Mayor of New Orleans Announces Layoffs (3000)

AP ^ | 10/4/2005 | AMY FORLITI

[EDINVA]

so now 1500 real people without jobs and 1500 phantom workers ?

could you NOT laugh that no firemen or police would be let go?

you just cannot make this stuff up!

[Maceman]

i hope they lay off those cops who ran away from their duty.

Perhaps you haven't heard yet that 85% of those cops never existed. They were just dummy names collecting paychecks. It will be amusing to learn who was cashing those checks.

[RegulatorCountry]

"It will be amusing to learn who was cashing those checks."

Oh, I'd imagine that there were/are quite a few dummy corporations drafting checking accounts that were receiving the "paychecks" via automatic, electronic deposit, as well as quite a few "legitimate" companies doing the same thing. It'll be a while before it's all tracked down, unless the folks who set this scam up are complete and utter morons. And, I don't discount that possibility. It's been going on too long for somebody not to have gotten lazy.

[R.W.Ratikal]

In any bureaucracy there are many hands working at busy-boxes, that is, either doing unnecessary tasks or doing nothing at all. Also in a bureaucracy there are often three people doing the work one person could easily do.

In a bureaucracy as corrupt as in New Orleans, the Mayor could have laid off two-thirds of the employees and no one would have noticed.

The good side is that many of the city employees who have valuable skills and talents are now free to enter the private sector and benefit society.

[makoman]

[squirt]

I'm with you.

[eeriegeno]

Not hearing much about the known payroll fraud in the police force lately, are we?

Whatever happened to Tony Snow's report that there were 'phantom cops' on the payroll in NOLA? Was Tony Snow wrong in his report? Seems to me that if Tony's report was accurate, it should be bigger news than it has been??????

[RegulatorCountry]

"Was Tony Snow wrong in his report?"

If one thing is certain, it would be all over the news if Tony Snow were to be proven wrong about this.

There seems to be a desire to make it all to go away, and this "layoff" is excellent cover for doing so, in my opinion.

[Bean Counter]

How many of the layoffs will have had actual people who held the jobs?

Probably quite a few. This is only the start of the layoffs. Essentially, Katrina has triggered what amounts to a dispora of people out of the region, and the tax paying base has collapsed. The only gig let in town was for whatever Public-Service Employees could hang on, but there's nobody left to pay the bills.

[smalltownslick]

3,000 non-essential people on the payroll? That's quite an admission.

[EQAndyBuzz]

"Mayor Ray Nagin said Tuesday the city is laying off as many as 3,000 employees — or about half its workforce — because of the financial damage inflicted on New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina."

Nagin laid off the 3000 workers who never existed. Now the corrupt pols can hide the money trail.

[UCANSEE2]

It was only possible at times to distinguish between the looters and the police, because of the uniforms that the police were wearing.

WALMART - on video tape taking non-essentials.

Took all the guns in the world from WALMART.

Took an emergency generator from the Tulane Hospital.

Broke into non-flooded housing brandishing firearms and looted jewelry, valuables.

Had AC during the storm.

Stole booze, got drunk.

THEY WERE WEARING NOPD UNIFORMS.

[devane617]

I search and found this post because my thoughts when I heard this was exactly the same -- How many of these 3000 are real? Is anyone going to verify the stories of Police that do not exist, or possibily some of the 3000 city workers that do not exist? I hope so...