Government Employees Are the Scum of the Earth

[KrazyHorse]

By the way, I was just offered a job at another firm at 10% more than I currently earn. I told them to go **** themselves unless they offered me 25%. How many government workers could go somewhere else and earn more? What does this tell you about the marginal value of a government sector worker?

[Kuciwalker]

It would be for the best if we just privatized the ****ing postal system.

[Sava]

It would be for the best if we just privatized the ****ing postal system.

Because paying tens of dollars instead of tens of cents to mail things would be a good idea?

[Aeson]

I don't know how well that would work in rural areas Kuci. At some point it will definitely be best to privatize it (expanded coverage of private delievery networks and reduced need for paper mail), but I don't know if we're to that point yet.

[KrazyHorse]

It actually matters why they are accruing liabilities faster than assets. I don't know much about PAEA but if it's killing the USPS it should be fixed. They were a self-sustaining organization in the past and it would be best for everyone if they were that way again.

No idea what paea specifically is, but my point is that if the USPS has bargained with its workers to provide certain future benefits then unless it funds those benefits it is simply driving itself further into insolvency (which wouldn't normally be my problem except for the fact that the government will likely take on those obligations with my tax dollars should the USPS go belly-up).

[Hauldren Collider]

It would be for the best if we just privatized the ****ing postal system.

But then who would deliver mail to rural North Dakota for the low low price of 44 cents?


EDIT: ROFL Sava just made the same comment, but without any trace of irony
That's beautiful

[KrazyHorse]

Because paying tens of dollars instead of tens of cents to mail things would be a good idea?

It's amazing that we manage to feed and clothe ourselves through free enterprise. Asking us to have to deal with private postal services would be too much.

[Aeson]

No idea what paea specifically is, but my point is that if the USPS has bargained with its workers to provide certain future benefits then unless it funds those benefits it is simply driving itself further into insolvency (which wouldn't normally be my problem except for the fact that the government will likely take on those obligations with my tax dollars should the USPS go belly-up).

PAEA was the act that required the USPS to fund this health pension that they claim is busting their balance sheet.

[Tupac Shakur]

So government workers, in your estimate, are worthless sacks of **** who are essentially paid to do nothing?

It's a strong argument.

[Jon Miller]

But then who would deliver mail to rural North Dakota for the low low price of 44 cents?


EDIT: ROFL Sava just made the same comment, but without any trace of irony
That's beautiful

When people have the legal requirement to respond to mail, then government has the legal requirement to be sure that they get mail.

JM

[Hauldren Collider]

When people have the legal requirement to respond to mail, then government has the legal requirement to be sure that they get mail.

JM

We have these things called government contractors...

Also, if the government has the ability to summon you to serve on a jury for a week with essentially no compensation, I think they can force you to undergo the tremendous burden of paying for UPS. If not, they could pay the return postage. Just sayin'

[Sava]

It's amazing that we manage to feed and clothe ourselves through free enterprise. Asking us to have to deal with private postal services would be too much.

If the postal service is some sort of ass ****ing machine... private services, like maybe Fedex or UPS, are the same machine... only 50 times more expensive.

[Jon Miller]

So once the mail is gone, there won't be some address that they are 'suppose' to be reachable at.

So we would send a contractor out to look for whichever person who was suppose to appear in court or pay a fine or whatever?

Not a good idea.

JM

[Hauldren Collider]

So once the mail is gone, there won't be some address that they are 'suppose' to be reachable at.

So we would send a contractor out to look for whichever person who was suppose to appear in court or pay a fine or whatever?

Not a good idea.

JM

So you're saying once we privatize USPS, suddenly people will stop having street addresses and zip codes? Really?

And we contract out prisons. We contract out weapons. We contract out so much ****. I live in the land of government contractors. And you know what? Turns out they're usually way more efficient than government.

They're still ****ing parasites, but it's like the difference between tapeworm and facehuggers.

[Jon Miller]

Not according to this study:

http://www.pogo.org/pogo-files/reports/contract-oversight/bad-business/co-gp-20110913.html

commentary:

http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/billions_of_taxpayer_dollars_wasted_on_private_contractors_20110914/

A study conducted by the Project for Government Oversight (POGO) found that on average the U.S. government pays private contractors more than twice what it pays federal workers for a number of public services. The disparity amounts to billions of dollars in overpayment each year.

“Our findings were shocking,” researchers wrote. “POGO estimates the government pays billions more annually in taxpayer dollars to hire contractors than it would to hire federal employees to perform comparable services.” In one instance, contractor billing rates were nearly five times the compensation paid to federal employees doing comparable work. Additionally, the government has no program for determining how much money it saves or wastes by either using its own employees or outsourcing.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/13/us/13contractor.html?_r=3

WASHINGTON — Despite a widespread belief that contracting out services to the private sector saves the federal government money, a new study suggests just the opposite — that the government actually pays more when it farms out work.

The study found that in 33 of 35 occupations, the government actually paid billions of dollars more to hire contractors than it would have cost government employees to perform comparable services. On average, the study found that contractors charged the federal government more than twice the amount it pays federal workers.



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My personal experience doesn't mean much, but was also that contractors (at the university/lab) in many cases actually lowered efficiency.

JM