DOGE: Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to lead

It matters where you get the data.
Good god man.
You are really something.

 

The most common source of this data is the OECD. That data has existed for decades and is generally accepted by scientists that study the topic. Feel free to use a different source if you would prefer.

 

I wouldn’t dare trust a source that you provide.

 

As I said, feel free to use another source then. OECD is generally used, but KFF publishes their own estimates as well, I think. Or find some other source. Or admit that you can't implicitly or explicitly.

 

Pointless. Whoever you are debating is uniformed and immediately pivots to name calling. Try debating a turnip. You’ll get a more challenging debate.

 

I admit that you want to increase spending and taxes.
And I admit you want to make America look like Europe.
There’s a reason US is different. Stop trying to make America look like something it isn’t.

 

A bit off topic but holy shit. A good example of waste in the private sector. No organization is immune.

Macy's says employee hid up to $154 million in expenses, delays Q3 earnings

The retailer said Monday that it identified an issue related to delivery expenses in one of its accrual accounts earlier this month. An independent investigation and forensic analysis found that a single employee with responsibility for small package delivery expense accounting intentionally made erroneous accounting accrual entries to hide roughly $132 million to $154 million of expenses from the fourth quarter of 2021 through the fiscal quarter ended November 2.

Macy's said is it delaying reporting its third-quarter earnings results to complete an independent investigation. It anticipates reporting its full third-quarter financial results by Dec. 11.

The company added that the person behind the conduct is no longer an employee and that the investigation didn't identify involvement by any other worker.

 

Translation: you have nothing in terms of evidence. Thank you for confirming.

 

If this report of post-election State Department therapy sessions is accurate, the first costs to be cut should be any State Dept employee presenting or attending any such session.

State Department faces questions over reported counseling after Trump win

 

So I brought up Japan as well as US states and you think my focus is on Europe. I most certainly don't hate the US, but it appears that the US education system did not do you any favors. BTW, I tend to prefer the Australian healthcare system in terms of healthcare administration. To help you out, that is also not in Europe.

 

Ok so you want to move to Australia and didn’t know it.
You’re welcome.

 

Yeah, I don't particularly. Had an option to do so in 2019. Decided against it. Too isolated down there. May eventually, who knows. They have some great employers in my field. But their healthcare system is much better. If I was making a decision on healthcare systems, I would certainly not be selecting the system that produces the worst outcomes at (by far) the highest cost. How efficient!

 

Thanks for sharing.
Maybe it’s a good fit for you down under some day.
America is a titanic and it gets harder to change every day.

 

So, hold up. You have employees targeted by the now President Elect, his advisors, Project 2025, and right wing press as being the “Deep State” deserving of being made miserable enough to quit and your response is that they should be cut for anxiety?

I know a lot of people at State. A proper framing of this should be “now that the guy who basically wants to abuse us until we quit is elected, what do we do when we have decades in Federal service possibly thrown out the window?”

The Employee Assistance Program has been one of the most proactive tools in helping ensure at least some access to immediate mental health help. Its been invaluable in my office for veterans suffering from PTSD. It was my first line when my mom passed and before I could seek other help.

This goes back to my other post: stop being ghoulish.

I’ve been seeing my therapist more often since he was likely to win. Why? My wife has a serious immunodeficiency where she’s basically unprotected from most respiratory diseases, staph, and some others I can’t remember. We rely on my insurance to make a $37,000 a month infusion treatment affordable. Without it, repeated infections would lead to her death in +/- 3-5 years. Throw in that Trump nominated a conspiracy-addled lunatic to HHS and yeah, I’m scared. If they bulldoze my job (again, I’m on approved leave for Thanksgiving,) it’s not just a loss of income. It’s the loss of one of the few domestic jobs that make her healthcare affordable, FFS. I left private sector because of insurance and took a pay cut. Yes, seeking proactive mental health assistance so that I’m less focused on a very likely catastrophic is a good thing.

Instead of immediate assumptions and a knee-jerk reaction, attempt to empathize and understand why people are scared.

 

Thanks for providing insights from your experience as a FED. I have similar impressions from working with feds from a few agencies. Great people that were willing to help on the ground or lend equipment (buggies, helicopters, bunkhouses, tractors) or other resources to help accomplish mutual goals. The USFWS and NFS in particular were all about getting the job done - whatever it took. Also worked (or tried to) with the NPS who it seemed preferred their strategy of attempted world domination.

I hated writing contracts - I mean I was trained in biology, population dynamics, and the Krebs cycle - what the hell did I know about writing contracts? Next to nothing. Instead, I did what I could to ensure trustworthy companies and people got the contract and not some unknown who might have been tempted to abuse the contract.

 

If you are an employee of the federal government and lack the emotional strength and maturity to accept the results of an election without some form special therapy ….. as a taxpayer I’m of the opinion you should not be a federal government employee.

 

If your career literally hinged on the results of the election, I would not begrudge you some counseling. But then I'm not a mean-hearted MAGA.

 

Do you have comprehension issues? The issue is that the victor literally wants to make people’s lives miserable so they quit. You have Musk dragging Federal employees on Twitter and, shocking no one, his minions harassing them and their families. These are normal people doing normal jobs and just trying to fulfill their missions with diligence.

These fact you think that this is a normal situation speaks to either willful ignorance or denial. If the incoming Administration was speaking of taken a scalpel rather than a cudgel and looking to improve delivery rather than intimidate and harass workers (which Musk evidently finds funny,) then I’d agree with you. Instead, we’re showing a desire to govern via trolling and memes. Forgive me if I prefer a more nuanced and levelheaded government.

Edit: the fact you find my post above “funny” speaks to your utter lack of character and decency. I pray you never find yourself wondering how the hell you’re going to keep a loved one alive because an entire political party finds it acceptable to scapegoat and then dehumanize an entire category of the workforce. I mean, I’m not surprised, but it still saddens me to see so many Americans act like petulant trolls.

 

The contacting process is utter madness.

Why is my COR and SME for [complex engineer program] not properly training and experienced in what they’re overseeing?

Why is my Statement of Work barely reviewed by SMEs before putting out to contract?

Why am I catching heat for demanding deliverables and keeping to schedules be tied to a contractor’s pay?

Part of the answer is cultural. It’s accepted that it’s okay. A significant portion is that we don’t have enough CORs and SMEs in a given field to effectively manage a contract. If the numbers match up, they’re simply trained to sign the checks.

 

Holy shit. Where were the auditors? I found some accounting errors in my day (you’d be amazed at what pops up when company restructures its dated accounting systems, things people do for years as part of their “internal process” are often all wrong), but that takes the cake. This isn’t even an error, it’s just straight up hiding expenses on the balance sheet. You’d think something like that would jump off the page at anyone giving a serious look at their financials. The whole M “executive team” needs the boot, and needs to have their executive pay and bonuses clawed back. Really it’s not even an “accounting error”, it’s just fraud. Sounds like they are trying to blame an “accounting employee” but I’d bet good money that employee was just following orders.