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Not that many people who work directly for the government work for market rates. Cabinet members for instance make about $200,000 - which is not comparable to

by phillmv 11y ago

Not that many people who work directly for the government work for market rates. Cabinet members for instance make about $200,000 - which is not comparable to executive salaries in 2015.

logfromblammo 11y ago
They are also "paid" in name recognition and political access, and those retain some value after that person has left the office. Furthermore, the base salary does not include the value of various benefits available to the government employee, which varies wildly by the office to be filled. These often include immunity from prosecution, defined benefit pensions, service discounts, medical benefits, protections against arbitrary dismissal, and others. Even so, those barely obfuscated benefits are probably not nearly enough to match the usual differential between a competitive market rate and the government pay scales. Just a few years ago, I was asked by an Army officer to consider a job with the government. She said, "The government needs good programmers." As I politely disengaged, I thought silently to myself, "Yes, well, that's because the government only pays for awful to mediocre programmers." Unlike some other positions in the bureaucracy that may be indirectly monetized, the only truly remunerative route I see on this proposed team is to work in it for a few years, writing obscure arcana into the code, then quit to become a consultant in working around the quirks in the very same code you just wrote. I don't know anyone who works as a bureaucrat who does it out of a sense of patriotism.
- jkestner 11y ago
  Likewise, you could say that these engineers are "paid" in recognition/agency (from the President) and meaningful work. Yes, it doesn't need to be mutually exclusive with market pay, but if they're attracting great programmers now, I'd say the market is working.
- chernevik 11y ago
  Jack Lew, currently Treasury Secretary, made millions at NYU and Citibank, chiefly because he was politically connected. He's a reasonably smart guy, but hasn't show the anything the capability needed to earn that sort of change strictly on his own personal productivity. http://www.newrepublic.com/article/112548/jack-lew-confirmed-treasury-secretary-democrats-gave-him-pass http://www.newrepublic.com/article/112548/jack-lew-confirmed... Anybody sticking around DC for any serious period of time will find similar ways of being compensated, with corresponding effects on the quality of the work they do. The USDS isn't about changing government. It's about expanding Democratic networks into new channels of information power and government largesse.

by phillmv 11y ago

Not that many people who work directly for the government work for market rates. Cabinet members for instance make about $200,000 - which is not comparable to executive salaries in 2015.

logfromblammo 11y ago

They are also "paid" in name recognition and political access, and those retain some value after that person has left the office. Furthermore, the base salary does not include the value of various benefits available to the government employee, which varies wildly by the office to be filled. These often include immunity from prosecution, defined benefit pensions, service discounts, medical benefits, protections against arbitrary dismissal, and others. Even so, those barely obfuscated benefits are probably not nearly enough to match the usual differential between a competitive market rate and the government pay scales. Just a few years ago, I was asked by an Army officer to consider a job with the government. She said, "The government needs good programmers." As I politely disengaged, I thought silently to myself, "Yes, well, that's because the government only pays for awful to mediocre programmers." Unlike some other positions in the bureaucracy that may be indirectly monetized, the only truly remunerative route I see on this proposed team is to work in it for a few years, writing obscure arcana into the code, then quit to become a consultant in working around the quirks in the very same code you just wrote. I don't know anyone who works as a bureaucrat who does it out of a sense of patriotism.

jkestner 11y ago
Likewise, you could say that these engineers are "paid" in recognition/agency (from the President) and meaningful work. Yes, it doesn't need to be mutually exclusive with market pay, but if they're attracting great programmers now, I'd say the market is working.
chernevik 11y ago
Jack Lew, currently Treasury Secretary, made millions at NYU and Citibank, chiefly because he was politically connected. He's a reasonably smart guy, but hasn't show the anything the capability needed to earn that sort of change strictly on his own personal productivity. http://www.newrepublic.com/article/112548/jack-lew-confirmed-treasury-secretary-democrats-gave-him-pass http://www.newrepublic.com/article/112548/jack-lew-confirmed... Anybody sticking around DC for any serious period of time will find similar ways of being compensated, with corresponding effects on the quality of the work they do. The USDS isn't about changing government. It's about expanding Democratic networks into new channels of information power and government largesse.