[Biblebelter]

Here is what I do not understand. Good jobs have left our economy because business has become more productive and efficient by downsizing its work force. When is government going to get productive and efficient and start laying off workers? That would be a deficit reducer. Of course, the boy who claimed to invent the internet, also claimed to reinvent government. I don't want it reinvented, I would just like to see it downsized at the same rate big business has had to downsize its workforce.

[VRWC For Truth]

That and a flat tax. Alot of these government jobs could be replaced with a computer. At least we shoould consider out sourcing them to India. ;)

[Reagan Man]

>>>When is government going to get productive and efficient and start laying off workers?

I think PresBush and the GOP Congress will have a rare opportunity in the next several years to start to make the federal governemnt more efficient and effective in its operations. There must be a serious effort made in a second Bush-Cheney term to reduce the high levels of waste, fraud and abuse that currently exist in the federal bureaucracy. Before its too late.

[Our man in washington]

Excellent point, Biblebelter! I work for the Federal government, and my agency could reduce personnel by 50 percent if rules on firing Federal employees were changed and managers were given incentives to cut costs.

We have employees who brag about how little work they do. Something has to be changed.

(And if downsizing comes and I'm one of the ones laid off, so be it. Being on the Federal payroll is a privilege and a responsibility, not a right.)

[Sofa King]

"When is government going to get productive and efficient and start laying off workers?"

#1) For the government to get productive it would have to produce something besides red tape. That's not what government does, however.

#2) For the government to get efficient it would need incentive, which is non-existent since government, by and large, doesn't have to worry about customer satisfaction or going out of business.

[Fledermaus]

Good jobs have left our economy because business has become more productive and efficient by downsizing its work force.

I totally disagree with that simplistic attitude based on ignorance.

But you are absolutely correct that government employment doesn't suffer from competition and never really downsizes when they should. After the 1996 welfare reform worked so well (that the Dems and Clinton whined about but then took credit for), the government agencies that ran those programs never got smaller.