Sequestration & Conservation

[noharleyyet]

The nature of special interests is "do not cut my funding" and after all this is not the biggest budget item plus the money we get is used prudently to the last dime.

Bloat and ineffective directives and inefficient (not to say are not hard-working) employees are in every part of the government. I have spent 30 years interacting with the workers and watching the way the funding is applied. Much, much harder to fire someone in government job than in a private company. The focus of the managers is not to create a more efficient department that yields better results but rather to mostly not screw something up that gets you in danger of losing your pension in another few years.

Here is an example. Public schools. Kids are assigned to teachers. How many parents cringed when they saw a known ineffective teacher is asigned to their child for the next school year? What do you do? If you hear of an ineffective dentist, you avoid taking your child there, right? Schools fight tooth and nail if a parent tries to have their child reassigned to a teacher with a reputation of getting better results. Not culling the herd of laggards leads to a weak teaching team where the new members get "trained" in the "correct" way to go about teaching. New techniques are not embraced and the admin is bloated. What is your incentive as a teacher or admin to cut costs? To take a risk and try a new technique? No profit motive. Minimal fear of getting a reward for taking a risk but if you "fit in" you are marking the years until your pension. The system grinds up the motivated team members by this lack of reward for being creative. FIt in and everything will be okay...for everyone but your child, of course.

This plays out over and over. Identifiying the issues is easy but when managers and workers alike are demotivated to be inventive, industrious, and efficient...you only see "miracles" when a non-conforming player emerges that is willing to risk failing and being fired. The incentive is too small. The risk too large.

When is the last time you saw a Post Office worker at the service window sprinting back to get your mail item that required you go to the post office to sign for to pick up? We have a regional retail tire company out in the NW that hustles but every employee benefits when a penny is saved or a penny is made. What is the incentive for the Post Office clerk to hustle? The worker to the left and right will galre and them and tell them they are making everyone else look bad.

Profit motivation without constraint is a brutal system, also. Assign a worker at an insurance company a bonus opportunity of 20% if approved heart transplants fall by 10% and you will see transplants fall.

Remove profit motivation from entire sectors of our society and you get our education system. Ask this, why is college not June of Year One through May of Year 3? No summer breaks...keep those buildings occupied and in use. Students become degreed sooner with almost the same amount of class time and probably average student debt falls 15% since are no longer paying rent for that extra year, etc.

Solve education challenges and you can apply that approach to conservation, too.

My rant is over.

Post more....

 

[Ben Lamb]

Link?

Bloomberg came up with the $83 billion:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-...te-our-83-billion-argument-they-re-wrong.html

Someone disagrees, claims that it's closer to $780 billion:
http://americablog.com/2013/03/big-banks-subsidy-780bn-warren.html

 

[Nemont]

The problem with Sequestration isn't that it cuts government spending, it is that it cuts it in stupid ways. Just like this issue of P-R money and other stupid ways it doesn't really reduce spending.

I don't think there is anyone who really believes we can not cut $83 Billion out of our government but it matters where that money comes from. We are taking it all out of domestic discretionary and defense. We are leaving untouched: Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security which are the biggest drivers of our deficits and debt. Domestic discretionary and defense cuts only means we are using an axe when a scalpel would be better.

$83 Billion is a rounding error in the Medicare and Medicaid budgets.

I don't really get ripping on the Post Office or it's employees, of all things the Federal Government does, establishing the Post Office is in our Constitution. It was viewed as being important enough to enshrine in our founding document without regard to profits.

 

[WV Hunter]

The problem with Sequestration isn't that it cuts government spending, it is that it cuts it in stupid ways. Just like this issue of P-R money and other stupid ways it doesn't really reduce spending.

I don't think there is anyone who really believes we can not cut $83 Billion out of our government but it matters where that money comes from. We are taking it all out of domestic discretionary and defense. We are leaving untouched: Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security which are the biggest drivers of our deficits and debt. Domestic discretionary and defense cuts only means we are using an axe when a scalpel would be better.

$83 Billion is a rounding error in the Medicare and Medicaid budgets.

I don't really get ripping on the Post Office or it's employees, of all things the Federal Government does, establishing the Post Office is in our Constitution. It was viewed as being important enough to enshrine in our founding document without regard to profits.

Good stuff Nemont. I can't really bash the PO. It put a roof over my head and afforded my family some nice stuff and opportunities growing up. My dad has been retired from the Post Office for about 8 years now. My dad worked hard and took pride in what he did. There are people in every field that do the exact opposite.

 

[fowladdict]

Here is an example. Public schools. Kids are assigned to teachers. How many parents cringed when they saw a known ineffective teacher is asigned to their child for the next school year? What do you do? If you hear of an ineffective dentist, you avoid taking your child there, right? Schools fight tooth and nail if a parent tries to have their child reassigned to a teacher with a reputation of getting better results. Not culling the herd of laggards leads to a weak teaching team where the new members get "trained" in the "correct" way to go about teaching. New techniques are not embraced and the admin is bloated. What is your incentive as a teacher or admin to cut costs? To take a risk and try a new technique? No profit motive. Minimal fear of getting a reward for taking a risk but if you "fit in" you are marking the years until your pension. The system grinds up the motivated team members by this lack of reward for being creative. FIt in and everything will be okay...for everyone but your child, of course..

I agree with you here. I remember my junior year in history class I watched every episode of Roots and other "history" movies. The teacher never stood up in front of the class and taught. I dont think I learned anything from him. Come to find outh he retired the year after I graduated.

When is the last time you saw a Post Office worker at the service window sprinting back to get your mail item that required you go to the post office to sign for to pick up? We have a regional retail tire company out in the NW that hustles but every employee benefits when a penny is saved or a penny is made. What is the incentive for the Post Office clerk to hustle? The worker to the left and right will galre and them and tell them they are making everyone else look bad.

Are you talking gov agencies in general? Motivated or not my private sector line of work doesnt run without them.

Ask this, why is college not June of Year One through May of Year 3? No summer breaks...keep those buildings occupied and in use. Students become degreed sooner with almost the same amount of class time and probably average student debt falls 15% since are no longer paying rent for that extra year, etc.

Way to ruin the best 4 years of any young mans life.

 

[1_pointer]

The problem with Sequestration isn't that it cuts government spending, it is that it cuts it in stupid ways. Just like this issue of P-R money and other stupid ways it doesn't really reduce spending.

I don't think there is anyone who really believes we can not cut $83 Billion out of our government but it matters where that money comes from. We are taking it all out of domestic discretionary and defense. We are leaving untouched: Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security which are the biggest drivers of our deficits and debt. Domestic discretionary and defense cuts only means we are using an axe when a scalpel would be better.

$83 Billion is a rounding error in the Medicare and Medicaid budgets.

I don't really get ripping on the Post Office or it's employees, of all things the Federal Government does, establishing the Post Office is in our Constitution. It was viewed as being important enough to enshrine in our founding document without regard to profits.

I agree! It's almost getting tiresome agreeing with all of your posts...

 

[Eric Albus]

If you want anything to run efficiently, turn it over to private industry.... "the best and brightest minds are not working for the Gov't, private industry has hired them away", Ronald Reagan.

 

[Nemont]

I agree! It's almost getting tiresome agreeing with all of your posts...

totally off topic:

Maybe I can write something totally stupid, I am capable of that at times, usually after a few too many beers.

Speaking of beer drinking, Eric Albus tried to kill me the other night attempting to keep up with him.

Took me until Monday to feel good again after DU.

this was me on Sunday

 

[whiskeydog]

I don't really get ripping on the Post Office or it's employees, of all things the Federal Government does, establishing the Post Office is in our Constitution. It was viewed as being important enough to enshrine in our founding document without regard to profits.

Would you support the government taking over BNSF or any of the interstate trucking companies that transport goods from production to store? Would you support getting rid of FedEx and UPS (both profitable whereas post office is not). I throw 95% of my mail in the trash without opening it. Of the items I open, 95% of that goes to the trash can also. The constitutions has been amended 27 times, so while i back the constitution, it does occasionally need change. Email did not exist and mail was delivery by horse. And for those that would pervert my argument to changing the constitution in favor of gun control. Don't go there!

 

[whiskeydog]

totally off topic:

Took me until Monday to feel good again after DU.

this was me on Sunday

so you have a month to get rested up before the walleye banquet!

 

[Nemont]

Would you support the government taking over BNSF or any of the interstate trucking companies that transport goods from production to store? Would you support getting rid of FedEx and UPS (both profitable whereas post office is not). I throw 95% of my mail in the trash without opening it. Of the items I open, 95% of that goes to the trash can also. The constitutions has been amended 27 times, so while i back the constitution, it does occasionally need change. Email did not exist and mail was delivery by horse. And for those that would pervert my argument to changing the constitution in favor of gun control. Don't go there!

Did I say anything like you are suggesting? Are you suggesting the Founder's were wrong in including a post office in the Constitution? The reason that they wanted a post office and the reason it has not been put up for an amendment is because for the 5% of things you keep. The requirement that the Post Office provide service at the same price across the nation is an ideal that helped spread our Representative Republic Ideas across the nation. It still provides a reasonable means of communicating important and necessary documents.

I also never said that it didn't need to change, I said I don't get ripping on Post Employees.



Nemont

 

[Nemont]

so you have a month to get rested up before the walleye banquet!

Nope, Last Saturday night was the Fort Peck Theater Chinese Auction, Which is all you can drink for $15. This Thursday night is the Hospital Foundation dinner. I guess I won't drink at Schmeckfest in Lustre as the Christian school fund raiser doesn't allow drinking.

I should take a vow of sobriety until Blues and Brews in March. The Months of February, March and April are brutal in Glasgow with all the banquets and fund raisers. Seems like one a week for a good three month stretch.

Chamber Banquet, Turkey Banquet, Ice Fishing Derby fund raiser, Radio Dinner, Ducks, Fort Peck Theater, FMDH Foundation, Walleyes, Schmeckfest, and couple of more I can't remember.

Nemont

 

[jryoung]

Ask this, why is college not June of Year One through May of Year 3? No summer breaks...keep those buildings occupied and in use. Students become degreed sooner with almost the same amount of class time and probably average student debt falls 15% since are no longer paying rent for that extra year, etc.

Colleges are open, rent is a sunk cost. You have to live somewhere.
Students use that time to work to pay for school the rest of the year
Faculty us that time to write/research. etc.
Students use that time to study abroad/travel.
I used that time to "live it up" before I started my career, mortgage payments, marriage and parenting.

Not sure what point you were really trying to make with that statement but it sounds like you weren't looking at the intangibles or other than obvious points.

 

[whiskeydog]

Nope, Last Saturday night was the Fort Peck Theater Chinese Auction, Which is all you can drink for $15. This Thursday night is the Hospital Foundation dinner. I guess I won't drink at Schmeckfest in Lustre as the Christian school fund raiser doesn't allow drinking.

I should take a vow of sobriety until Blues and Brews in March. The Months of February, March and April are brutal in Glasgow with all the banquets and fund raisers. Seems like one a week for a good three month stretch.

Chamber Banquet, Turkey Banquet, Ice Fishing Derby fund raiser, Radio Dinner, Ducks, Fort Peck Theater, FMDH Foundation, Walleyes, Schmeckfest, and couple of more I can't remember.

Nemont

my wife is from Froid...we make the annual trip to fort peck with her in-laws to get our years supply of walleye/pike for the freezer. good stuff. walleye banquet in billings was good stuff!

 

[whiskeydog]

Did I say anything like you are suggesting? Are you suggesting the Founder's were wrong in including a post office in the Constitution? The reason that they wanted a post office and the reason it has not been put up for an amendment is because for the 5% of things you keep. The requirement that the Post Office provide service at the same price across the nation is an ideal that helped spread our Representative Republic Ideas across the nation. It still provides a reasonable means of communicating important and necessary documents.

I also never said that it didn't need to change, I said I don't get ripping on Post Employees.



Nemont

no, at that point in our history the founders were not wrong. and no...we should not be ripping PO employees...they at least have a job, pay taxes, and work to support their families, unlike many in this country. however, at this point, the PO needs to change drastically or be privatized. i currently spend 45 cents/month to send my expense report, receipts, and mileage log to my boss (that is the only mail that leaves my house), at some point my company will adapt to 2013 and allow me to scan and email my receipts...yet my taxes will still be paying for the post office.

phones didn't exist when the constitution was written, yet they are a modern form of communication. so why doesn't the government also subsidize our phones so that we all pay the same rate? ...and no, they should not do that either. OBAMAPHONE!

 

[Nemont]

phones didn't exist when the constitution was written, yet they are a modern form of communication. so why doesn't the government also subsidize our phones so that we all pay the same rate? ...and no, they should not do that either. OBAMAPHONE!

A whole lot of stuff that didn't exist back then. The Post office ties us all together, don't believe that, go to Froid and suggest that they close the local post office, or Whitewater or Turner or Two Dot or etc, etc.

Everyone is subsidized in some way, if you drive on the Highway you are subsidized, if your kids go to school you are subsidized, if you eat you are subsidized.

The Post Office does need to change but it really is one of the least of our problems. I worry about the elephants in the budget: Medicare, Medicaid, Defense spending, Social Security and interest on our debt. Those 5 items cost about $2.5 TRILLION a year combined, the Postal service has an operating budget of about $70 Billion. Seems like there is a lot more fat in the big 5 than anywhere else in the budget.

Nemont

 

[1_pointer]

A whole lot of stuff that didn't exist back then. The Post office ties us all together, don't believe that, go to Froid and suggest that they close the local post office, or Whitewater or Turner or Two Dot or etc, etc.

Everyone is subsidized in some way, if you drive on the Highway you are subsidized, if your kids go to school you are subsidized, if you eat you are subsidized.

The Post Office does need to change but it really is one of the least of our problems. I worry about the elephants in the budget: Medicare, Medicaid, Defense spending, Social Security and interest on our debt. Those 5 items cost about $2.5 TRILLION a year combined, the Postal service has an operating budget of about $70 Billion. Seems like there is a lot more fat in the big 5 than anywhere else in the budget. Nemont

There you go again!

I hope someday to meet up with you and supply the 'race fuel'! I'm much slower at that now than when I was enjoying not going to college for 3 months. My liver's still trying to get back at me for those 4 years.

 

[noharleyyet]

Nemont has a way of 'Gingriching' thru the boolsheit...no offense, tis a compliment.

 

[Eric Albus]

How about a compromise....let someone who worked for UPS, or Fed-Ex oversee the Post Office, make it profitable...would be the only Gov't agency that made $$....there, problem solved...

now, to next problem....nemont, i think it was the desert that made you sick... i skipped it, and felt just fine 2 days after the DU banquet.....

 

[Nemont]

now, to next problem....nemont, i think it was the desert that made you sick... i skipped it, and felt just fine 2 days after the DU banquet.....

You took the bus home, I stayed until the bar closed. I didn't eat anything but the prime rib that night.

Anyway it was a good time, at least what I remember of it.

Nemont