Well... it's Trump... again. #47, here we go.

[Jimmy Higgins]

Meanwhile in far right - hyper antiseptic corporate governance... Trump is offering 8 month buy-out to two million people. Part of me likes the idea, in comical theory, of all two million people taking the deal.

"If you choose not to continue in your current role in the federal workforce, we thank you for your service to your country and you will be provided with a dignified, fair departure from the federal deferred resignation program," the memo reads.

Yeah, I'd want something clearly in writing before taking this Admin's 'word for it'.

I’m not sure I’d even trust anything “in writing” from this administration.

True. I suppose a large sack of cash probably the safest route.

 

[RVonse]

RE: BOLDED SECTION - what you really should be saying is that under MAGA and Trump the US government is as truly corrupt as everyone accuses it of being. Those specific actions of Biden's occurred immediately before Trump and the GOP gained total power, so if government is corrupt it is the GOP government. I also have to repeat what I have said a couple of times before in other threads - even before this month the GOP was the government as they had control of the House since 2022.

Good point but I believe your thinking is still flawed. It is flawed because our founders specifically setup 3 separate branches, the justice department being completely separate from the executive and legislative branches. And there was no GOP power change in the justice branch when Trump came back to power.

Biden was scared of a justice branch that was exactly the same branch he had while Democrats and himself were in power. He was scared of institutionalized corruption in our government and not just a change in power.

 

[RVonse]

The thing about J6 was the misconception it was a bunch of local yokels. It was a lot of white collar management types. Oddly, enough many who actually probably have worked hard and would be the first type of people Trump would screw over in a business deal. Kind of like, "I'm going to tariff Colombia 35% if they keep asking questions" or "I'm not paying this invoice. Maybe I'll give you 40% of it."

But that just isn't what they are saying. Ask Axulus what they are actually saying if you really want to understand why J6ers were so devoted to Trump. You may not agree with what they still are feeling and they may be completely delusional. But at least you will have a real reference for where they are coming from.

 

[RVonse]

Meanwhile in far right - hyper antiseptic corporate governance... Trump is offering 8 month buy-out to two million people. Part of me likes the idea, in comical theory, of all two million people taking the deal.

so, another (after using military jets instead of chartered planes for the deportations) example of wasteful government spending; paying people to not work for eight months.

Is that what we should expect for “government efficiency”?

How would you trim down government payroll that is bloated without pissing off the most number of people? I've never worked in government but they say those jobs are the hardest to fire anyone. In private industry I know that buyouts are extremely popular when the companies I have worked for want to reduce employee head count because the older people ready to retire anyway can get an extra bonus on the way out.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Meanwhile in far right - hyper antiseptic corporate governance... Trump is offering 8 month buy-out to two million people. Part of me likes the idea, in comical theory, of all two million people taking the deal.

so, another (after using military jets instead of chartered planes for the deportations) example of wasteful government spending; paying people to not work for eight months.

Is that what we should expect for “government efficiency”?

How would you trim down government payroll that is bloated without pissing off the most number of people? I've never worked in government but they say those jobs are the hardest to fire anyone.

"They say"? We say what you say about what they say matters no way. Is there bloat? Sure, a job can always be cut, but the amount of bloat is likely overestimated and the issues of bureacracy is more about different interests of Governance getting involved with any particular matter.

In private industry I know that buyouts are extremely popular when the companies I have worked for want to reduce employee head count because the older people ready to retire anyway can get an extra bonus on the way out.

Yes, paying people not to work... 1984-esuqe definition of efficiency!

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Did we cover the, Trump said he had the military turn on the water in California thing?

“The United States Military just entered the Great State of California and, under Emergency Powers, TURNED ON THE WATER flowing abundantly from the Pacific Northwest, and beyond,” the Republican president wrote. “The days of putting a Fake Environmental argument, over the PEOPLE, are OVER. Enjoy the water, California!!!”

California had a different take.

The California Department of Water Resources said in a post on X that the “military did not enter California.”

“The federal government restarted federal water pumps after they were offline for maintenance for three days,” the agency posted. “State water supplies in Southern California remain plentiful.”

None of the water is coming from the Pacific Northwest. This is something Trump is a master of, lying about infeasible and impossible things.

 

[Shadowy Man]

Meanwhile in far right - hyper antiseptic corporate governance... Trump is offering 8 month buy-out to two million people. Part of me likes the idea, in comical theory, of all two million people taking the deal.

so, another (after using military jets instead of chartered planes for the deportations) example of wasteful government spending; paying people to not work for eight months.

Is that what we should expect for “government efficiency”?

How would you trim down government payroll that is bloated without pissing off the most number of people? I've never worked in government but they say those jobs are the hardest to fire anyone. In private industry I know that buyouts are extremely popular when the companies I have worked for want to reduce employee head count because the older people ready to retire anyway can get an extra bonus on the way out.

Is the goal simply “trimming down the government payroll” without careful analysis of whether that makes the government actually more efficient?

Ending government programs isn’t the same as making it more efficient. Pushing people to quit who may be doing functions the government needs is not efficiency.

What I would expect from a “department of government efficiency” is a careful analysis of government programs to determine ways of cutting down waste and duplicated efforts. Ways of streamline processes, etc.

Simply ending programs and pushing people out irrespective of their job duties (expecting those who stay to just work harder, I presume) is the antithesis to efficiency.

That email with the buyout went out to over 2 million employees. They are just hoping to get as many as possible to quit without careful analysis of the impact to government’s function. It’s as if they desire the government to not function at all.

 

[Shadowy Man]

In private industry I know that buyouts are extremely popular when the companies I have worked for want to reduce employee head count because the older people ready to retire anyway can get an extra bonus on the way out.

Do you know of any company that offered buyouts to all of its employees at once with the idea that that makes the company more efficient?

I think the closest example is Elon Musk with Twitter. And guess who this idea is coming from? They even used the same email subject line “fork in the road”.

 

[ideologyhunter]

The hurt from unfunded programs needs to directly hit the lower income and working class voters that gave us Trump -- that may be the only way to rein in this man's worst and dumbest instincts.

This analysis of exit polls shows that the 2024 Harris-Trump split had almost ZERO correlation with income level. (And it was Harris who edged out Trump 50-46 among the under $30,000 group.)

Especially bizarre, or REVEALING, is the large number of CEOs, business owners and high-paid professionals among the J6 insurrectionists.

You know, you seem to be right on that!! It goes against my hunch from road trips I took last year, where every struggling working class small town I drove through was festooned from one end to the other with Trump signage. Millersburg, OH, and desperate little Shamokin, PA -- full of Trump madness. And dinky little Savannah, OH, has industrious citizens who have hand-crafted, text-heavy billboards standing in their yards, year 'round, telling you that basically Trump is second only to Jesus Christ, and that's a maybe. But when I googled the big picture and looked at graphs, it's a much more varied breakdown.
As to what actually is a predictor of Trump voter/Harris voter, there's gender (Trump took 59% of white male voters, but he also took 53% of white women), college degree holders (college educated + college aged 'overwhelmingly favored Harris'), those who identified as Protestant or other Christian (63% Trump, 36 % Harris). Also exposure to news media -- when Biden was still running in May, one poll found overwhelmingly support for him among 'the shrinking number of Americans who still read a newspaper', while 'Trump held his biggest margins among those who follow no news at all.' The last three stats come from The Week magazine.
This tells me that the Dems better have some inventive minds working on messaging.

 

[Shadowy Man]

Also, the email in question bypasses standard HR processes in the way it communicates directly to all federal employees. In fact, there is now a lawsuit against OPM based on how the email list was set up.

Yet another example of the Trump administration violating federal law and/or standard practices.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Did we cover the, Trump said he had the military turn on the water in California thing?

“The United States Military just entered the Great State of California and, under Emergency Powers, TURNED ON THE WATER flowing abundantly from the Pacific Northwest, and beyond,” the Republican president wrote. “The days of putting a Fake Environmental argument, over the PEOPLE, are OVER. Enjoy the water, California!!!”

California had a different take.

The California Department of Water Resources said in a post on X that the “military did not enter California.”

“The federal government restarted federal water pumps after they were offline for maintenance for three days,” the agency posted. “State water supplies in Southern California remain plentiful.”

None of the water is coming from the Pacific Northwest. This is something Trump is a master of, lying about infeasible and impossible things.

So, the Government turned on pumps that were off for a few days. So, this does lead me to ask, was Trump lying or did Trump actually think he achieved something, with the military none the less? Yes, the Army Corp is the military, but isn't what people think of when you say "military". I wonder if we give him too much credit for assuming he is lying or abusing hyperbole to the point of it being a felony in 39 states.

 

[crazyfingers]

So, the Government turned on pumps that were off for a few days. So, this does lead me to ask, was Trump lying or did Trump actually think he achieved something, with the military none the less? Yes, the Army Corp is the military, but isn't what people think of when you say "military". I wonder if we give him too much credit for assuming he is lying or abusing hyperbole to the point of it being a felony in 39 states.

He appears to lie just for the fun of it sometimes.

 

[crazyfingers]

What kind of crazy person puts this into a Office of Management and Budget memo to get spread across the country??

"The use of Federal resources to advance Marxist equity, transgenderism, and green new deal social engineering policies is a waste of taxpayer dollars that does not improve the day-to-day lives of those we serve."

This of course is the OMB memo that caused chaos, shutting down all the funding yesterday.

https://www.npr.org/2025/01/28/nx-s1-5277131/federal-grant-freeze-attorney-general-trump

 

[TSwizzle]

What kind of crazy person puts this into a Office of Management and Budget memo to get spread across the country??

"The use of Federal resources to advance Marxist equity, transgenderism, and green new deal social engineering policies is a waste of taxpayer dollars that does not improve the day-to-day lives of those we serve."

How would you have phrased it?

 

[RVonse]

Meanwhile in far right - hyper antiseptic corporate governance... Trump is offering 8 month buy-out to two million people. Part of me likes the idea, in comical theory, of all two million people taking the deal.

so, another (after using military jets instead of chartered planes for the deportations) example of wasteful government spending; paying people to not work for eight months.

Is that what we should expect for “government efficiency”?

How would you trim down government payroll that is bloated without pissing off the most number of people? I've never worked in government but they say those jobs are the hardest to fire anyone. In private industry I know that buyouts are extremely popular when the companies I have worked for want to reduce employee head count because the older people ready to retire anyway can get an extra bonus on the way out.

Is the goal simply “trimming down the government payroll” without careful analysis of whether that makes the government actually more efficient?

Ending government programs isn’t the same as making it more efficient. Pushing people to quit who may be doing functions the government needs is not efficiency.

What I would expect from a “department of government efficiency” is a careful analysis of government programs to determine ways of cutting down waste and duplicated efforts. Ways of streamline processes, etc.

Simply ending programs and pushing people out irrespective of their job duties (expecting those who stay to just work harder, I presume) is the antithesis to efficiency.

That email with the buyout went out to over 2 million employees. They are just hoping to get as many as possible to quit without careful analysis of the impact to government’s function. It’s as if they desire the government to not function at all.

Tell that to all the private corporations who do this all the time. If they worry about operations it is in last place. First the CEO directs 10% reduction in headcount and then the heads start rolling. There might be some small amount of time spent to see which employee should be axed first but in a seniority environment it is simply done by who hired in last. After the layoff, the employees left over usually do have to work harder to pick up the slack but they are thankful just to keep their jobs.

 

[RVonse]

In private industry I know that buyouts are extremely popular when the companies I have worked for want to reduce employee head count because the older people ready to retire anyway can get an extra bonus on the way out.

Do you know of any company that offered buyouts to all of its employees at once with the idea that that makes the company more efficient?

I think the closest example is Elon Musk with Twitter. And guess who this idea is coming from? They even used the same email subject line “fork in the road”.

This happens ALL THE TIME. At Chrysler they had a program to give you a free car if you decided to leave.

If a company is doing very poorly and they need less payroll this is done all the time. And our government is doing very very poorly from a financial standpoint at the moment.

 

[jonatha]

RE: BOLDED SECTION - what you really should be saying is that under MAGA and Trump the US government is as truly corrupt as everyone accuses it of being. Those specific actions of Biden's occurred immediately before Trump and the GOP gained total power, so if government is corrupt it is the GOP government. I also have to repeat what I have said a couple of times before in other threads - even before this month the GOP was the government as they had control of the House since 2022.

Good point but I believe your thinking is still flawed. It is flawed because our founders specifically setup 3 separate branches, the justice department being completely separate from the executive and legislative branches. And there was no GOP power change in the justice branch when Trump came back to power.

Biden was scared of a justice branch that was exactly the same branch he had while Democrats and himself were in power. He was scared of institutionalized corruption in our government and not just a change in power.

You are conflating the third branch of government (the courts) with the Department of Justice, which is part of the Executive Branch...

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

In private industry I know that buyouts are extremely popular when the companies I have worked for want to reduce employee head count because the older people ready to retire anyway can get an extra bonus on the way out.

Do you know of any company that offered buyouts to all of its employees at once with the idea that that makes the company more efficient?

I think the closest example is Elon Musk with Twitter. And guess who this idea is coming from? They even used the same email subject line “fork in the road”.

This happens ALL THE TIME. At Chrysler they had a program to give you a free car if you decided to leave.

If a company is doing very poorly and they need less payroll this is done all the time. And our government is doing very very poorly from a financial standpoint at the moment.

According to whom? Musk proclaimed trillions in savings, then dropped down to hundreds of billions, then dropped down to 'let's stop making pennies and save hundreds of millions'. According to the CBO,

The federal government employs about 2¼ million military personnel (of whom about 1 million are reservists) and about 2¼ million civilian personnel (of whom nearly 60 percent work for the Departments of Defense, Veterans Affairs, and Homeland Security).

This means, there are approximately 900,000 people working in the US Government, that aren't tied to the military. 900,000 to cover 50 states with a GDP of over $27 trillion.

Google has nearly 200,000 employees to generate $340 billion.

ETA: The US generated about $5 trillion in 2024 and oversaw the spending of $6.8 trillion

 

[ideologyhunter]

Just to make Trump mad, some friends and I are gonna drive up to northern California -- at night, because we planned this in detail -- and turn off the Main Faucet again. We figure three of us should be able to turn it.

 

[Patooka]

Tell that to all the private corporations who do this all the time

You understand private corporations aren't expected to provide basic services that working families desperately depend upon day in and day out right? What's with your hatred of the middle class?

Also, weren't you complaining a few days ago that that the government wasn't adequately prepared for the once in a lifetime fires in LA? So which is it - you either want "efficiency in government" (which everybody knows is code for the extreme bare minimum to get the job done and pray all the moving parts work 100% all the time), or you want government so flush with resources they can handle anything.

Stop talking out of both sides of your fucking mouth.