The Case For Draining The Swamp Is Stronger Than Ever

AMAC Newsline ^ | 8 Jul, 2024 | Stephen Moore

[MtnClimber]

The latest official employment report finds once again that the federal government and state-local hiring spree is still in full gear. Over the past year, health care and government hiring has outpaced every private sector industry. It isn’t just the IRS bringing on thousands of new workers. The bloat is everywhere.

So even though there are a lot more government workers, good luck finding them or getting them on the phone.

This is because so few of them are actually physically on the job.

What’s happening in the federal government (“Club Fed”) these days borders on the absurd – or should I say the obscene. A recent Federal News Network survey of federal workers finds only 6% are working full time in the office. Thirty percent are full-time remote. Washington office buildings have become city block-long zombies. Especially on Fridays.

While exact comparisons between public and private employees are tricky and inexact, best estimates are that in 2023 roughly 30% of private workers were working from home or remotely either some or all the time. In the private sector, the percentage of employees working from home has actually declined from about 50% during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This means that, according to FNN, federal employees are THREE TIMES more likely to be working remotely either some or all the time.

Full-Time Remote:

- Federal Government: 30%

- Private Workers: 12%

Full-Time or Hybrid Remote:

- Federal Government: 94%

- Private Workers: 30%

I’m all for employees working remotely a few days a week. I do it myself, and it’s likely to become more common in the information and digital age.

But one has to wonder how many of these workers are really necessary. And how many of these remote government workers, who can almost never get fired for bad performance...

[MtnClimber]

How many of these government workers have done something that helped me? I don’t remember any.

[antidemoncrat]

So I wonder what will happen to all these government non-workers if the private economy nose dives? Who will pay their bloated salaries then?

[BigFreakinToad]

The swamp will never be drained. It’s been entrenched too long and has built itself safeguards. The latest is Ukraine, the money launderer for the Democratic party

[SaveFerris]

[So I wonder what will happen to all these government non-workers if the private economy nose dives? Who will pay their bloated salaries then?]

I thought exactly that in 2008 (what’s coming will be worse)

The last thing I expected was that it would survive and thrive - because, you can print all the money you want (Alan Greenspan before his flip-flop)

[Daveinyork]

A couple of years ago, I needed certificates of corporate clearance from Pennsylvania taxing agencies. One sent the certificate to the wrong address - 121 instead of the correct 212. I had to keep filing LLC forms until the LLC was terminated, and when I found out why it was not terminated, and I got it corrected, it cost me $5 grand to terminate the LLC. The state employee who screwed up thought it was funny.

My faith in government dropped to a new low.

[quantim]

A balanced federal budget without raising taxes would fix most problems immediately by slicing off dozens of federal agencies and destroying the GOPe/uniparty/left wing politicos, that’s the good news. The real bad news is that it would take a bloody Civil War II to do so anytime soon.

We’re on track to hit $40,000,000,000,000 in debt by the end of the decade so The Great Collapse is right on schedule, we’ll see what happens.

[1Old Pro]

Bottom line, the swamp is enormous and still growing, government is way too large. It will take two terms back to back of conservative Presidents with Congressional support to rightsize government - by cutting it at least 25% or more.

[brownsfan]

However, the swamp is stronger than ever.