As to the former, it *is* evident that fully half of gov functionaries are expendable…
But which half? And who decides? Aye, there’s the rub.
And the latter…on the news? THEIR news? You’ll never see that white dude father figure mentioned there except to call for his demise. And that’s the rub on that.
The State Department is still issuing passports like normal so the Progressives are free to continue their mass migration away from the coming President Pence theocracy. So those people are “essential” for now.
The theory is that it’s bad for little Nancy to hold her breath for too long because there may still be grey matter that could be further damaged.
Considering her negotiating style of “No no, first you give me everything I want and then we’ll talk about you never getting what you want”, maybe what SanFranNan really wants is for The Donald to give her a good spanking.
I was first aware of the DildoCratic negotiating style as outlined above during the Reagan administration, when Ronaldus Magnus signed the ’86 Amnesty Bill, and got nothing in return. Even then, the DildoCrats were playing the part of Lucy, and yanking the football Wall away from the American people at the last second.
Sounds like Zed and Sam need to start homeschooling the twins on colonial and early American history. The Declaration, the Federalist Papers, the Constitution. The little things.
Then they too can be in on the inside jokes.
Thing about homeschooling is that everything that goes on in the home is the schooling…and right here in this ‘toon that girl is getting her history and logic and reason and humor on all at the same time.
I hope all employees have been given a proper reduction in force notice, so they can be redundant at the end of the 30 day layoff and be refuced.
That would be the biggest “YOU”RE FIRED!” anyone has seen in quite a while.
And most all of them fired would be enemies of the USA who have worked against the people’s agendas and will for years or decades.
Then some who are needed could be hired anew by whatever procedures the government uses. Recall the Project Veritas videos showing federal employees bragging about how they worked 85% 0f their time on Socialist organization work. And how they could never be fired.
Government workers now make more than half more than equivalent titled jobs of private sector workers., I recall.
That is a considerable drainage program.
And President Trump was more than fair in his offer to compromise. The Democrats (Socialists at least) should never get as much as that deal offered ever again. Reduce the force. Make those people become productive, if only by being reduced as a drag they are in the federal government. There are always some good employees in government. Maybe some good ones can be returned later. But this is national security and a national emergency.
Only one snag in that: re-hired later.
The gov’t hiring process is arcane and LOOOOOOONG.
The people who are good workers will suffer extra during that time (as will anyone needing any actual essential services).
Not entirely against the idea, but understand what you’re up against.
Correct. No need to throw the baby out with the swampwater.
We have a structure that has operated within the confines and needs of a free Republic but with a doubled-up, wasteful, non-productive, even destructive “work”force built on corruption and entitlement.
Identify the essential elements of that structure then review and choose the best operators of each one. Place the rest on permanent furlough with a limited retraining program. Let the deadwood among the government programs and the wastrels who ran them otherwise fade away.
We can run the country without running ourselves into the ground, either by drowning ourselves in superfluous regulation and administration or by dumping the entire system that we need to continue to put America First. This shutdown might be a perfect opportunity disguised as dysfunction to do that. And who might be capable of such obscure prescience and planning?
The Deal Artist of course; like somebody else said, I wouldn’t be surprised
This could be an excellent starting point for looking at how many organizations are truly redundant, and eliminating all but the most efficient at the job.
Even better would be looking at what organizations simply should not exist.
Put simply, two out of three employees at Ag are non-essential to the department’s job. At Interior and FTC, it’s more like three out of four, seventeen out of twenty at Commerce. SEC, HUD, and NASA are the Wonka ticket winners , with roughly nineteen out of twenty personnel being fundamentally unnecessary.
Please note that all of the above, but especially the last three, went on massive hiring sprees under Obama. When he was telling everybody else that permanent recession and the loss of American jobs to overseas outsourcing was “the new normal” for the unending (but Radiant, i.e. socialist) future.
You might think that a highly specialized agency like NASA would be one with a very low fat-to-muscle ratio. And back when NASA was busy sending men to the Moon this was quite true. (I know some people who worked there back then.)
But remember, The One announced that NASA’s main mission was “Muslim outreach”. i.e., telling everybody how much space travel owes to Islam. (Answer; aside from stealing the ideas for everything from gunpowder and rockets to paper from the Chinese, and advanced mathematics from India and ancient Greece, and selling them to Medieval Europe at exorbitant markups, basically…zero.)
So, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) became the National Make Muslims Feel Good About Themselves While Blowing Things Up Administration (NMMFGATWBTUA).
Not quite the sort of thing you make a movie about, like The Right Stuff or Apollo 13, but no doubt requiring a lot of warm bodies for all those conferences and round-table discussions and etc.
Which probably handily explains why NASA is now running on about 4.6% manning. Since they’re not actually , you know, launching rockets anymore, they just need people to monitor what’s already up there.
Most of the rest are no doubt clutching their Qur’ans and wailing.
The near-shutdown of HUD and SEC should have happened a decade ago. The FM-Squared fiasco should have told even the densest Congressional representative that something was rotten in the state of Denmark- or rather, NINJA home loans. The programs, like banks and GM, were labeled “too big to (be allowed to) fail”. Those three unvoiced words in the middle were what caused most of the problems.
In fact, most government problems seem to begin with the government agency in question carefully not mentioning something about what it’s doing.
To judge by the IBD article, there’s a lot of that going around today.
Those who can, do.
Those who cannot, teach.
Those who do not want to,
Go into Civil Service so they do not have to.
Question: How many times have you encountered a “civil servant” who was either – “Civil” or a “Servant”?
January 20, 2019 at 7:07 pm
Deplorable B Woodman
The last part sounds like something out of Heinlein / Lazarus Long / Woodrow Wilson Smith.
January 20, 2019 at 10:27 am
Chris
Eon,
Sadly, “mission essential” doesn’t mean exactly the plain language definition which you (very reasonably IMHO) appear to be using here. It is not “essential to the mission of the Agency”, but instead “keep people from dying / don’t break the law”.
I work for the Army at Redstone Arsenal. Using your NASA example, the scientists at Marshall Spaceflight Center who are working on the design for the “Next Generation Lift Vehicle” are not “mission essential” and furloughed (even though spaceflight is the core mission of NASA) since no one will die, the project will just be delayed.
The mission control specialists who control the International Space Station however are reporting to work since the people on the ISS could die.
January 20, 2019 at 1:16 pm
Brent Dotson
Been waiting for someone to point this out. the “essential/non-essential” language comes from the original anti-deficiency act (passed in the 1880s and amended in the 1950s) which is why there is a shutdown when money is not appropriated. This was an act of congress and could be repealed by such. However, the act was done to rectify a serious problem of outgoing administrations incurring future obligations so rescinding the act would probably not be a good idea.
January 20, 2019 at 11:15 am
kadaka
But many NASA employees can be repurposed for border security, they’re trained for scanning sensors and video for signs of foreign objects.
January 20, 2019 at 12:54 pm
WayneM
In looking at your list, eon, the thought occurred to me that I see no effective role for federal government in a number of those departments.
For example, why is the federal government concerning itself with house and/or urban development? Isn’t that the responsibility of the States and/or the cities? If the feds want to own that, then the entire lot should be fired for incompetence based on Detroit alone.
What the hell does the federal government have to do with agriculture? If “food security” is the issue (and don’t get me started on that), what is the legitimate national concern being addressed?
As mentioned before, I’m Canadian although I’m working toward becoming a dual citizen as my fiance is a Texan. Our federal government is every bit as bloated, if not more. Anytime a politician dares to make noises about respecting taxpayers, finding efficiencies or cutting costs, the media herd-stomps them into the snow.
If Trump manages to cull even 10% of these superfluous leaches… wow!!
January 21, 2019 at 12:12 am
Jim
The situation in NASA is not quite as bad as you state, and there are a lot of people, presently furloughed, who would be willing and able to make things happen if the bureaucracy, both government and contractor, were moved out of the way (that is where 90% the true deadwood is). But basically, I infer that the people still working are those without which currently active missions (including the space station) would grind to a halt – in some cases with complete loss of investment (and for the ISS, with a risk to life). All work on future missions is halted, except for whatever safety and security is necessary to keep things at status quo.
A proposition- this could arguably be called the Ryan, or possibly the Ryan- McConnell, shutdown. If Ryan had helped the President when he was Speaker, not only would this be unnecessary, but he – or his successor – might now be Speaker.
January 20, 2019 at 9:01 am
Tagg
Shut the border also. Completely. Then see if the tax leeches want to negotiate.
Homeland Security is the one department who’s appropriation should be approved. Coast Guard, Border Patrol and Customs, ICE, Secret Service and TSA are working unpaid.
Trump could double down by instructing his Office of Management and Budget to request a major reduction in the Department of Education’s budget, before he’ll approve it. Big Democrat sacred cow.
Energy consists of two parts – the National Labs, which are the continuation of the Atomic Energy Commission and the key to nuclear security of the country, for all that the labs have been partially perverted into politically correct “science,” and the energy regulatory apparatus, which I would gladly like to see deep sixed. Just don’t throw the baby out with the bath water (and pay some attention the bath toys…)
39 Comments
Ah, the Sunday double-feature!
As to the former, it *is* evident that fully half of gov functionaries are expendable…
But which half? And who decides? Aye, there’s the rub.
And the latter…on the news? THEIR news? You’ll never see that white dude father figure mentioned there except to call for his demise. And that’s the rub on that.
BTW, not only are that sweet inquisitive girl’s eyes back open, but they are exquisitely and expressively rendered. Good job CM!
The State Department is still issuing passports like normal so the Progressives are free to continue their mass migration away from the coming President Pence theocracy. So those people are “essential” for now.
An interesting commentary on the possible 3D-chess play at work here:
https://chicagoboyz.net/archives/58868.html
Is he once again angling for a bigger gain than we expect?
I won’t hold my breath, but it’s possible.
The theory is that it’s bad for little Nancy to hold her breath for too long because there may still be grey matter that could be further damaged.
Considering her negotiating style of “No no, first you give me everything I want and then we’ll talk about you never getting what you want”, maybe what SanFranNan really wants is for The Donald to give her a good spanking.
I was first aware of the DildoCratic negotiating style as outlined above during the Reagan administration, when Ronaldus Magnus signed the ’86 Amnesty Bill, and got nothing in return. Even then, the DildoCrats were playing the part of Lucy, and yanking the football Wall away from the American people at the last second.
Ah, children will be children. Despite their age.
Sounds like Zed and Sam need to start homeschooling the twins on colonial and early American history. The Declaration, the Federalist Papers, the Constitution. The little things.
Then they too can be in on the inside jokes.
Thing about homeschooling is that everything that goes on in the home is the schooling…and right here in this ‘toon that girl is getting her history and logic and reason and humor on all at the same time.
Fine. Let Nancy hold her breath until she turns blue. It would be a more interesting skin shade then she currently has.
Smurfette Nancy from the village of SanFran.
And more lifelike.
Be pretty cool if Nancy were made to stand in the corner until reality sunk in.
That might take a while… quite a while… Okay, forever…
Mummified Nan
She’d more likely turn into a pillar of salt before that happened.
San Fran Nan Salt. Yeah. That would work for me. Divine, if it is your will. 🙂
I couldn’t wish that one on my own.
I read earlier today (01/19) that Trump has now grounded ALL gov’t appointed and elected persons for the duration.
I hope all employees have been given a proper reduction in force notice, so they can be redundant at the end of the 30 day layoff and be refuced.
That would be the biggest “YOU”RE FIRED!” anyone has seen in quite a while.
And most all of them fired would be enemies of the USA who have worked against the people’s agendas and will for years or decades.
Then some who are needed could be hired anew by whatever procedures the government uses. Recall the Project Veritas videos showing federal employees bragging about how they worked 85% 0f their time on Socialist organization work. And how they could never be fired.
Government workers now make more than half more than equivalent titled jobs of private sector workers., I recall.
That is a considerable drainage program.
And President Trump was more than fair in his offer to compromise. The Democrats (Socialists at least) should never get as much as that deal offered ever again. Reduce the force. Make those people become productive, if only by being reduced as a drag they are in the federal government. There are always some good employees in government. Maybe some good ones can be returned later. But this is national security and a national emergency.
Only one snag in that: re-hired later.
The gov’t hiring process is arcane and LOOOOOOONG.
The people who are good workers will suffer extra during that time (as will anyone needing any actual essential services).
Not entirely against the idea, but understand what you’re up against.
Correct. No need to throw the baby out with the swampwater.
We have a structure that has operated within the confines and needs of a free Republic but with a doubled-up, wasteful, non-productive, even destructive “work”force built on corruption and entitlement.
Identify the essential elements of that structure then review and choose the best operators of each one. Place the rest on permanent furlough with a limited retraining program. Let the deadwood among the government programs and the wastrels who ran them otherwise fade away.
We can run the country without running ourselves into the ground, either by drowning ourselves in superfluous regulation and administration or by dumping the entire system that we need to continue to put America First. This shutdown might be a perfect opportunity disguised as dysfunction to do that. And who might be capable of such obscure prescience and planning?
The Deal Artist of course; like somebody else said, I wouldn’t be surprised
It’s good to be skeptical but any that haven’t should read through GWB’s chicagoboys link up there to see the possibilities…
You know how there’s this whole list of biblical prophecies that have come to pass and tend to reinforce one’s belief?
Yeah, kinda like that.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-warns-off-critics-of-shutdown-deal-be-careful-nancy/ar-BBSuck5?li=BBnb7Kz
This could be an excellent starting point for looking at how many organizations are truly redundant, and eliminating all but the most efficient at the job.
Even better would be looking at what organizations simply should not exist.
According to IBD, here’s a sample of the “force reductions” in Federal agencies just due to the partial shutdown;
NASA: 95.4%
Housing and Urban Development: 95.4%
Securities and Exchange Commission: 93.5%
Commerce Department: 86%
Federal Trade Commission 76.7%
Department of the Interior: 76%
Department of Agriculture: 66.5%.
https://www.investors.com/politics/editorials/federal-workers-government-shutdown/
Put simply, two out of three employees at Ag are non-essential to the department’s job. At Interior and FTC, it’s more like three out of four, seventeen out of twenty at Commerce. SEC, HUD, and NASA are the Wonka ticket winners , with roughly nineteen out of twenty personnel being fundamentally unnecessary.
Please note that all of the above, but especially the last three, went on massive hiring sprees under Obama. When he was telling everybody else that permanent recession and the loss of American jobs to overseas outsourcing was “the new normal” for the unending (but Radiant, i.e. socialist) future.
You might think that a highly specialized agency like NASA would be one with a very low fat-to-muscle ratio. And back when NASA was busy sending men to the Moon this was quite true. (I know some people who worked there back then.)
But remember, The One announced that NASA’s main mission was “Muslim outreach”. i.e., telling everybody how much space travel owes to Islam. (Answer; aside from stealing the ideas for everything from gunpowder and rockets to paper from the Chinese, and advanced mathematics from India and ancient Greece, and selling them to Medieval Europe at exorbitant markups, basically…zero.)
So, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) became the National Make Muslims Feel Good About Themselves While Blowing Things Up Administration (NMMFGATWBTUA).
Not quite the sort of thing you make a movie about, like The Right Stuff or Apollo 13, but no doubt requiring a lot of warm bodies for all those conferences and round-table discussions and etc.
Which probably handily explains why NASA is now running on about 4.6% manning. Since they’re not actually , you know, launching rockets anymore, they just need people to monitor what’s already up there.
Most of the rest are no doubt clutching their Qur’ans and wailing.
The near-shutdown of HUD and SEC should have happened a decade ago. The FM-Squared fiasco should have told even the densest Congressional representative that something was rotten in the state of Denmark- or rather, NINJA home loans. The programs, like banks and GM, were labeled “too big to (be allowed to) fail”. Those three unvoiced words in the middle were what caused most of the problems.
In fact, most government problems seem to begin with the government agency in question carefully not mentioning something about what it’s doing.
To judge by the IBD article, there’s a lot of that going around today.
clear ether
eon
Those who can, do.
Those who cannot, teach.
Those who do not want to,
Go into Civil Service so they do not have to.
Question: How many times have you encountered a “civil servant” who was either – “Civil” or a “Servant”?
The last part sounds like something out of Heinlein / Lazarus Long / Woodrow Wilson Smith.
Eon,
Sadly, “mission essential” doesn’t mean exactly the plain language definition which you (very reasonably IMHO) appear to be using here. It is not “essential to the mission of the Agency”, but instead “keep people from dying / don’t break the law”.
I work for the Army at Redstone Arsenal. Using your NASA example, the scientists at Marshall Spaceflight Center who are working on the design for the “Next Generation Lift Vehicle” are not “mission essential” and furloughed (even though spaceflight is the core mission of NASA) since no one will die, the project will just be delayed.
The mission control specialists who control the International Space Station however are reporting to work since the people on the ISS could die.
Been waiting for someone to point this out. the “essential/non-essential” language comes from the original anti-deficiency act (passed in the 1880s and amended in the 1950s) which is why there is a shutdown when money is not appropriated. This was an act of congress and could be repealed by such. However, the act was done to rectify a serious problem of outgoing administrations incurring future obligations so rescinding the act would probably not be a good idea.
But many NASA employees can be repurposed for border security, they’re trained for scanning sensors and video for signs of foreign objects.
In looking at your list, eon, the thought occurred to me that I see no effective role for federal government in a number of those departments.
For example, why is the federal government concerning itself with house and/or urban development? Isn’t that the responsibility of the States and/or the cities? If the feds want to own that, then the entire lot should be fired for incompetence based on Detroit alone.
What the hell does the federal government have to do with agriculture? If “food security” is the issue (and don’t get me started on that), what is the legitimate national concern being addressed?
As mentioned before, I’m Canadian although I’m working toward becoming a dual citizen as my fiance is a Texan. Our federal government is every bit as bloated, if not more. Anytime a politician dares to make noises about respecting taxpayers, finding efficiencies or cutting costs, the media herd-stomps them into the snow.
If Trump manages to cull even 10% of these superfluous leaches… wow!!
The situation in NASA is not quite as bad as you state, and there are a lot of people, presently furloughed, who would be willing and able to make things happen if the bureaucracy, both government and contractor, were moved out of the way (that is where 90% the true deadwood is). But basically, I infer that the people still working are those without which currently active missions (including the space station) would grind to a halt – in some cases with complete loss of investment (and for the ISS, with a risk to life). All work on future missions is halted, except for whatever safety and security is necessary to keep things at status quo.
A proposition- this could arguably be called the Ryan, or possibly the Ryan- McConnell, shutdown. If Ryan had helped the President when he was Speaker, not only would this be unnecessary, but he – or his successor – might now be Speaker.
Shut the border also. Completely. Then see if the tax leeches want to negotiate.
Just a quick comment – I really like that rendering of Sam yawning. It is really well done.
I wonder (he mused) what impact this will have on the deficit now that we have both a booming economy _and_ a government shutdown?
Booming economy? With all the news footage of government employees lining up for free handouts I thought we were in a depression!
Homeland Security is the one department who’s appropriation should be approved. Coast Guard, Border Patrol and Customs, ICE, Secret Service and TSA are working unpaid.
Trump could double down by instructing his Office of Management and Budget to request a major reduction in the Department of Education’s budget, before he’ll approve it. Big Democrat sacred cow.
Ditto for the Department of Energy.
Both President Cahtah startups, if I remember correctly.
Energy consists of two parts – the National Labs, which are the continuation of the Atomic Energy Commission and the key to nuclear security of the country, for all that the labs have been partially perverted into politically correct “science,” and the energy regulatory apparatus, which I would gladly like to see deep sixed. Just don’t throw the baby out with the bath water (and pay some attention the bath toys…)
This really made me think about Pelosi today.
https://www.daybydaycartoon.com/comic/december16-2002/