JMHO, talking about reducing govt workers is only treating the symptom.
Plus putting the whole project at risk by allowing the discussion to be framed around a case-by-case review of individuals who would promptly wrap themselves in the MSM's protective blanket of Wonderful Person And Poor Little Oppressed Minority Who Only Wants To Do Their Best Work For [Fill in the blank with the current eyewash du jour].
When was the last time any of you were around a School Board election or negotiations for teachers' salaries/benefits that those tactics weren't pulled out of the hat?
(No, EH, I'm not flaming you. I just got bit by this snake before.)
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My own take on Reducing This Malignancy (in no particular order of priorities):
1) Revoke that stupid EO that set up government unions. Run the union bosses and their legal teams out of DC and out of ANY contact with the gummint for all time to come.
2) As part of the next budget process, require detailed, written and certified cost/benefit analysis of every person, policy and piece of equipment in the gummint to be collected, summarized and reported (in writing) by the agency, department or whatever is supposed to be in charge. (Those Big Wheels will also, and most especially get to justify their existence. Also in writing. Plus, and this is the best part, they get to do the culling of the herd.)
3) Investigate, prosecute and imprison as required. (Sigh. If, and I really mean IF, there's enough trust left in the legal "profession" account that we wouldn't just throw up our hands and let the Vigilantes Ride....)
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I might be a tad bit harsh, but that's what engineers generally do:
If it works, it's good. If it don't work, fix it. If it don't "fix", sh**can it and start over.
...right now, I'd grade this project out at Busted Pieces Rolling Everywhere / One Silly Millimeter above the lip of the sh**can.
You make excellant points...and while we are at it..can we finally get rid of the Diversity Hiring quotas..all we get is Affirmative Action incomptentents. ( like me who can’t spell, ha).
I agree it has to be at a higher level than indv workers..ie, polices, volume of middle and upper managment, etc. If you just eliminate indv workers, its really impossible in govt to weed out the losers, because the political machine is still in place and its not private, so cost/benefit doesn’t enter into it. There are no criteria for ‘productivity’ or innovation.
good take each and every dept. of govt. has to be reinvented we cant do it all at once but a little at a time.Just like they were built.We rebuild one department a year and in ten years we have our country back.