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These people are right...the DoD is extremely bloated, including all the contractors who are being paid to do basically nothing. There is a TON of deadwood, both on the agency and contractor side.
It's the equivalent of the kid who studied real hard, busted his butt in school and got the best grades he could, while other kids were out partying and goofing off. Now that that same kid is older and has a good job, the other kids don't and are cyring UNFAIR!
Sorry people. You reap what you sow.
Yeah right. This isn't Silicon Valley where people are producing something useful. Except for tech and biotech, there is a LOT of fluff industry in DC. Just look at the number of lawyers in this city. Of course I consider Wall Street to be the same.
I attribute them to people suffering in a poor economy and searching for an easy place to lay blame, instead of taking time to understand and be engaged the relatively complex issues that we face.
What an arrogant and misinformed statement. Federal macroeconomic and tax policy has a proven impact on the plight of businesses and labor. Actions (or lack thereof) by the US Federal Reserve can cause the economy to over-heat or not generate enough employment and private-sector investment. Numerous studies have shown that federal government policy has exacerbated income inequality while create disincentives for employers to add labor to payrolls. So if you want to engage in a numbers game, I can pull numbers from think tank reports, research books and the like. Of course, the authors will have a more liberal and left-ward bent but I am sure you can pull different numbers from more conservative outfits.
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Originally Posted by KStreetQB
No, the problem is America is too lazy to look at the numbers. They have a plethora of media outlets of varying accountability spoon feeding them simple, easy, answers that satisfy their ambiguous sense of being screwed by someone, and that's where most American's engagement with public policy ends.
Right because everyone has a degree in mathematics, accounting and economics. Every adult citizen is capable of reading pages and pages of federal department balance sheets and understanding mathematical equations that explain how certain items are calculated. Are you serious with this response?
So, please, KStreetQB explain how dim-witted, irrational, slobbering Mongoloid Americans should be more engaged in politics. I want an Inside-the-Beltway perspective here.
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Originally Posted by KStreetQB
A belief that has little or nothing to do with reality can become the truth for America almost over night. Can you tell which is which? Do you care? Maybe it's enough to just be outraged.
Believe or not...normal mentally healthy people can be outraged about something. Yeah, it's true...I know it is hard for politico-world wonks to believe this.
There are people out there (beyond the Beltway) who are struggling in life; whether it be chronic unemployment, overwhelming medical bills, student loan debt or some of other critical issue. Some people make ill-advised choices in life and they pay the consequences. But there are many people who lost jobs, lost health care insurance, lost their homes, lost their lifetime savings because of forces beyond their control. And there is no doubt that government policy and/or market-driven greed played a part in the suffering.
The Right is outraged at the federal government. The Left is outraged at the capitalistic system. Just maybe, there is some merit supporting the arguments made by liberals AND conservatives in this nation.
Yes and no. It is very difficult to get a highly competetive position based solely on merit. Part of that is a glut of qualified candidates, and part of that is just the reality of hiring people anywhere.
When you get down to the cream of the crop at the end of the employee search process, everyone pretty much looks the same on paper, and has done well in their interview. If there is someone that you know and trust, that will take the time to reach out to you and vouch for one of those candidates, then that says a lot. Often it's a deciding factor between otherwise equivalent applicants. That's just a reality of life in almost any competitive field. I would say that the federal agency career path is more insulated from such influence than most fields, and a political position is more subject to that kind of influence than most fields.
There are some wastes of space in every city, both in the public and private sector, who got to where they are because of who their family is or something similar, but it's the exception not the norm. For every person I know in this city that is a son/daughter of a political operative/big donor/wealthy family, I know twenty who just came here on their own and grinded their way up. I can really only think of two that absolutely do not deserve to be where they are.
I think people hear a story like Michael Brown, and think that sort of thing happens all of the time in DC, because they don't know any better. Even for a political appointment, that was an abberration.
When will brilliant Federal workers enact policy that brings down unemployment to, say, 6%?
The current economic situation in the U.S. is a result of greed and unrealistic expectations on the part of the banking, mortgage and real estate industries in conjunction with property flippers and homebuyers who bought way more than they could afford. The bubble and subsequent crash has had a ripple effect across the whole economy. Everybody was looking for a win-win, but instread got lose-lose.
But that's a discussion that belongs on another forum.
I love how greed is only associated with DoD contractors or big banks and not with some of the American people at all. Thousands of people taking on subprime mortgages to get homes they knew they could not afford doesn't qualify as 'greed' at all. They were all victimized Whatever happened to having an ounce of self responsibility? The blame game thing gets old. Let's not pretend like the "poor helpless americans" didn't play a role in this mess as well.
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Whatever happened to having an ounce of self responsibility? The blame game thing gets old. Let's not pretend like the "poor helpless americans" didn't play a role in this mess as well.
