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I'd argue the difference between private companies and government is that in government that spending is public. Spend a few mil on something of marginal utili

I'd argue the difference between private companies and government is that in government that spending is public. Spend a few mil on something of marginal utility, politicaly controversial, or funding a study for something that seems obvious? Congratulations! Fox News found it on USASpending.gov (maybe not now that 18F is dead), and is drumming up outrage. Now your fielding phone calls from senators who are looking to grandstand by reducing your budget. Waste a few million on a Salesforce implementation that never works, never does what it promised and never gains adoption and is finally quietly abandoned? Doesn't even make the Shareholder meeting and the exec in question gets even more influence for his ability to lead large projects.

trainsarebetter 2y ago
In theory I guess, but hasn’t all this gov spending essentially been hidden? If doge finding are true? (And in which now I guess it is public)
- Volundr 2y ago
  Honestly it's hard to guess what your talking about here. As far as things the administration has used as examples they are pretty much all incorrect (e.x. condoms for Hamas) or wildly distorted so I wouldn't call it a win for transparency, or revealing something "essentially hidden". If your talking things like their "org chart"* maybe, sort of. There's nothing there that wasn't already available pretty easily via OPM, but one could argue it's a nicer interface. To the extent that it's actually revealed anything to anyone is argue that it has more to do with it being the trending news so people actually bother to look, rather than it being "hidden" before. https://doge.gov/workforce?orgId=69ee18bc-9ac8-467e-84b0-106601b01b90 https://doge.gov/workforce?orgId=69ee18bc-9ac8-467e-84b0-106...
- troupo 2y ago
  Almost nothing DOGE has found is true, or as bad as DOGE implies
- jghn 2y ago
  One could argue that things were *more* transparent pre-DOGE. Just because people didn't know where to look doesn't mean the information didn't exist.
- danans 2y ago
  > In theory I guess, but hasn’t all this gov spending essentially been hidden? No, it was all publicly debated and passed by Congress, and openly available for anyone to see. It just never served anyone's political agenda to nitpick and distort and publicize it until the current Administration.

trainsarebetter 2y ago

In theory I guess, but hasn’t all this gov spending essentially been hidden? If doge finding are true? (And in which now I guess it is public)

Volundr 2y ago
Honestly it's hard to guess what your talking about here. As far as things the administration has used as examples they are pretty much all incorrect (e.x. condoms for Hamas) or wildly distorted so I wouldn't call it a win for transparency, or revealing something "essentially hidden". If your talking things like their "org chart"* maybe, sort of. There's nothing there that wasn't already available pretty easily via OPM, but one could argue it's a nicer interface. To the extent that it's actually revealed anything to anyone is argue that it has more to do with it being the trending news so people actually bother to look, rather than it being "hidden" before. https://doge.gov/workforce?orgId=69ee18bc-9ac8-467e-84b0-106601b01b90 https://doge.gov/workforce?orgId=69ee18bc-9ac8-467e-84b0-106...
troupo 2y ago
Almost nothing DOGE has found is true, or as bad as DOGE implies
jghn 2y ago
One could argue that things were *more* transparent pre-DOGE. Just because people didn't know where to look doesn't mean the information didn't exist.
danans 2y ago
> In theory I guess, but hasn’t all this gov spending essentially been hidden? No, it was all publicly debated and passed by Congress, and openly available for anyone to see. It just never served anyone's political agenda to nitpick and distort and publicize it until the current Administration.