DOGE: Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to lead

Federal pay isn’t a secret

General Schedule

 

The other thing that shouldnt be a secret is that the federal government employees are the smallest part of government employees. Most are local government. Local has grown... Federal hasnt.

 

Well now you’ve let the cat out of the bag

 

Is this going to be a part-time gig for Musk? Spend a couple of hours a day deciding which federal agencies stay and which are axed?
Seriously, I don't think anyone doubts that federal govt could be run more efficiently. It all depends on what they do and how much is driven by true efficiency and how much by politics of the moment.
There's this from the Wash Post:

The story then lists those 10 programs, including veterans health care, the State Department, DOJ, FAA, Nasa ... Hard to imagine those getting the axe.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2024/11/16/trump-musk-ramaswamy-doge-program/

 

God I hope so much government goes away.
Please axe away!

 

If these programs are critical then why isn’t congress authorizing them? Perhaps get rid of congress for not doing their job…

 

Look at some of our recent members of Congress and you can imagine what the problem is: Gaetz, MTG, Boebert, and many others. Doing their job is the least of their priorities. Surprisingly, AOC has turned out to be relatively sane compared to the crazier and more misguided members of the House.

 

Look at you wanting to defund the police!

 

I definitely recommend Republicans give the VA the axe.

 

You should.
I didn’t say gut it all.

 

Some govt is good.
Much of it is bullshit.

 

Why do I get the feeling that somehow in both Vivek and Elon will walk away from this beconig even more wealthy than they are now. Also the most obvious branch that is full of inefficiency is is the military but we all know they won't touch that

 

The military is one of the best things the govt provides and has given you the opportunity to post the dumb things you post.
You should be more appreciative of the military.
Libbies are ass backwards once again.

 

He was talking about efficiency, not whether we should have one.

 

You think the military is inefficient?
Leave our amazing military alone.
Go after healthcare and find a way to make it cheaper not more expensive.
Start with removing ACA.
Emergency services was cheaper and made more sense.

 

First of all, I was pointing out that what you were trying to criticize him for wasn't at all what he said.
Second, yes. I think somewhere in our $900 billion defense budget, you could find plenty of inefficiencies.

 

You think it is cheaper to use the emergency room as a form of basic healthcare? ERs generally charge $1,000-$3,000 per visit. You think that is the efficient alternative?

 

Compared to expansion of more government…yep.

 

I’m going to speak as a Federal worker. To be clear, I’m on leave for Thanksgiving, so I’m not wasting tax dollars, that is if your taxes did pay my salary (they don’t.) I’m also posting as a GS-14 supervisor, and former COR II, based on my experiences.

This idea of finding pleasure in hurting civil servants is repulsive and indicative of those enjoying the future suffering of others, rather than wanting to improve problems. If DOGE wasn’t just a thing for broligarchs to maximize profits and win political points, wouldn’t be against it.

Where FedGov needs work:

* Legitimate performance-based incentives and penalties. If I have people routinely earning a one or two out of five, I should be able to utilize tools for performance improvement (e.g. PIPs) more efficiently with teeth if they don’t succeed. Conversely, I should be able to better reward my team, quicker, rather than have to be raked across the coals for a financial or time-based award.

* Contracting is a mess, based on my experiences. Too often, I have to go with the lowest bid, even if my expertise demonstrates that [other contractor] is far better qualified and will be less likely to incompetently result in cost overruns. Further, having better opportunities to cut contractors or, Lord forbid, refuse to pay for wasted time would be lovely. Contracts themselves are often poorly worded and give contractors a wide options of abuses. Better oversight would be welcome.

Others have stated it and it’s true: many critical Fed positions are vacant. Our internal investigations group has two senior level and several operational positions sitting open. HR? I’m using an entirely different office’s team to handle a sensitive performance matter.

This may be a shock to many, but the vast bulk of Federal employees are diligent workers who happen to be human beings much like you. They aren’t a “Deep State.” They don’t engage in massed conspiracies to defraud the American people while twirling their villain mustaches.

I feel like that if conservatives were serious about improving efficiency, they’d consider where actual process efficiency breaks down. That does not often mean “cut people.” Example? Our New Orleans and Houma-based offshore Districts are severely undermanned, resulting in longer permit timing for offshore operations. We have other Districts with far less workload and more people. Why drilling and workover permits cannot be shared across the basin is still beyond me, aside from being a relic from the times permits were submitted via mail and not through a virtual gateway.

I’m happy to good-faith answer questions on this. I spent twelve years in the private oil industry and now about the same in government. I’ve seen shenanigans on both sides. I’ve seen far fewer people actually reach for functional solutions.