Posted on 11/26/2024 7:05:59 AM PST by bill andersen
It appears that Elon and Vivek are focused on eliminating unnecessary staff to obtain long-overdue budget cuts. They should not stop there however. There are huge amounts of egregious furnishings in these government departments. They should be confiscating it and sending it to government auction houses, with the proceeds going ONLY to national debt reduction. Here are some examples:
Apparently in the DOJ there is a $70k conference table. Seize this and replace it with folding tables and plastic chairs.
Seize all leather office chairs and hardwood desks and replace them with the cheapest stuff possible.
Except for law enforcement, seize all gym equipment in these federal bureaucracies and sell it off.
Shutter all cafeterias in federal agencies and sell off the equipment. Replace with vending machines or nothing at all.
Once Elon and Vivek and their "elves" get rolling on this there will be no stopping them. There is just so much stuff they can find to get to the auction house.
How many sq/ft of leased space by the govt is sitting around empty? Too much!
Musk posted something today that some government department had an in-office meeting. It had been so long since any of them were there they had forgotten how to turn on the lights and were holding their meeting by cell phone flashlight.
These are the same morons who would get stuck on an escalator
“How many sq/ft of leased space by the govt is sitting around empty? Too much!”
Meanwhile the FBI is building a new headquarters with an estimated cost of $4.5 billion. Time to build estimated at 10 years. Seems like there should be sufficient space in already lease government buildings to house a downsized FBI.
Get rid of the Capital barber Shop too. Those guys can hire an in suite hair stylist that makes office calls on their own dime. They are there to work cut the pampering or they get too comfy.
Reminds me of Newt’s Contract with America. Maybe these guys will actually cut something this time.
I would be careful with “exceptions.” It’s that thinking that got us here.
I have a family member who is a state trooper. He actually gets paid for three weekly sessions in a gym. Plus they have a workout room at the station.
I shake my head and ask which one he “needs” for his job.
Either we pay for stuff, or not. “Exceptions” and special adjustments can be a slippery slope.
And print ALL documents and forms in English ONLY. I get one page I can read, and throw away five. Paper and ink and postage cost money.
Desks and cafeterias are not Real Property.
The issue here is that stuff for Congress is not under the review of the Executive.
And it’s pennies.
When going after savings in the corporate world you first look for non revenue generating transactions, errors, or missed opportunities for revenue generations.
“Nickel and diming” sounds good, but that is the second or third pass. I understand that “pennies add up.” I did this “process reengineering” stuff for three years, full time. The pennies will generally take care of themselves if you attack the significant, low hanging fruit.
You walk in saying we need to cut expenses by 25% and force the systems to really think about BIG changes.
Silly, this is down in the noise, and re not “real property”. They will focus on actual real estate that is surplus to needs.
And, “the people” need to be given a crash course in accounting.
There are “expenses” and “capital expenditures.” Cutting expenses means staff, transactions, and the spending you do on a daily basis. Capital is pretty much hardware and assets that are going to last for more than a year.
Rent, employees, cafeterias, etc are expenses. Buildings, furniture (that is owned, not leased), cars, computers, etc are capital expenditures. Selling them before they are fully depreciated could result in a chargeback against your expenses.
It’s funky, but it all applies to what the government is spending.
We should be focused on cutting staff and locations; not cutting cleaning services from 5 days to 3 days. The former will result in reductions in expenses and the capital budgets. The latter would not make a significant immediate difference.
Lots of buildings in Washington vacant since Covid .
Close them and sell the property
Return all federal land that is not being used for military or government use to the individual states to use as they see fit. This would be an economic boom for those states. Some states will use it wisely and others will screw it up. California, Oregon and Washington States will screw it up.
The US equivalent of Chana’s empty cities.
In the DOJ there is a $70k conference table.
A good example of how so many in D.C. act once they get a job there hey it’s not our money lets blow it on everything.
People who never earned their wealth have no idea how to spend it.
BTTT
That 70K conference table should be billed personally to whoever signed off on the order for it.
At a Government auction it might bring $400
Federal land can be managed on a ‘forever wild’ basis without trampling on private property rights.
“Apparently in the DOJ there is a $70k conference table. Seize this and replace it with folding tables and plastic chairs.”
Why? It’s probably a nice table.
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