Wasteful Spending

Steve R.

Steve R.

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Hopefully it doesn't take a wheelbarrow full of money to get a fistful back.
 
I hope for the best, but I'm not sure what they can do other than point items out. The President doesn't have line-item veto, so as far as I know he can't actually cut any spending. He would need Congress to cut the items, and even Republicans like their pork. :rolleyes:
 
Just for some recent historical perspective.

National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org
This Commission was created in 2010 by Obama. The final plan was regulated to the trash.
From what I recall, this plan was never meant to to be implemented. It was done by the Obama administration as a publicity stunt.
I feel very sorry that Simpson and Bowles wasted their time on a politically "dead" plan that we could have used. They were set-up to fail.
 
The sooner Musk gets started the better I'd say and when he's done he can come here.

Back in the day, I'd guarantee to reduce the head count by putting a computer system in. One installation I recall was thirty seven over two sites down to three at one and one at the second by replacing a manual system.

Today computers appear to be used to create pointless none-jobs for no-marks and no-zesters to do.
Our county council created a pointless system that requires you to go online and enter name, address and car registration to book a time when you can go to the local tip and dump some rubbish. I reckon that at least seventy people are involved over the whole county. There is not a single piece of information that is of benefit, or provides a cost saving from the system. In fact the only definite data they have is the car registration. They've no idea of the type of waste or its weight. The only thing they have done is increased costs. If I need to tip something it is actually quicker for me to drive to the next county than fill in the damn online form and wait until I can go. Little doubt that some staff on this system will be working from home, where they no doubt spend most of the day on social media. It is the same everywhere. So many things should be quicker but they are actually slower than the old pen and paper.

If I had the opportunity I could clear out whole departments, never mind reduce the headcount a little. Let's face it, during Covid none of the government staff did any work at all. Did anyone notice any problems? I bet we could get rid of 60% to 70% of the civil servants and their so called advisers. I support Musk and wish we had someone like him.
We'd all be a damn site better off if that lot worked to generate wealth rather than simply being a huge overhead dragging us all down.
 
In the USA, getting rid of a civil service person can be trying at best and impossible at worst. You have to have cause AND have to have counseled the person in question at least a couple of times before "termination for cause" can be used. Part of the craziness with USA's Federal Civil Service is that managers who actually care about performance have discovered the "lateral transfer" as a way to dump a person. When I worked with the U.S. Navy, we had some civil servant clerks who were nice people but dumber than a rotting post. One lovely lady came to us as a lateral transfer from Florida (NAVAIR Pensacola). She was lucky if she could log in to her computer with a SmartCard to help her. Using complex programs was nearly beyond her. Windows with point-n-click was barely within her range. UNIX command lines involving switch options flummoxed her nearly every time. She did, however, get the "brass ring of civil service." She remained on the job until retirement age and promptly left for her daughter's home. I wish her well and hope she doesn't have to deal with a smart microwave for cooking packaged lunches.
 
I have to tell you how appalled I was some years ago when I took a job with a company that was a military contractor. It was my first heavy manufacturing environment. Up until that point I had worked primarily for large financial and retail corporations such as insurance, credit card, and banking outfits. The plant we occupied was officially owned by the Army and the equipment was a combination of government and company owned and we needed to keep track of who owned what. The application my team was building was to manage assets plus ensure that everything got serviced on schedule. The favorite refrain of corporate executives who I interviewed during the early stages of the project was "Don't worry about that. That's 'government money'". I finally couldn't stand it any more so with as much respect and politeness as I could muster, I started my own reeducation campaign to change the corporate culture. The application did "worry" about "government money" because I wasn't about to just throw "government money" away.
 
I had a friend who was IT director at our local university. I went to his office once and noticed stacks of Dell boxes all the way down a long hallway, easily over a 100 computers plus monitors, etc. I commented on it and he said their fiscal year was coming to an end and he had to spend all his budget so he could get at least as much in the next year. In government, you buy it whether you need it or not, so you can buy even more next year. Whether you need it or not.
 
It's called encumbering the funds. I learned about that when I did a project for the State of Tennessee. But, their rules allowed them to "pretend" order something but not actually place the order so it looked like the money was spent even when it wasn't. But the purpose was the same. Just a little more efficient.

We really need to go to zero-based budgeting. None of this last year + crap that we do now.
 
Pat Hartman said:
None of this last year + crap that we do now.
Click to expand...

Along those lines is the ridiculous concept of entities asking for a 10% increase in their budget, being granted a 5% increase, and them declaring that their budget got "slashed". The unaware think spending was cut when it wasn't.
 
The question is - Does the politician believe that the budget got cut? What do they talk about when they're alone? Do they applaud their own efforts for "cutting" spending or do they know they didn't cut anything and are just gaslighting us? I'm not sure I actually want to know.
 
pbaldy said:
I hope for the best, but I'm not sure what they can do other than point items out. The President doesn't have line-item veto, so as far as I know he can't actually cut any spending. He would need Congress to cut the items, and even Republicans like their pork. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

We're in the tough situation where we need to basically implement austerity-like measures , before the time comes when we actually HAVE to because we went bankrupt and someone bailed us out. Hopefully people will realize Musk is right when he said there might be some short-term suffering, but I for one am willing to contemplate/countenance the idea of the gov providing less services and subsidies, because I think it's necessary to save the country and keep it as a going concern!

You're right though - but then again, I hear of so many "workarounds" to that "needs congress" rule...I dunno. It will be interesting to see
 
The President may not have line-item veto but if he has the right people running an agency, THEY can stop wasteful spending dead. That is how the deep state works. Obstruct from within.
 
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