Random Politics & Arguments Over Nothing #16

That was one of the ones he wanted to abolish tho. Is that a negative or positive modifier in your irony equation?

I was told there'd be no math.

And here I thought mods didn't do anything !

http://www.ffxiah.com/forum/topic/50048/diet-rtni-now-with-political-flavoring-16

Hmm will we also be getting Chinese Wednesday and Thickened Galka Mayo Plot themed titles?

Title needs a slight change.
"Diet RT/Ni: Now With Political Flavoring! Math-Free Edition" #16

Next one should be called : "Random Politics, Known to cause cancer in California." Or RP:KTCCIC.

Time for a musical interlude:

http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_584fba63e4b0151082221e8a

I think someone is getting fired from the huffington post

Private sector jobs. There's a difference between private sector jobs (that runs & grows most of the economy) and public sector jobs (that wastes most of the economy).

Government jobs are pretty much a necessary waste. Why else do you think that the people who have those jobs are the worst of the worst, can't get actual jobs in the private field?

It's not the columnist at least:

I'm going to assume you're not including law enforcement, military lifers, etc. with this. Though we've both agreed in the past there is a staggering amount of wasteful spending going on with the military that even if you were to keep the same spending level, it could be more intelligently spent.

But domestic and international security aside, what other jobs do you deem vital and which are unnecessary waste? Which jobs do you consider vital, but should be outsourced privately?

Do you feel the government private contracting system is superior to it hiring people directly? If no, in what way(s) could the respective government expenditure programs be improved?

Um we were talking about the finely skill people at the department of labor.

If you can get a steady gig at the DoE mopping floors, hold onto it because it would be the best job of your life. You'd be one of the most highly paid janitors in the world and you'd probably go out with a salary and pension close to 100k.

You'd probably only have to work 4 real hours of each day too.

That is H.A. goodman. His stuff gets posted everywhere. He is often very crass and typically uninformed of what the real issue.

Go take a look at all of the other stuff they posted of his on Huff post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/author/goodmanauthor-532

The guy is a piece of work, I don't disagree with his message here though.

That last line though

You are correct. For one thing, I'm talking about federal-level jobs (which doesn't include anything state-level or below. State level waste only effects those who live in the state in question, not on a national level). Those bureaucrat-level positions who's only job is to waste money with red-tape, which is anyone below the middle-management level (and some middle and upper management could be included).

Those are the people who are waste of space. I can't tell you how many times I have talked to IRS agents who don't even know the code they are trying to uphold. Especially auditors.

Military aren't really private level, because there isn't a public military (unless you want to consider those security personnel or rent-a-cop as military, but then again, that would be stretching it past the breaking point). Military bureaucrats, however....

It would have to be a complete review of policies and procedures in each department. I'm sure that there could be easily 10% of the jobs in each department that could be cut down, with some departments looking at a larger cut (again, has to be reviewed by department). On average, the federal government could save 20-25% in labor costs just by keeping the "better" employees and losing the waste-of-space.

No, because the government private contracting system is setup for extreme fraud due to unreliable vesting system.

For example: All departments are required accept the "lowest" proposed bid for government contract work. However, the government is also required to pay any of the work that goes above and beyond the proposed bid, as long as it maintains the scope of the contract.

Meaning, Federal Government is looking to build a new building at City A, and receives proposed bids from Contractor A and Contractor B. Contractor A is vested in their work, has done work with City A, and has a 99% retention rate with City A. Contractor B is vested, but has not done work with City A before, but has done work with City B that is located 75 miles away. Contractor B has only a 25% retention rate with City B because it's shoddy in it's work.

Contractor A bids $1,000,000 for building the building to the Federal Government's specifications, and actual costs would be $950,000.
Contractor B bids $750,000 for building, but actual costs would be $1,250,000, and will provide an inferior building compared to Contractor A.

Any other person would hire Contractor A because their product is superior, they are more recommended, and essentially cheaper to do. However, by the rules/regulations provided above, the federal government would hire Contractor B only because they bid lower, even if they know that the quality is lower and overall cost is higher.

If you know how to game the system, you can really take the federal government for a ride. And the problem is, the federal government gives you instructions on how to game the system.

So, yes, a lot of the waste in the federal government can be erased just by changing these regulations.

Oh god, I should have proof-read that post before hitting submit.

ROOKS, I WANT MY DAMN EDIT BUTTON BACK!!!!!!111oneone

Only thing I really disagree with that you said, but it doesn't change your point or other really change anything.

Oh you crazy Pennsylvanians.

Sounds about right for Philly.

If the elections told you anything, it should have told you that Philly is the NY/CA of Pennsylvania.

Not saying it doesn't happen, but when it does, it's pretty much slapped down hard.

I accept your counterpoint.

Another major problem with government contractors is that they don't actually seem to give a damn about the quality of their work. They pinch pennies on materials and labor costs to squeeze the most profit from their contract payout, so you end up with an inferior product/service compared to what was promised, but because it was all stipulated beforehand contractually, they've adhered to the letter of the contract, if not the spirit, and there's no real option of recourse.

The lab my wife worked in was a great example. They had an extension done on the building and in addition to being bare-bones, borderline (though not explicitly) deficient, it was falling off the original building within a handful of years.

What the *** was I typing in that sentence?

Sorry. I was leaving a voicemail when I posted that and apparently couldn't think two things at once.

Also, not only is it Philly, it's a college campus in Philly.

That's like, ground zero for this kind of thing.

We could probably get completed roads in a timely fashion too!

Road construction is paid for by the state you live in, mainly through both the state and federal gas tax (some states use additional fund through their general fund, meaning they use regular income/sales taxes to pay for the construction too).

Not a federal issue unless it's interstate system. Even then, it's handled through the state by block grants.