Government employee thread! (Being a government employee is sweet) (1 Viewer)

[Hot Diggity Dog]

AND, the organization these people work for is $34 trillion in debt. It cannot go one without ending in a massive economic collapse that would engulf everyone. Good and bad people are going to have to lose their job to get things under control

See the thing about this argument is government salaries are like 4% of the federal budget. For everybody. So what are you really saving. Nobody wants to cut defense spending or other areas where the real problems are. Federal employees are easy marks but cutting them simply are not solving any problems at all.

That 4% of the budget oversees the other 96% where most of the waste is. If 4% of my budget is labor and administration and 96% material or products, but I am losing tons of money on my material and products I need to change the composition of the 4%. Culture is a thing. If no one is in the office to direct spending, I assume it doesn't happen.
Government employees can argue that they have been misled, poorly lead, and even lied to by our elected officials of both parties. Granted. Join the crowd. But we are still where we are. The end game of massive government debt isn't pretty, and no one is going to bail us out. So, we can try to turn this stupidity around in some way, or we can ride this over the cliff and find out what rock we land on at the bottom.

 

[-OZ-]

The problem isn't the public demanding some accountability and reasonableness be put in place, it is the people trying to stop it at all costs.

Totally agreed that the problem isn’t the public. Beyond that, I’m not going there here.

 

[Hot Diggity Dog]

I have been fired 3 times in my life, two for cause, one because the boss did not like me. No one ever gave a flipping flip. People get fired every day, get up and move on.

Now imagine you are one of the many disabled employees. Would you think finding a job is so easy?

---

Federal employees with disabilities are worried and scared about gutting of workforce​

One of the largest employers of people with disabilities in this country is the federal government.

What skill do I have? Why am I being employed by the government, in what position? If I am being hired as a charity case, yeah I am pretty scared. If I have a marketable skill not so much other than the disruption.

 

[Alex P Keaton]

Nobody at work has my personal cell or email. If they fire me, they can send me mail at home — they have my home address. They could knock on the door.

But they don’t have anything else, and that’s by my choice.

HR doesn't have contact info for anyone in case of emergency? Or a personal email address you used when you applied? Or phone number you used to have first phone conversation with your potential employer?

They have the same phone number for all data fields. My work phone.

They have my backup personal email address which I technically check. I only keep it in case I need to read something they send me — for what I need, not what they need.

 

[Capella]

That 4% of the budget oversees the other 96% where most of the waste is. I

lol no that would be congress.

 

[3C's]

Look at how amazing your experience is at the DMV

I've been to 2 area DMVs in the last year and both experiences were A+.

 

[Sparky Polastri]

AND, the organization these people work for is $34 trillion in debt. It cannot go one without ending in a massive economic collapse that would engulf everyone. Good and bad people are going to have to lose their job to get things under control

See the thing about this argument is government salaries are like 4% of the federal budget. For everybody. So what are you really saving. Nobody wants to cut defense spending or other areas where the real problems are. Federal employees are easy marks but cutting them simply are not solving any problems at all.

That 4% of the budget oversees the other 96% where most of the waste is. If 4% of my budget is labor and administration and 96% material or products, but I am losing tons of money on my material and products I need to change the composition of the 4%. Culture is a thing. If no one is in the office to direct spending, I assume it doesn't happen.
Government employees can argue that they have been misled, poorly lead, and even lied to by our elected officials of both parties. Granted. Join the crowd. But we are still where we are. The end game of massive government debt isn't pretty, and no one is going to bail us out. So, we can try to turn this stupidity around in some way, or we can ride this over the cliff and find out what rock we land on at the bottom.

You need to go up a level or three to the top. The purse strings of this country are controlled by Congress. I'd be significantly more inclined to agree with your POV if fraud were the primary problem.

People keep comparing the govt to private industry. That is woefully inaccurate for a billion different reasons, but one of the biggest reasons is that Congress is in control of the money AND how that money flows. I agree that culture is a thing, so are the laws that bind the worker bees.

 

[-OZ-]

Look at how amazing your experience is at the DMV

I've been to 2 area DMVs in the last year and both experiences were A+.

Honestly, I’ve been to DMVs in 7 states. No bad experiences. Some took a little longer than I’d like but that’s due to volume.

 

[Hot Diggity Dog]

That 4% of the budget oversees the other 96% where most of the waste is. I

lol no that would be congress.

LOL you are either missing the point or being obtuse. Congress person X isn't going to government agency Y to sign checks and administer program Z if no one is in government agency Y to do the administering.
And if the legislative branch of government has proven itself incapable of administering the budget that doesn't mean the executive branch and its employees should just carry on year after year acknowledging waste but doing nothing about it, when in fact there is things they can do that is in their power to do, as a duty to their ultimate, what word fits here, constituent? employer? fellow citizen?

 

[BassNBrew]

Look at how amazing your experience is at the DMV

I've been to 2 area DMVs in the last year and both experiences were A+.

Honestly, I’ve been to DMVs in 7 states. No bad experiences. Some took a little longer than I’d like but that’s due to volume.

It sucks in North Carolina. Wait time generally over an hour. Oh....our state contracted the work to private 3rd parties.

My local site was shut down for a awhile due to gross incompetence. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zlf8IcB9Z3U

 

[⚡DEADHEAD⚡]

"National Nuclear Security Administration officials on Friday attempted to notify some employees who had been let go the day before that they are now due to be reinstated — but they struggled to find them because they didn’t have their new contact information. In an email sent to employees at NNSA and obtained by NBC News, officials wrote, “The termination letters for some NNSA probationary employees are being rescinded, but we do not have a good way to get in touch with those personnel.”"

Trump administration wants to un-fire nuclear safety workers but can’t figure out how to reach them

The workers, whose agency oversees the nation’s nuclear stockpile, had been fired on Thursday and lost access to their federal government email accounts.

www.nbcnews.com

I'm sorry, but this is just incompetence or news exaggerating a situation

I have 15 people working for me and I have their personal phone numbers (because agency too cheap to give work cell) and their home addresses. My boss and his boss all have this information for emergency recall situations

I only have a personal cell but only my direct team members, boss and senior boss have my phone number. It helps that I was sorta friends with most before I took this job.

The department of Energy was started by President Carter with one directive.
Eliminate or reduce this Country's dependence on foreign oil.

To be clear, the short-lived Energy Research and Development Agency and the Atomic Energy Commission before that held much of what became DOE mission space. DOE was just the latest iteration, and the Carter administration took on other significant energy-related policy changes.

Sande, you guys doing OK at the lab?

As a government-owned contractor-operated FFRDC, we seem to be a degree or two of separation from the front lines, but as I've told many, I am a bit more concerned with each passing day...to the point that I have thoughts about our exit strategy in the back of my head (my wife is at one of the other national labs in the Bay Area, so we're each exposed). About half of my lab's workforce - about 9,500 people or so - has been with us for 5 or fewer years. But our primary mission - national security through maintaining the nation's nuclear weapon stockpile - has a lot of bipartisan support, so I'm hopeful.

The national labs drive innovation in our country, so there's something to be said for protecting that, to an extent.

Appreciate you asking Z. Best to the family!

I would love to know what 9500 people do…..pure curiosity, no agenda.

Best of luck with everything……unusual times for sure

Edit to add: thanks for doing work to keep us secure

A good answer is hard to give here. A less nuanced answer includes nuclear weapon modernization, fusion, high performance computing at the exascale level, quantum, biosecurity, space situational awareness, and much, much more. The infrastructure to support these facilities is significant. We need much more than engineers (mechanical, software, etc), physicists (astro, nuclear, etc.), chemists, biologists, software developers, etc.

 

[Hot Diggity Dog]

AND, the organization these people work for is $34 trillion in debt. It cannot go one without ending in a massive economic collapse that would engulf everyone. Good and bad people are going to have to lose their job to get things under control

See the thing about this argument is government salaries are like 4% of the federal budget. For everybody. So what are you really saving. Nobody wants to cut defense spending or other areas where the real problems are. Federal employees are easy marks but cutting them simply are not solving any problems at all.

That 4% of the budget oversees the other 96% where most of the waste is. If 4% of my budget is labor and administration and 96% material or products, but I am losing tons of money on my material and products I need to change the composition of the 4%. Culture is a thing. If no one is in the office to direct spending, I assume it doesn't happen.
Government employees can argue that they have been misled, poorly lead, and even lied to by our elected officials of both parties. Granted. Join the crowd. But we are still where we are. The end game of massive government debt isn't pretty, and no one is going to bail us out. So, we can try to turn this stupidity around in some way, or we can ride this over the cliff and find out what rock we land on at the bottom.

You need to go up a level or three to the top. The purse strings of this country are controlled by Congress. I'd be significantly more inclined to agree with your POV if fraud were the primary problem.

People keep comparing the govt to private industry. That is woefully inaccurate for a billion different reasons, but one of the biggest reasons is that Congress is in control of the money AND how that money flows. I agree that culture is a thing, so are the laws that bind the worker bees.

I can agree Congress has failed. But we can't vote them in or out like we can a President. And if the legislative branch has failed miserably at their job, do we expect the other two branches to fold up their responsibilities and go along? Maybe this will spar congress on to do better. But again, we are not on a sustainable path. Tell me where this ends if we continue spending two trillion more than we take in every year. If people or groups want this level of spending to continue than they need to justify it and get the taxes passed to pay for it. Not sit and try and justify themselves and their position and claim it's other people's fault or nothing can be done about it.
I'm happy that someone is doing something to try and address this debt. I'm sorry if you get cut unjustifiably in the process or a disabled person lives a harder life because they don't have a cushy government job. If that is to political or I am being "mean" ban me for life. Whatever. But as someone that has worked all my life and paid taxes and tried to do the right thing, this attitude of government employees is just infuriating and galling. I know I know Fox News, higher ups, Congress, this wonderful person will have a disrupted life, blah blah blah. I just know that when the bubble bursts it will be your kids future as well as my kids that is going to be ruined. I hope the work / life balance you experienced in life was worth it.

 

[Hot Diggity Dog]

I have been fired 3 times in my life, two for cause, one because the boss did not like me. No one ever gave a flipping flip. People get fired every day, get up and move on.

Now imagine you are one of the many disabled employees. Would you think finding a job is so easy?

---

Federal employees with disabilities are worried and scared about gutting of workforce​

One of the largest employers of people with disabilities in this country is the federal government.

What skill do I have? Why am I being employed by the government, in what position? If I am being hired as a charity case, yeah I am pretty scared. If I have a marketable skill not so much other than the disruption.

Unless you are a 54 year old computer scientist that may not be up to date on all current tech.....

You are clearly an intelligent person. Get current.

 

[SFBayDuck]

I know this has been brought up before, but I do love the amount of posting in this thread during the workday by private employees complaining about how inefficient government workers are

Totally. Like 98% of this board’s traffic is people posting during work, both public and private sector.

Going to start a new thread - “US Economy is a mess, is the FFA to Blame? Subtitle: Did Forrestmail Destroy the Economy? “

 

[SFBayDuck]

A general comment - If in your career you’ve self-admittedly been fired twice “for cause” and another because the “boss didn’t like me”, maybe back off on opinions on how any management, government or otherwise, should behave, particularly when it’s thinly veiled political commentary.

 

[opensourcebeer]

I know this has been brought up before, but I do love the amount of posting in this thread during the workday by private employees complaining about how inefficient government workers are

Totally. Like 98% of this board’s traffic is people posting during work, both public and private sector.

Going to start a new thread - “US Economy is a mess, is the FFA to Blame? Subtitle: Did Forrestmail Destroy the Economy? “

Take it to the PSF, buddy.

 

[Sparky Polastri]

AND, the organization these people work for is $34 trillion in debt. It cannot go one without ending in a massive economic collapse that would engulf everyone. Good and bad people are going to have to lose their job to get things under control

See the thing about this argument is government salaries are like 4% of the federal budget. For everybody. So what are you really saving. Nobody wants to cut defense spending or other areas where the real problems are. Federal employees are easy marks but cutting them simply are not solving any problems at all.

That 4% of the budget oversees the other 96% where most of the waste is. If 4% of my budget is labor and administration and 96% material or products, but I am losing tons of money on my material and products I need to change the composition of the 4%. Culture is a thing. If no one is in the office to direct spending, I assume it doesn't happen.
Government employees can argue that they have been misled, poorly lead, and even lied to by our elected officials of both parties. Granted. Join the crowd. But we are still where we are. The end game of massive government debt isn't pretty, and no one is going to bail us out. So, we can try to turn this stupidity around in some way, or we can ride this over the cliff and find out what rock we land on at the bottom.

You need to go up a level or three to the top. The purse strings of this country are controlled by Congress. I'd be significantly more inclined to agree with your POV if fraud were the primary problem.

People keep comparing the govt to private industry. That is woefully inaccurate for a billion different reasons, but one of the biggest reasons is that Congress is in control of the money AND how that money flows. I agree that culture is a thing, so are the laws that bind the worker bees.

I can agree Congress has failed. But we can't vote them in or out like we can a President. And if the legislative branch has failed miserably at their job, do we expect the other two branches to fold up their responsibilities and go along? Maybe this will spar congress on to do better. But again, we are not on a sustainable path. Tell me where this ends if we continue spending two trillion more than we take in every year. If people or groups want this level of spending to continue than they need to justify it and get the taxes passed to pay for it. Not sit and try and justify themselves and their position and claim it's other people's fault or nothing can be done about it.
I'm happy that someone is doing something to try and address this debt. I'm sorry if you get cut unjustifiably in the process or a disabled person lives a harder life because they don't have a cushy government job. If that is to political or I am being "mean" ban me for life. Whatever. But as someone that has worked all my life and paid taxes and tried to do the right thing, this attitude of government employees is just infuriating and galling. I know I know Fox News, higher ups, Congress, this wonderful person will have a disrupted life, blah blah blah. I just know that when the bubble bursts it will be your kids future as well as my kids that is going to be ruined. I hope the work / life balance you experienced in life was worth it.

"Do something" is doing some incredibly heavy lifting. I've already pointed this out once in this thread, but if we take this admin at their word and their estimations of their policy impacts, we are talking about saving 1.5 trillion over 10 years. They are also proposing tax cuts that will add 3.5 trillion over 10 years. That's a 2 trillion deficit over the next 10 years just from these two pieces. And we all know the impacts will likely be closer to what they were/are. Yes, every year we aren't at 3 pct GDP, the last cuts contribute to the yearly deficits now.

And no one is forcing Congress to throw more money at the inefficiencies. Maybe take all their pay as a staring point...house, senate, executive, all of it. They are the ones throwing money into the fire they have found acceptable all this time.

 

[MAC_32]

A general comment - If in your career you’ve self-admittedly been fired twice “for cause” and another because the “boss didn’t like me”, maybe back off on opinions on how any management, government or otherwise, should behave, particularly when it’s thinly veiled political commentary.

I get your point, but I'll offer a counter to think about.

I deserved to get canned from my first job. It was a F100 company, I was just a number, and I worked like it. While their reasons were flawed there's good reason they were looking in the first place. The second one was a much flimsier case (it wasn't for cause tbf), but with the advantage of hindsight, it was never going to work anyway. I consider what they did a favor. #3? That one was all boss man. He did what he did, accept a demotion or be fired, thinking I'd refuse the demotion, but my plans were bigger than him. I rode out his nonsense then watched him resign when his stupid ideas didn't work then took his job and led to where I am now.

I share that because I think it takes balls to be unnecessarily vulnerable and admit where you've failed before. In order to learn from one's mistakes you have to first make them.

 

[the moops]

I can agree Congress has failed. But we can't vote them in or out like we can a President.

Of course we can. Every 2 years we could elect a congress that is what we want it to be, yet we all continue to vote for the same old thing

 

[SFBayDuck]

A general comment - If in your career you’ve self-admittedly been fired twice “for cause” and another because the “boss didn’t like me”, maybe back off on opinions on how any management, government or otherwise, should behave, particularly when it’s thinly veiled political commentary.

I get your point, but I'll offer a counter to think about.

I deserved to get canned from my first job. It was a F100 company, I was just a number, and I worked like it. While their reasons were flawed there's good reason they were looking in the first place. The second one was a much flimsier case (it wasn't for cause tbf), but with the advantage of hindsight, it was never going to work anyway. I consider what they did a favor. #3? That one was all boss man. He did what he did, accept a demotion or be fired, thinking I'd refuse the demotion, but my plans were bigger than him. I rode out his nonsense then watched him resign when his stupid ideas didn't work then took his job and led to where I am now.

I share that because I think it takes balls to be unnecessarily vulnerable and admit where you've failed before. In order to learn from one's mistakes you have to first make them.

Appreciate the thoughtful viewpoint, thank you for sharing.

I’ve spent 30 years in sales. You don’t make your numbers, get fired. You’re behind your numbers your first year, you know what could come so you look for an alternative.

Doesn’t mean I haven’t seen good people get let go. Watched a girl come back from Mat leave and get put on PIP and let go within two months. It’s the game in the private sector.

Public sector has always played by different rules, as they should because the purpose isn’t to maximize shareholder value, but to maximize societal value. Or, maybe it isn’t.

 

[fatness]

I have been fired 3 times in my life, two for cause, one because the boss did not like me. No one ever gave a flipping flip. People get fired every day, get up and move on.

In November my company lost a job that would have increased our yearly revenue by 15% because I could not get sufficient manpower on a job site for a week, despite being given only two days to do so. That was because the job that had been delayed three weeks because of permitting problems in the city office. The plan reviewer had ignored / blocked / not seen the relevant email sent from the general contractor with the information needed to give final approval so the job could continue to go forward, despite multiple calls and meetings with said general contractor. If it had been addressed even within a week I wouldn't have been obligated to a different customer and could have gotten the first stage of the job done, thereby keeping the job. I didn't get any sympathy from the plan reviewer or an apology on the poor performance he displayed. Now I will grant you that was a city and not a U.S. Government employee, but the disregard for the public welfare a lot of government employees have displayed over the years is coming home to roost.

I'm sorry for your bad work experiences and maybe you're right to still be angry about it. That anger is not a good reason for wanting other people to lose their jobs.
/not sarcasm

 

[Ilov80s]

I think it’s pretty reasonable for any person private or public to complain when a 21 year old with no experience in their field recommends them for termination because their AI model said so. That might be the future the whole world is heading towards but it’s a tough pill to swallow.

 

[djmich]

A general comment - If in your career you’ve self-admittedly been fired twice “for cause” and another because the “boss didn’t like me”, maybe back off on opinions on how any management, government or otherwise, should behave, particularly when it’s thinly veiled political commentary.

I get your point, but I'll offer a counter to think about.

I deserved to get canned from my first job. It was a F100 company, I was just a number, and I worked like it. While their reasons were flawed there's good reason they were looking in the first place. The second one was a much flimsier case (it wasn't for cause tbf), but with the advantage of hindsight, it was never going to work anyway. I consider what they did a favor. #3? That one was all boss man. He did what he did, accept a demotion or be fired, thinking I'd refuse the demotion, but my plans were bigger than him. I rode out his nonsense then watched him resign when his stupid ideas didn't work then took his job and led to where I am now.

I share that because I think it takes balls to be unnecessarily vulnerable and admit where you've failed before. In order to learn from one's mistakes you have to first make them.

Public sector has always played by different rules, as they should because the purpose isn’t to maximize shareholder value, but to maximize societal value. Or, maybe it isn’t.

Eh. Maybe that’s one reason why we’re $35 trillion in debt, which doesn’t seem like a great thing for our society.

Government has a job, we’re the shareholders, if they’re not doing it efficiently and effectively then the shareholders change the CEO, who hopefully makes the right changes.

 

[FarFromHome]

One of favorite times of year is when the guidance was to spend at will to get ledger to zero so that funding isn't taken for the following year. That's when each federal supply closet has enough staples to supply the planet and every office has a new chair. Ha ha

 

[glvsav37]

I think it’s pretty reasonable for any person private or public to complain when a 21 year old with no experience in their field recommends them for termination because their AI model said so. That might be the future the whole world is heading towards but it’s a tough pill to swallow.

Everyone has a right to complain, but going back to the OP, the outcry for this issue is magnified b/c of who it is. 21 year olds have been writing software for years that are prob used far more then we think for decisions.

And you are right, AI and prediction molding has been around in other areas for years...take insurance for example. Millions of homeowners are w/o insurance or paying higher premiums b/c AI algorithms say they are in high risk areas. I was dropped years ago for reasons "reducing our capacity" and within a year and a 1/2 Hurricane Sandy wiped out most of Long Island. Now AI wast around then like it is now, but somewhere, some model predicted a catastrophic event.

On the flip side, AI is also used for good. I worked with a company using AI to identify underserved and poor areas of the country and direct additional health care resources for certain common ailments based on their AI reporting for that population.

 

[Don Quixote]

I have been fired 3 times in my life, two for cause, one because the boss did not like me. No one ever gave a flipping flip. People get fired every day, get up and move on.

Now imagine you are one of the many disabled employees. Would you think finding a job is so easy?

---

Federal employees with disabilities are worried and scared about gutting of workforce​

One of the largest employers of people with disabilities in this country is the federal government.

I would think a significant chunk of that are disabled veterans but that's just a guess. Anyone know?

There are a lot of disabled veterans. There are a lot of veterans all over the workforce, given the hiring preferences to veterans. I was reading an article yesterday about firing of people on probation from Department of Veterans Affairs, which included a number of disabled veterans. I was just trying to find what I was reading then, but here’s one example.

 

[-OZ-]

Eh. Maybe that’s one reason why we’re $35 trillion in debt, which doesn’t seem like a great thing for our society.

With just under 2 million federal employees, with an average total compensation under $150k, that’s $300 billion. So sure, it’s a reason. Of course the question should be of value, which can be hard to determine.

 

[Max Power]

One of favorite times of year is when the guidance was to spend at will to get ledger to zero so that funding isn't taken for the following year. That's when each federal supply closet has enough staples to supply the planet and every office has a new chair. Ha ha

It was about 7 or 8 year ago now, but we spent our last 40k on "anti fatigue" mats, so employees could stand at their desks and work if they wanted to. We purchased like 200 of these things. People never really used them because they weren't easy to move and you couldn't put your chair on top of them either. It was a case of either stand all day or sit all day. Now all of them are lining a hallway we never use. Much success!

 

[-OZ-]

One of favorite times of year is when the guidance was to spend at will to get ledger to zero so that funding isn't taken for the following year. That's when each federal supply closet has enough staples to supply the planet and every office has a new chair. Ha ha

It was about 7 or 8 year ago now, but we spent our last 40k on "anti fatigue" mats, so employees could stand at their desks and work if they wanted to. We purchased like 200 of these things. People never really used them because they weren't easy to move and you couldn't put your chair on top of them either. It was a case of either stand all day or sit all day. Now all of them are lining a hallway we never use. Much success!

I’m one of probably 4 people in my office that actually use both the stand up desk and the mat (I bought my own standing desk and mat for home too). But yeah, overall these things were a waste. They should make people who don’t use them pay for them.

 

[Max Power]

One of favorite times of year is when the guidance was to spend at will to get ledger to zero so that funding isn't taken for the following year. That's when each federal supply closet has enough staples to supply the planet and every office has a new chair. Ha ha

It was about 7 or 8 year ago now, but we spent our last 40k on "anti fatigue" mats, so employees could stand at their desks and work if they wanted to. We purchased like 200 of these things. People never really used them because they weren't easy to move and you couldn't put your chair on top of them either. It was a case of either stand all day or sit all day. Now all of them are lining a hallway we never use. Much success!

I’m one of probably 4 people in my office that actually use both the stand up desk and the mat (I bought my own standing desk and mat for home too). But yeah, overall these things were a waste. They should make people who don’t use them pay for them.

I used mine all the time when I was working on the watchfloor. It was easier to stand since I had to move around a lot then as well. Now I'm in my corner and sitting 98% of the time I'm at my desk.

 

[Capella]

I have info I do not feel comfortable sharing. Maybe at some point but stuff got real and waiting for actual direction and or fallout

Like about a specific agency, overall, what we looking at here

 

[ChiefD]

The callousness of what is happening here is sickening. I don't care what side of the aisle you are on.

If anyone out there is ok with how this is going down so far you need to look in the mirror.

 

[fruity pebbles]

Now Elon is talking about sending out $5000 checks to each household from his Doge savings. Seems like a gimmick to get people to back this.

 

[FarFromHome]

Now Elon is talking about sending out $5000 checks to each household from his Doge savings. Seems like a gimmick to get people to back this.

Maybe, but isn't it technically our money though?

 

[Don Quixote]

STOP WITH THE POLITICS!

 

[ChicoCat]

Now Elon is talking about sending out $5000 checks to each household from his Doge savings. Seems like a gimmick to get people to back this.

Maybe I'm just a simple country boy, you might say a cockeyed optimist who is interested in this high-stakes game of world diplomacy and international intrigue, but I fully expect to get a tax refund or tax reduction from this. Anything less than giving the money back to the people isn't fighting government waste...it's just allocating resources to another political agenda/narrative.

​

 

[AAABatteries]

Now Elon is talking about sending out $5000 checks to each household from his Doge savings. Seems like a gimmick to get people to back this.

Maybe I'm just a simple country boy, you might say a cockeyed optimist who is interested in this high-stakes game of world diplomacy and international intrigue, but I fully expect to get a tax refund or tax reduction from this. Anything less than giving the money back to the people isn't fighting government waste...it's just allocating resources to another political agenda/narrative.

Billy Mumphrey?

 

[Joe Schmo]

1

Now Elon is talking about sending out $5000 checks to each household from his Doge savings. Seems like a gimmick to get people to back this.

Could be, Mardi Gras is coming up and people do like shiny baubles thrown at them.

 

[fruity pebbles]

Now Elon is talking about sending out $5000 checks to each household from his Doge savings. Seems like a gimmick to get people to back this.

Maybe, but isn't it technically our money though?

Definitely but the question asked of him was about treating this like a dividend check from a company saving money. Fair enough but we are a company running a huge in the red. No company losing money is giving shareholders a dividend and thus losing more.

 

[dgreen]

STOP WITH THE POLITICS!

I've accepted that this thread will be shut down at some point. For years, it was just government employees talking about being government employees. Now, it has turned into a thread that regularly crosses into politics, mostly by people who, I assume, aren't government employees and who haven't been in this thread before the last few weeks.

 

[-OZ-]

Now Elon is talking about sending out $5000 checks to each household from his Doge savings. Seems like a gimmick to get people to back this.

Maybe I'm just a simple country boy, you might say a cockeyed optimist who is interested in this high-stakes game of world diplomacy and international intrigue, but I fully expect to get a tax refund or tax reduction from this. Anything less than giving the money back to the people isn't fighting government waste...it's just allocating resources to another political agenda/narrative.

​

I mean, one could use the money to lower the deficit

 

[-OZ-]

Now Elon is talking about sending out $5000 checks to each household from his Doge savings. Seems like a gimmick to get people to back this.

Maybe, but isn't it technically our money though?

Definitely but the question asked of him was about treating this like a dividend check from a company saving money. Fair enough but we are a company running a huge in the red. No company losing money is giving shareholders a dividend and thus losing more.

Right. I mean usually, money saved in a company running constant debts either goes towards that debt or investing in the company for future growth. Either one seems reasonable

 

[BassNBrew]

STOP WITH THE POLITICS!

I've accepted that this thread will be shut down at some point. For years, it was just government employees talking about being government employees. Now, it has turned into a thread that regularly crosses into politics, mostly by people who, I assume, aren't government employees and who haven't been in this thread before the last few weeks.

I haven't, the Ukraine/Russia thread has lasted for years.

Pretty simple, follow the rules the host has asked for in his house. If you can't do that, please don't be selfish and get this thread closed for the rest of us.

 

[ghostguy123]

Now Elon is talking about sending out $5000 checks to each household from his Doge savings. Seems like a gimmick to get people to back this.

I don't think he cares if anyone "backs" anything. Plus, he has no power to make any sort of decision like that

 

[ghostguy123]

Now Elon is talking about sending out $5000 checks to each household from his Doge savings. Seems like a gimmick to get people to back this.

Maybe I'm just a simple country boy, you might say a cockeyed optimist who is interested in this high-stakes game of world diplomacy and international intrigue, but I fully expect to get a tax refund or tax reduction from this. Anything less than giving the money back to the people isn't fighting government waste...it's just allocating resources to another political agenda/narrative.

​

I don't expect to get anything from this honestly. Maybe in the long run when things are more balanced and they can lower taxes or whatever.
Just giving all those "savings" out to us means they only solved half the problem.

 

[Riffraff]

Pretty simple, follow the rules the host has asked for in his house. If you can't do that, please don't be selfish and get this thread closed for the rest of us.

Ban hammer the offenders, not the thread.

 

[Desert_Power]

If you get promoted to a management position you become probationary

Some people were contractors and recently switched to government employee

Some are just new hires

it would be so sad to see someone promoted to management after putting in 15+ years as an individual contributor only to get canned because of this purge.

That’s a different kind of probationary status. Not cutting it during that probationary period would just lead to a move back down to the prior grade and no management duties. Those people have the same employment protections as anyone else with 1+ year of government employment.

That's good to hear. Hope it stays that way and there aren't good people caught up in the meat grinder.

Everything I am reading says that this probationary status that DOGE is targeting also includes (or at least can include) longtime civil service workers who move to a different agency or job.

100% confirmed that they are. Happened to someone at my wife’s department/agency. Worked there for 15 years. Did not switch department/agency, but switched roles from a lawyer to a non-lawyer role last year. He was considered on probation. He was fired.

Insane

 

[Orange&Blue]

Now Elon is talking about sending out $5000 checks to each household from his Doge savings. Seems like a gimmick to get people to back this.

He hasn't saved anywhere close to ~$655B. Isn't it more like $7B - $8B? We could send everyone 50 bucks.

It is $8.4B: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/doge-wall-of-receipts-shows-errors-tallying-billions-in-savings/

So about $63 for each household.

McDonald's here we come!!

 

[Instinctive]

Now Elon is talking about sending out $5000 checks to each household from his Doge savings. Seems like a gimmick to get people to back this.

He hasn't saved anywhere close to ~$655B. Isn't it more like $7B - $8B? We could send everyone 50 bucks.

It is $8.4B: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/doge-wall-of-receipts-shows-errors-tallying-billions-in-savings/

So about $63 for each household.

McDonald's here we come!!

We could buy eggs for days! DAYS!!!

 

[Alex P Keaton]

Please stop the politics stuff
This thread has important info in it.