere.

Get rid of useless workers and give those that are productive more money. Save in the long run while increasing efficiency.

 

[WTF Cat]

Carter formed the Dept of Energy and the Dept of Education.

Are either of those areas better than they were 50 years ago... billions of dollars later?

 

[Perrin75]

The federal government is by far the most inefficient, wasteful, worthless behemoth in modern history. That's just a fact.

A return to work is simply the first step in trying to voluntarily shed workers. From there, its a gargantuan task for someone to sift through it all and find actually motivated and productive workers. Im sure there must be some somewhere.

Where are these facts? The US is the wealthiest, most productive and most dominate country in history. It doesn't get there, or maintain its dominance without that government in place. Go back and take a look at the history of this country at times before the merit based system we have now when the government was full of political flunkies that bowed down to the whims of corporations and political parties. It was not some golden age.

Also, the entire work force in the Federal Govt is only about 4-6% of the federal budget. We spend at least triple that on services that used to be performed in house but are not out sourced to contracts in the private sector. If you want to look at waste, fraud and abuse, then look no further than some member of congress passing out big fat never-ending contracts to their buddies.

 

[Bill Cosby]

Go back and take a look at the history of this country at times before the merit based system we have now when the government was full of political flunkies that bowed down to the whims of corporations and political parties.

lol well done. I think you had us all until that post. One of the better troll jobs.

 

[bigblueinsanity]

Where are these facts?

This is as far as i made it. If you can't agree with my very basic, factually unassailable statement; then you refuse to have an honest conversation.

 

[AmericanDragon]

The federal government is by far the most inefficient, wasteful, worthless behemoth in modern history. That's just a fact.

I counter with private insurance, specifically health insurance since that is what I have knowledge with. The whole business model is you essentially pay a monthly subscription to have them deny you as much health care as legally possible by running you thru the ringer of tests and specialists before deciding to deny your procedure that they always knew they were going to deny you.

 

[AmericanDragon]

Get rid of useless workers and give those that are productive more money. Save in the long run while increasing efficiency.

Then they'll just run off the more productive people by overworking them. And then they'll leave for somewhere else with a better work-life balance and/or somewhere for better pay and benefits.

 

[rudd1]

-yes bureaucracy in *some* private industries (worse in those that are heavily regulated/funded by government...i.e. healthcare/insurance, go figure) is also very bad... but I don't *directly* fund them with my hard earned tax dollars.

-this is a short term pain, long term gain situation. Long overdue.

 

[bigblueinsanity]

I counter with private insurance, specifically health insurance since that is what I have knowledge with. The whole business model is you essentially pay a monthly subscription to have them deny you as much health care as legally possible by running you thru the ringer of tests and specialists before deciding to deny your procedure that they always knew they were going to deny you.

What does that have to do with whether or not a business or its workers are efficient? Nothing.

Health insurance companies are some of the most efficiently run companies out there. Maybe you find them soulless etc, but that isnt the topic at hand.

 

[AmericanDragon]

What does that have to do with whether or not a business or its workers are efficient? Nothing.

Health insurance companies are some of the most efficiently run companies out there. Maybe you find them soulless etc, but that isnt the topic at hand.

First paragraph response - read your own post so you can understand context

Second paragraph response - also, read your own post so you can understand context, and lol.

 

[JumperJack]

Go back and take a look at the history of this country at times before the merit based system we have now when the government was full of political flunkies that bowed down to the whims of corporations and political parties. It was not some golden age.

I hope this is sarcasm. 97% of federal employees at USAID were disclosed to have donated to democrats. This was literally disclosed this week.

It is shocking that you seem to believe that the federal government is what made this nation wealthy.

 

[bigblueinsanity]

First paragraph response - read your own post so you can understand context

Second paragraph response - also, read your own post so you can understand context, and lol.

The entire thread is about working from home and efficient companies and employees. It has nothing to do with if you like their business practices or not.

This isnt that hard. Or shouldn't be.

 

[WayneDougan]

This thread has been interesting. It is certainly evidence that a large number of people have no idea about the size, scope or responsibilities of the Federal workforce. This isn't the DMV. The Federal Government employees around 2.2 million people, which is about the same size it was in 1980. Of that, roughly 1.8 million works in five areas: Defense, Homeland Security, VA, DOJ and Treasury. Which of those are unnecessary government agencies? It reminds me of Rick Perry who had no idea what the Department of Energy did until after he was confirmed as Secretary and realized their main mission was securing our nuclear stockpile, securing the energy grid and cybersecurity.

Are there areas for improved efficiency and cost savings. Certainly. But we don't get there with across the board hiring freezes and punishing employees. We already have examples of what that leads to with the FAA. Limiting the number of Aviation Inspectors and Air Traffic controls had led to nothing but an increase in accidents.

Once again this isn't a Blue-Red issue. Who the President is isn't relevant to whether or not an Air Traffic controller is needed and/or can do their job. Also, there aren't a lot of Forest Rangers or Border Security agents working from home. This idea of only 6% of the Federal Employees are working in the office and they are all just goofing off on the Taxpayer dime is ridiculous. How do people fall for this stuff?

I don't think you realize how much these organizations are outsourcing to consulting firms and contractors. So while the amount of employees remains the same, the spend and the amount of 3rd parties has grown significantly. Just look at the growth of the DC area over that time. It's SIGNIFICANTLY bigger.

Now, a lot of this stuff is important work. They are modernizing tech, getting smarter, more efficient, etc. But you can't just look at the total numbers of employees and say, "government hasn't grown".