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In solidarity with @Aloha Hoosier.
My experience is with the DoD and some with State (Security Cooperation Offices in Embassies - usually staffed with mostly DoD, but some State as well). You'd be hard pressed to find civilians more serious, hardworking and competent in any organization. This why it actually irritates me greatly when people who don't even know a government worker has the attitude that they're all worthless and what they do is worthless. Those people have multiplied in the past few months. Frankly, they're ignorant.

Aloha, rightly or wrongly, would bet the great majority of Americans think private enterprise with an eye to maximizing profits is far more efficient than government.

In addition, government workers are seen as being lazy and incompetent.

As a consequence, any politician waging a campaign to eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse from government will get only cheers of gratitude from voters.

On this subject, the pol who in recent years, before DOGE, has to be the champion of anti waste, fraud, and abuse is Kentucky's U.S. Senator Rand Paul with his annual Festivus Award. Within the report my favorite example was a 12 million dollar grant for a pickleball court in Las Vegas. Residents of Vegas were quick to point out Kentucky gets far more assistance from the federal government than does Nevada.

One man's grant for a deserving cause, is another man's example of waste.
 
Aloha, my favorite book about the so-called Reagan revolution was written by his Office of the Budget Director David Stockman who wrote The Triumph of Politics: Why the Reagan Revolution Failed.

My bottom line, Reagan spoke effectively about reinventing government, but in the final analysis caved into political realities.
That’s a good book. The disappointment in Stockman’s writing was palpable.

Stockman is a Michigan guy who did a nice job. Unlike Gary Peters who was a useless pile of shit who barely showed up. I never voted for that guy.
 
Let's keep some perspective. The Federal government spends 7 trillion dollars and DOGE might end up cutting 200 billion. Nobody is destroying government.
I’d bet that spending is more every year of President Trump’s term and that deficits and debt increase every year too. I don’t want that, but I think that’s going to happen. DOGE’s untargeted and thoughtless cuts will also result in embarrassing mission failures. Bet on it.
 
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With dems at 21% approval I would say we certainly are winning as dems triple down on very unpopular stances. I love it
 
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Aloha, rightly or wrongly, would bet the great majority of Americans think private enterprise with an eye to maximizing profits is far more efficient than government.

In addition, government workers are seen as being lazy and incompetent.

As a consequence, any politician waging a campaign to eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse from government will get only cheers of gratitude from voters.

On this subject, the pol who in recent years, before DOGE, has to be the champion of anti waste, fraud, and abuse is Kentucky's U.S. Senator Rand Paul with his annual Festivus Award. Within the report my favorite example was a 12 million dollar grant for a pickleball court in Las Vegas. Residents of Vegas were quick to point out Kentucky gets far more assistance from the federal government than does Nevada.

One man's grant for a deserving cause, is another man's example of waste.
So true, hoot.

Government has never caused me an ounce of trouble with my business. In fact, government has generally been very supportive, welcoming, and accommodating in helping us bring projects to the areas they oversee.

Lawyers on the other hand have been the single biggest impediment to getting business done. The delays, waste, and unnecessary complications caused by them is mind-boggling. There are lots of awesome lawyers (just like there are lots of awesome government employees), but the bad ones make doing business incredibly difficult (just like bad government ones can).

I've found that is the case in most organizations (whether they be public, private, for-profit, or non-profit). Good organizations work to retain the standouts and get rid of the ineffective and counterproductive employees. That's my complaint with DOGE. There is very little attempt to understand any of that.
 
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So true, hoot.

Government has never caused me an ounce of trouble with my business. In fact, government has generally been very supportive, welcoming, and accommodating in helping us bring projects to the areas they oversee.

Lawyers on the other hand have been the single biggest impediment to getting business done. The delays, waste, and unnecessary complications caused by them is mind-boggling. There are lots of awesome lawyers (just like there are lots of awesome government employees), but the bad ones make doing business incredibly difficult (just like bad government ones can).

I've found that is the case in most organizations (whether they be public, private, for-profit, or non-profit). Good organizations work to retain the standouts and get rid of the ineffective and counterproductive employees. That's my complaint with DOGE. There is very little attempt to understand any of that.
Gov regulations are largely why business went overseas. Not lawyers. Ask your fellow Californians about whether housing and the rest is a gov regs issue or lawyer issue. Calif is the most over regulated state in the country - by a wide margin. To the point it’s comic fodder. Lawyers you can control and fire. Gov forget it

 
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Gov regulations are largely why business went overseas. Not lawyers. Ask your fellow Californians about whether housing and the rest is a gov regs issue or lawyer issue. Calif is the most over regulated state in the country - by a wide margin. To the point it’s comic fodder
I know it bugs you that other people have better experiences with government than you. California government has never caused me any problems with business. Somehow I'm able to navigate the regulations in California without any issue and somehow the state is able to have by far the highest GSP in the country. I'm sure that you're aware that it would be the 5th largest economy in the world if it were its own country. Business is getting in done in California and effective government sets the table for that.

The thing that causes problems for my business is useless lawyers. Thankfully, our legal representation is tremendous and does yeoman's work in straightening out lazy, dimbulb lawyers we have to deal with.
 
I know it bugs you that other people have better experiences with government than you. California government has never caused me any problems with business. Somehow I'm able to navigate the regulations in California without any issue and somehow the state is able to have by far the highest GSP in the country. I'm sure that you're aware that it would be the 5th largest economy in the world if it were its own country. Business is getting in done in California and effective government sets the table for that.

The thing that causes problems for my business is useless lawyers. Thankfully, our legal representation is tremendous and does yeoman's work in straightening out lazy, dimbulb lawyers we have to deal with.
I’m sure you’ve never read guns germs and steel (or based on your posts much of anything) to recognize the incredible advantages calif has compared to other states. And I’m sure you’ve ignored how many businesses and people have left California with much of its population owing to immigrants bc it’s awful for business impossible cost of living etc and I’m sure you’ve ignored univees posts on his extensive experience with countless agencies as well as crazed and others.

Good little wokee you remain with the vapid party line. Shocker coming from holly weird

My experiences were largely helping people get benefits, resolve liens, etc. 🤔😉

 
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I’m sure you’ve never read guns germs and steel (or based on your posts much of anything) to recognize the incredible advantages calif has compared to other states. And I’m sure you’ve ignored how many businesses and people have left California with much of its population owing to immigrants bc it’s awful for business impossible cost of living etc and I’m sure you’ve ignored univees posts on his extensive experience with countless agencies as well as crazed and others.

Good little wokee you remain with the vapid party line. Shocker coming from holly weird

My experiences were largely helping people get benefits, resolve liens, etc. 🤔😉
I know I've struck a nerve when you resort to name-calling. That's typically when it's easy for everyone to see that you're out of logical and coherent arguments.

I'm not ignoring other people's experiences. I'm acknowledging that there are good and bad people in all organizations and noting my own experiences. And I'm noting the fact that California remains the 5th largest economy in the world despite how "impossible" you think it is to do business here. It remains far and away the biggest economy in the U.S. with almost 50% more GSP than Texas despite only having 33% more population. And that GSP has continued to grow. Not sure why that triggers another of those infamous mcm angry screeds, but seems like a you problem.

Good on you for helping people with your legal skills. Odd that helping people made you so miserable in law, but maybe you're one of the good ones I noted.
 
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I know I've struck a nerve when you resort to name-calling. That's typically when it's easy for everyone to see that you're out of logical and coherent arguments.

I'm not ignoring other people's experiences. I'm acknowledging that there are good and bad people in all organizations and noting my own experiences. And I'm noting the fact that California remains the 5th largest economy in the world despite how "impossible" you think it is to do business here. It remains far and away the biggest economy in the U.S. with almost 50% more GSP than Texas despite only having 33% more population. And that GSP has continued to grow. Not sure why that triggers another of those infamous mcm angry screeds, but seems like a you problem.

Good on you for helping people with your legal skills. Odd that helping people made you so miserable in law, but maybe you're one of the good ones I noted.
Oh no sweetheart. You’re the queen of being triggered. That’s why you started with the “I know it bugs you.” I struck a nerve so you lash out. That’s a you tell. But yes needless gov intervention should “bug” all of us. Why the left is so enamored with the nanny state is beyond me. It’s costing calif.

As for your bit on calif’s success I suspect you’re triggered again and that’s why the point of guns germs and steel was lost on you. Or you just don’t understand it. Either way. You. Missed. It. As well as the attached article, and, well, reality
 
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Oh no sweetheart. You’re the queen of being triggered. That’s why you started with the “I know it bugs you.” I struck a nerve so you lash out. That’s a you tell. But yes needless gov intervention should “bug” all of us. Why the left is so enamored with the nanny state is beyond me. It’s costing calif.

As for your bit on calif’s success I suspect you’re triggered again and that’s why the point of guns germs and steel was lost on you. Or you just don’t understand it. Either way. You. Missed. It. As well as the attached article, and, well, reality
Cool story. I'm doing good business. California is doing good business. Maybe you and Missouri will get there one day. Hope so. Maybe you'd be more happy helping people with your lawyer skills again instead of always lashing out erratically at people here.
 
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Maybe you’d do well to look in a mirror honey. Including this thread with your opening. You’re one of the earlier to go personal on this board. Likely bc most everything you believe in is repudiated as being mental. So you’re a very angry and unhappy person. But hey. You’re with your people. Enjoy the next parade
Cool story. I'm doing good business. California is doing good business. Maybe you and Missouri will get there one day. Hope so. Maybe you'd be more happy helping people with your lawyer skills again instead of always lashing out erratically at people here.
 
Maybe you’d do well to look in a mirror honey. Including this thread with your opening. You’re one of the earlier to go personal on this board. Likely bc most everything you believe in is repudiated as being mental. So you’re a very angry and unhappy person. But hey. You’re with your people. Enjoy the next parade
👍 It's 75 and sunny and I'm hanging out with the wife, so things are good. The next parade for us is probably the Santa Monica 4th of July one. It's super cute and our kids love it. Thanks for the well wishes.

I didn't mention you or attack anyone in my original post. I responded to hoot and you couldn't handle it that lawyers cause our business more problems than government, so you had to jump in and then go off with the silly woke stuff. Sorry that you've had bad experiences with government. There is definitely waste and fraud to address in government like there is in any huge organization. Lots of good people working there, too. I'm fortunate to mostly get exposed to those types. Guess I'm just a super lucky guy. 🤷‍♂️
 
👍 It's 75 and sunny and I'm hanging out with the wife, so things are good. The next parade for us is probably the Santa Monica 4th of July one. It's super cute and our kids love it. Thanks for the well wishes.

I didn't mention you or attack anyone in my original post. I responded to hoot and you couldn't handle it that lawyers cause our business more problems than government, so you had to jump in and then go off with the silly woke stuff. Sorry that you've had bad experiences with government. There is definitely waste and fraud to address in government like there is in any huge organization. Lots of good people working there, too. I'm fortunate to mostly get exposed to those types. Guess I'm just a super lucky guy. 🤷‍♂️
Or oblivious

🤷
 
Gov regulations are largely why business went overseas. Not lawyers. Ask your fellow Californians about whether housing and the rest is a gov regs issue or lawyer issue. Calif is the most over regulated state in the country - by a wide margin. To the point it’s comic fodder. Lawyers you can control and fire. Gov forget it
Who writes most of the laws and regs? I'll wager lawyers author 90% .
 
I’d bet that spending is more every year of President Trump’s term and that deficits and debt increase every year too. I don’t want that, but I think that’s going to happen. DOGE’s untargeted and thoughtless cuts will also result in embarrassing mission failures. Bet on it.
Hopefully, the cuts don't result in the failure of NASA being unable to return their astronauts. Maybe a really smart dude who runs a private company would be able to get them back to earth if that happened?

No need to bet on it, Aloha. Embarrassing mission failures happened before DOGE and will continue to happen after DOGE because shit happens in life sometimes and because governments are inefficient.
 
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I’ve dealt with countless agencies. My experience has been they’re awful. And most of the workers half-assed. Night and day difference from law firms I worked
People are people. The bad interactions are the ones you tend to remember. I used to have a job that worked with a bunch of lawyers and color me wholly unimpressed with the majority of them I came in contact with (from a work standpoint) as well.

It is more difficult to remove the turds in the government but people acting like dumbasses aren't in the private sector are flat out lying to themselves.
 
People are people. The bad interactions are the ones you tend to remember. I used to have a job that worked with a bunch of lawyers and color me wholly unimpressed with the majority of them I came in contact with (from a work standpoint) as well.

It is more difficult to remove the turds in the government but people acting like dumbasses aren't in the private sector are flat out lying to themselves.
The bad interactions aren’t the people crazy. It’s the agencies. It’s how long it took to get a settlement letter from cms. How long to even get a response. Why it can take years to get through the disability process. It’s not that complicated. Etc. There’s never urgency.

And my experience with lawyers is the opposite. Work like dogs. Not impressive, many, or exceptionally smart by any means etc, but grinders.
 
The bad interactions aren’t the people crazy. It’s the agencies. It’s how long it took to get a settlement letter from cms. How long to even get a response. Why it can take years to get through the disability process. It’s not that complicated. Etc
Some of that is regulation but some of that is also because we have cut the total number of government employees while our population has grown. Take disability claims, we have shown how those have skyrocketed over the past 2 decades. Some of that delay is because as a percentage of the US population and as hard number, we have about 600,000 less government employees now than we did in 1980 and that number is going to be several hundred thousand less from there once these DOGE cuts get through. (1980 Pop was 226M and total government employees was 2.9M. In 2024 we had 2.3M employees servicing a Pop of 336M). You think those disability claims are going to go any faster with even less people at places like the SSA?

Which again is what brings me back to the point I have been making. There are certain things you probably want your government to do. Defense, Public Health, big scientific leap type of projects, Transportation safety, etc. We just went and cut those items, which are at historic spending lows, and left untouched the things that are actually driving the deficit.

Your disability claims are going to be the AI telephone hell you encounter whenever you have to deal with a company like ATT. "Tell me about your disability. Oh, you have a special case, press 7. I'm sorry, I don't understand. Would you like to return to the main menu? Oh special case, you will need to press 7." And round and round you go. That is the customer service I get with private industry so I fail to see how it is any worse than dealing with the government. And when you do finally get a person on the phone it is a guy who says his name is "John" but he sounds like Apu from the Simpsons.

We needed to decide what we needed to keep and what was worthwhile and then plan from there. We should have let the directors of these areas cut their own staff. Give them a goal to hit and let them figure out who needs to go. Elon didn't save much money and efficiency and customer service are going to be for shit for awhile because this was botched. Royally fudged up.
 
The bad interactions aren’t the people crazy. It’s the agencies. It’s how long it took to get a settlement letter from cms. How long to even get a response. Why it can take years to get through the disability process. It’s not that complicated. Etc. There’s never urgency.

And my experience with lawyers is the opposite. Work like dogs. Not impressive, many, or exceptionally smart by any means etc, but grinders.
Ones for profit and the other is not. One can and will fail and the other will not (or it takes a lot longer time). Humans adjust to incentives, which is why free markets work the best and why governments should be tiny.
 
Some of that is regulation but some of that is also because we have cut the total number of government employees while our population has grown. Take disability claims, we have shown how those have skyrocketed over the past 2 decades. Some of that delay is because as a percentage of the US population and as hard number, we have about 600,000 less government employees now than we did in 1980 and that number is going to be several hundred thousand less from there once these DOGE cuts get through. (1980 Pop was 226M and total government employees was 2.9M. In 2024 we had 2.3M employees servicing a Pop of 336M). You think those disability claims are going to go any faster with even less people at places like the SSA?

Which again is what brings me back to the point I have been making. There are certain things you probably want your government to do. Defense, Public Health, big scientific leap type of projects, Transportation safety, etc. We just went and cut those items, which are at historic spending lows, and left untouched the things that are actually driving the deficit.

Your disability claims are going to be the AI telephone hell you encounter whenever you have to deal with a company like ATT. "Tell me about your disability. Oh, you have a special case, press 7. I'm sorry, I don't understand. Would you like to return to the main menu? Oh special case, you will need to press 7." And round and round you go. That is the customer service I get with private industry so I fail to see how it is any worse than dealing with the government. And when you do finally get a person on the phone it is a guy who says his name is "John" but he sounds like Apu from the Simpsons.

We needed to decide what we needed to keep and what was worthwhile and then plan from there. We should have let the directors of these areas cut their own staff. Give them a goal to hit and let them figure out who needs to go. Elon didn't save much money and efficiency and customer service are going to be for shit for awhile because this was botched. Royally fudged up.
Agreed in part, bc you’re right, but it is also the difference between gov and private. At a firm they’d say fck we are so far behind we better order pizzas and stay. It’s going to be a late one. We’ll be in on Saturday. Ssa office. No. Martha is on her way to the car at 4:31
 
Ones for profit and the other is not. One can and will fail and the other will not (or it takes a lot longer time). Humans adjust to incentives, which is why free markets work the best and why governments should be tiny.
And one will never know the stress of payroll. Joe Biden. Harris. They don’t know. So they never NEVER know that urgency.
 
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We aren't talking about those two turds though or really any of the political positions. We are talking about your neighbor who goes to do a job they are paid to do just like anyone else.
I understand but you’re also talking to the wrong guy. I’ve generated my income for 22 years with zero security. Zero. No benefits. No vacation. No sick time. No pension. With two child support payments that equate to a massive home and a kid with almost 7 figures in med bills.
 
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Oh and child support is just for mom. For spite. To get ya. YOU still pay all of the kids stuff. Health insurance. Braces. School trip to Europe. Weekends. You still pay all kid expenses. Child support is just your punitive tax

@Joe_Hoopsier im at the lectern son. Get a seat before they’re taken
 
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Hopefully, the cuts don't result in the failure of NASA being unable to return their astronauts. Maybe a really smart dude who runs a private company will be able to get them back to earth if that happened?

No need to bet on it, Aloha. Embarrassing mission failures happened before DOGE and will continue to happen after DOGE because shit happens in life sometimes and because governments are inefficient.
The original plan was for another private company, Boeing, bring them back on their Starliner, but two missions were aborted due to technical issues. NASA then made the decision in July 2024 to have SpaceX do it in August 2024 but that ended up being delayed for issues as well, but SpaceX did it later. Just about every other claim about this was totally politics.
 
And one will never know the stress of payroll. Joe Biden. Harris. They don’t know. So they never NEVER know that urgency.

MM66, talk about payroll stress.

Had salesmen on contract who didn't cash their commission checks until I called them to find out if they had received them. Eventually they did cash them.

Never could understand why.

MM66, do you have a clue?

P.S. Both culprits did have ex-wifes and may have been paying alimony.
 
MM66, talk about payroll stress.

Had salesmen on contract who didn't cash their commission checks until I called them to find out if they had received them. Eventually they did cash them.

Never could understand why.

MM66, do you have a clue?

P.S. Both culprits did have ex-wifes and may have been paying alimony.
Nah that money would have come out first. They didn’t cash em bc they didn’t need em. They were flush from reaping the rewards of your ongoing business acumen
 
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Nah that money would have come out first. They didn’t cash em bc they didn’t need em. They were flush from reaping the rewards of your ongoing business acumen

MM66, your explanation is of course highly plausible :).

The salesmen would say my acumen is proven by the fact I contracted with them. Furthermore, M66 was right about them being flush thanks to having other contracts and not relying just on me.
 
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Oh and child support is just for mom. For spite. To get ya. YOU still pay all of the kids stuff. Health insurance. Braces. School trip to Europe. Weekends. You still pay all kid expenses. Child support is just your punitive tax

@Joe_Hoopsier im at the lectern son. Get a seat before they’re taken

How many in was this?
 
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