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I've become even more skeptical of "the government needs more money, think of the children" after learning a bit more about how the sausage is made in The Box (

by mentat 11y ago

I've become even more skeptical of "the government needs more money, think of the children" after learning a bit more about how the sausage is made in The Box (about containerization). Subsidies and the games that go around them create a world that incents gaming the government and regulatory capture. If you think $59 billon wouldn't attract more sharks, you're really not paying attention.

55555 11y ago
Everyone in my family except me works for the government, and most of my friends do as well (I was born and raised in DC). Lots of them (the friends) are contractors who work from home, smoking weed all day, literally working 30 minutes per nine hours of billable time. I have friends who were hired (and paid six-figures) but not even given any work for their first year and a half. Everyone constantly talks about how easy their jobs are. My sister works in a Diblert-esque office where nobody actually knows what their role is or what specifically they are supposed to be doing. My brother got his job through nepotism. Government lives in an alternate reality without the pressures and incentives of free market competition. Ninety-nine percent of its revenues come, at the end of the day, from people robbed at gunpoint (try not paying your taxes and then refusing to go to be locked in a cage). It doesn't operate at all similarly to how small businesses operate. And no, I don't have a better idea. My point is that I'm all for people paying less tax because I think there's a decent probability that that's literally more beneficial than paying more. The government is like a fat pig. Giving it more food doesn't help. Giving it less (to a point) forces it to operate more efficiently.
- jinushaun 11y ago
  You give examples of contractors you personally know that rob the government and then go on to say the govt steals money from its people and wastes it. You say the govt is a fat pig that needs less money to operate more efficiently, but fail to see that means your friends will be out of a job if that were true. Seems like every time there is a story about govt waste, there is a greedy private company that was contracted to do the work. They charge rates only the govt can stomach to pay, because their choices are limited to a small number of approved companies in the procurement process. Who's fault is that? I've lived in DC too and have friends that work in and around the government. Yes, it is inefficient and bureaucratic. Yes, the work culture is Office Space. Everyone wants the govt to save money, but no one wants to vote themselves into unemployment.
  - 55555 11y ago
    > You say the govt is a fat pig that needs less money to operate more efficiently, but fail to see that means your friends will be out of a job if that were true. I don't fail to see that at all. It would be better if some of the people I used as examples were out of work, and I am all for that, even though I personally would be worse off for it. I'm also a supporter of totally Open Borders... I'm not trying to benefit from unfair systems.
  - innocentoldguy 11y ago
    I worked for the Federal government for a number of years, and those employees are not stealing anything. It is how the government works. It is the most wasteful, incompetent organization I have ever had the misfortune of working for. I too fully support anything companies and people can do, within the law, to avoid paying taxes because the Federal government is capable of living on much, much less. They just refuse to do it.
- dmm 11y ago
  Non-defense discretionary, the part of the federal budget most of those people are probably being paid out of, is about 17% of the federal budget. The rest of the budget is SS, healthcare, defense, interest. Lazy govt workers are a tiny portion of the federal budget.

by mentat 11y ago

55555 11y ago

Everyone in my family except me works for the government, and most of my friends do as well (I was born and raised in DC). Lots of them (the friends) are contractors who work from home, smoking weed all day, literally working 30 minutes per nine hours of billable time. I have friends who were hired (and paid six-figures) but not even given any work for their first year and a half. Everyone constantly talks about how easy their jobs are. My sister works in a Diblert-esque office where nobody actually knows what their role is or what specifically they are supposed to be doing. My brother got his job through nepotism. Government lives in an alternate reality without the pressures and incentives of free market competition. Ninety-nine percent of its revenues come, at the end of the day, from people robbed at gunpoint (try not paying your taxes and then refusing to go to be locked in a cage). It doesn't operate at all similarly to how small businesses operate. And no, I don't have a better idea. My point is that I'm all for people paying less tax because I think there's a decent probability that that's literally more beneficial than paying more. The government is like a fat pig. Giving it more food doesn't help. Giving it less (to a point) forces it to operate more efficiently.

jinushaun 11y ago
You give examples of contractors you personally know that rob the government and then go on to say the govt steals money from its people and wastes it. You say the govt is a fat pig that needs less money to operate more efficiently, but fail to see that means your friends will be out of a job if that were true. Seems like every time there is a story about govt waste, there is a greedy private company that was contracted to do the work. They charge rates only the govt can stomach to pay, because their choices are limited to a small number of approved companies in the procurement process. Who's fault is that? I've lived in DC too and have friends that work in and around the government. Yes, it is inefficient and bureaucratic. Yes, the work culture is Office Space. Everyone wants the govt to save money, but no one wants to vote themselves into unemployment.
- 55555 11y ago
  > You say the govt is a fat pig that needs less money to operate more efficiently, but fail to see that means your friends will be out of a job if that were true. I don't fail to see that at all. It would be better if some of the people I used as examples were out of work, and I am all for that, even though I personally would be worse off for it. I'm also a supporter of totally Open Borders... I'm not trying to benefit from unfair systems.
- innocentoldguy 11y ago
  I worked for the Federal government for a number of years, and those employees are not stealing anything. It is how the government works. It is the most wasteful, incompetent organization I have ever had the misfortune of working for. I too fully support anything companies and people can do, within the law, to avoid paying taxes because the Federal government is capable of living on much, much less. They just refuse to do it.
dmm 11y ago
Non-defense discretionary, the part of the federal budget most of those people are probably being paid out of, is about 17% of the federal budget. The rest of the budget is SS, healthcare, defense, interest. Lazy govt workers are a tiny portion of the federal budget.