I don’t know where people get the idea that federal and state employees can’t be fired. What are these “civil service laws that essentially give them a lifetime tenure”?
One could say that the people who voted for him tasked him with following through on his campaign promises. In fact, I’m pretty sure that’s a damn good answer to your question.
And if you worked on appropriations issues, you would know that the budget plan he sent to Congress some time ago didn’t include any detailed proposals, only the toplines. So, in fact, the announcements today cooincide with the announcement of all other budget details, including the actual budget proposals for appropriations accounts. Your claim that this is solely a PR stunt just doesn’t hold water, as today was the day for announcing the funding level for ALL discretionary programs, cuts, increases, whatever.
Also a 3-company oligopoly for government securites, imposed by government mandate.
There were several smaller bond rating agencies, including firms like Gimme Credit, who assessed mortgage-backed bonds as being much riskier than the ‘Big 3’, but they were not allowed into the market.
Try again.
If ‘ifs’ and ‘buts’ were candy and nuts, oh what a wonderful world this would be.
McCain doesn’t enter into the picture. The OP stated that we should just go ahead and leave Bush out of this, and I think that’s a pretty good idea considering the debate. You throwing out some McCain judo strikes me as equally disingenuous.
Here’s the thing. I’m not even sure I agree with what Obama is trying to get cut. I haven’t dug into his proposal or anything. He may be cutting some program or another that I wish he wouldn’t. But the point here is, that since about 2 seconds after he gave his acceptance speech, the right has been screaming for the administration to cut something out of the budget.
This is what he’s doing. I note the comment that he’s not really doing it, he’s going through congress (who holds the purse strings) but if that’s the major bitch, then someone will have to re-invent exactly how a budget is cut in this country.
You can’t piss and moan about “oh he’ll never cut the budget” and then when he tries to cut the budget retort with, “oh that doesn’t count.”
I’d love to see any evidence that federal education spending has resulted in higher quality education or higher education achievement. Merely because something is labeled the Department of Education does not mean it is actually helping to further our nation’s education, no more than Operation Iraqi Freedom made the Iraqis any more free.
Ravenman, again, I am well aware of the budget process. I’m also well aware that the President’s budget is a complete waste of time and resources. You sound like you know something about the process. Do you really think the budget the President sends to Congress matters?
Not really much to add to what’s already been said about the OP, just wanted to comment on this:
You are right…federal and state employees can be fired. But it’s not an easy process unless fraud or some kind of illegal activity can be shown. If we are talking about simple incompetence…well, good luck. It requires an entire process of documentation and notification…and (at least years ago when I was a GS 9) you have to go through this process to identify several separate instances within a year period.
For a manage it’s a complete pain in the ass, especially since if you don’t dot all the I’s and cross all the T’s not only with the person you are trying to get rid of be staying on…but you, the manager might be fucked yourself.
Anyway, carry on…just wanted to put in my two cents worth on this distraction.
-XT
My beef is with people who think Obama is actually doing something. He may, indeed, fight to cut spending. We’ll see later this year. To try and say he’s cutting spending now, though, is simply wrong. It’s even wrong to say he’s cutting the budget, since Congress passes the budget resolution and Obama has no say on it. What Obama did today is a PR stunt, pure and simple, and it has absolutely no effect on spending whatsoever.
What makes you think he’s done?
This is why I say he can’t win.
Anything he does that counters what his critics say about him will be declared a PR stunt.
But then, as I think about it, that’s pretty much SOP for our Democrat v Republican system, isn’t it?
Of course it does. Look at it this way: about 1% of all discretionary spending is earmarks. Take that and double, triple, septuble that for other spending changes that Congress makes that are not earmarks. Any way you slice it, the vast majority of spending proposed by the president gets approved by Congress. It’s when the President tries to cut funding that Congress goes bonkers, generally speaking.
If it doesn’t matter then why bitch about the budget that is sent? He’s doing what he is supposed to do. So what if it is all bullshit then because it doesn’t actually matter?
Sure it does. He’s popular. What do you think the hooples around the country are going to think when their congressperson is against cutting the waste that the president talked about?
He’s leveraging his popularity to get the cuts he wants. Other than telepathic mind control I don’t see what else he could do.
Saying you are going to slash $17 billion and ACTUALLY cutting that amount are two different things.
So far the things that Obama says he will do are not matching up with actual results. And the media does not go back and follow through to see if what has been said is going to happen, actually is done.
I like him, he means well and is trying. But the entrenched permanent government in DC is going to fight tooth and nail and in the end these targeted programs will still remain.
It’s just words if it isn’t accomplished. Many presidents have fought the permanent bureacracy and failed. Good luck.
The thing is, if you believe in lowering government spending and no government interference in the marketplace, it helps if the party that promised to do those things hasn’t cratered the economy into the WESSTGD.
The Republicans cut taxes and raised spending, plus the wars and the torturing, and religous right posturing. And so they’re done for a bit. And now the Democrats have their turn. If you didn’t want to let the Democrats get their greedy little socialist paws on the economy, maybe the Republicans should have worked harder not to ruin it themselves.
See, you have to convince the voters to vote for you if you want to shape policy. And if you tell voters that a slightly higher marginal tax rate on the rich is socialism, they’re going to start thinking socialism sounds pretty good.
I find it really difficult to be irritated at him for either 1) trying and failing due to the interference of others, or 2) starting to try and “failing” due to the fact that there hasn’t yet been time for anything to happen.
I’d like to see the evidence that public employees are any less competent than privately employed ones. This is another article of conservative faith which is based on no empirical evidence at all. It’s merely an ad hoc, made up criticism invented to bolster their ethically bankrupt argument for a totalitarian corporatocracy.
Just wondering… do you work for the government?
I think the argument is that you can make more in private business, and thus the talent is drawn there.
Of course, you can also make considerably more by being a corrupt rating agency than by being an honest one that tells companies to take their deadly and poisonous food and drugs to shove it. But this is a detail that is rarely mentioned by the proponents of privatizing everything.
Not to say that governments are impervious from corruption, but at least they have a nominal motive for not shifting all costs and damage to the populace.
No. I work for a private company.
ETA, I also receive no government services or assistance, in case you were wondering that.
You are asking a question impossible to quantify IMHO. I’ve worked both sides (as a GS and as a contractor) and the answer of which is better is…it depends. By and large I think that government people ARE less qualified than those in the private sector. Why? Well, if the government employees were competent in their jobs they wouldn’t NEED to hire contractors to do the actual work…at least not on the scales we are talking about here.
But in my time I’ve seen some pretty stunningly stupid contractors and some very brilliant GS types…so, it’s going to vary quite a bit.
You are wrong…it’s not made up at all. It’s simply painting with a really broad brush.
-XT