Questions about DOGE and RTO

[Anonymous]

This is so dumb. Just saw that egg prices jumped 40 percent. The world is burning and Vivek and Co are dwelling on whether some 55 yo lady GS 12 at the Dept of Poop is teleworking too much. NOBODY CARES except the silly former high school debate guy!!

Good luck with this in 2026 and 2028. Matt Yglesias said it best: “I’m already so bored with this — if you want to cut spending, write a budget resolution; write some appropriations bill. … The big delusion of every newly elected administration and its supporters is that the more they accomplish the more they’ll be rewarded politically, when if anything the opposite is the case — people hate change and partisan overreach.”

[Anonymous]

Can someone post the poll that shows “federal employee telework” in the top 500 issues of voter concern?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:THIS IS ALL A DISTRACTION. On the list of important priorities, RTO (and most of the entire DOGE schtick), is maybe number 56.

Social security is going bankrupt, debt is exploding, imminent war with Russia and maybe China, military hallowed out, immigration, bird flu etc etc.

There’s a REASON why Trump didn’t do anything with feds in first term — He only has so much time, capacity, and political capital.

Anyone who asks for a meeting with Trump to chat about their plans to bring GS 13 Debbie back into the office won’t make it very far.

good point but this is what his base wants.

NP and I don't think that's true. I just don't think most people care that much about the issue.

Read the comments on X.
The entire DOGE idea has energized all of the Joe Rogan listeners.

Cannot wait for Joe Rogan listeners to voluntarily move to DC for no money to work for DOGE 80 hours/week.

you've missed the point. everyone's jobs at X were unnecessary. X is still functioning (prob better) with 10% of the workforce.
most middle management jobs are not necessary with the advent of AI.
the transition was always going to be painful - but they'll use the govt as the test case. private sector is next.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:THIS IS ALL A DISTRACTION. On the list of important priorities, RTO (and most of the entire DOGE schtick), is maybe number 56.

Social security is going bankrupt, debt is exploding, imminent war with Russia and maybe China, military hallowed out, immigration, bird flu etc etc.

There’s a REASON why Trump didn’t do anything with feds in first term — He only has so much time, capacity, and political capital.

Anyone who asks for a meeting with Trump to chat about their plans to bring GS 13 Debbie back into the office won’t make it very far.

good point but this is what his base wants.

NP and I don't think that's true. I just don't think most people care that much about the issue.

Read the comments on X.
The entire DOGE idea has energized all of the Joe Rogan listeners.

Cannot wait for Joe Rogan listeners to voluntarily move to DC for no money to work for DOGE 80 hours/week.

you've missed the point. everyone's jobs at X were unnecessary. X is still functioning (prob better) with 10% of the workforce.
most middle management jobs are not necessary with the advent of AI.
the transition was always going to be painful - but they'll use the govt as the test case. private sector is next.

that's why x crashed when Elon was attempting to do his interview? It's full of porn bots and advertisers are gone. It's lost 75% of its market value. This is your success story?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Look at the several posts above - fully remote people have tried to defend themselves so desperately ... this says something.

Advice: you should start to look for other jobs.

I don't think pointing out that I'm a good employee is defending myself 'desperately'. Government is something broadly misunderstood by the public.

Absolutely.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can someone post the poll that shows “federal employee telework” in the top 500 issues of voter concern?

It’s taxes. High on the list of voter concerns is how much they pay in federal taxes.

Feds are paid by taxpayers. Elon/Vivek feel that ordering feds into the office will result in 25% of Feds leaving. They won’t replace them - no it won’t be one to one, some vital jobs will be replaced, but if you hold agencies to their on board numbers after these hypothetical departures, you’ve still reduced by 25% and saving that payroll. Does it add up to $2T? No, but it’s seen to be contributing.

It’s also meat for the voters. They have the idea that feds are fat and lazy to start, and throw in working from home and what they’re imagining feds are doing/not doing. You can tell all you want that you (the royal “you”) are working hard, but that’s not the perception. And perception means a lot in politics.

[Anonymous]

*yell, not tell.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Look at the several posts above - fully remote people have tried to defend themselves so desperately ... this says something.

Advice: you should start to look for other jobs.

Maybe you should think about what makes sense. I go back to the office, TP are paying for my space, paying my transit subsidy for me to work with people who do not work in the same part of the country. Even my manager is in a different city. What is your goal? How is the world better?

+1. I am full time remote but there is a field office near me. In an RTO situation I would go into that office where they would be forced to find space for me that they don't have so that I can work with not a single person in the building. My team consists of about 5 people located in DC (including my manager) and a 5 located in cities spread across the US. None of them work in my city. There would be absolutely nothing gained by forcing me to go into that office. Asking my team to have everyone in DC and onsite would decimate our team and absolutely be terrible for our office as we are not a team of old 35 year lazy feds pulling our salary until we want to retire.

All of this may be true (and I'm sure it is), but it doesn't matter. No judge is going to substitute his or her judgment if the administration says that it is in the best interests of the government to have full RTO. The argument will be whether the government has the authority to make this change, not whether it is a good idea. I don't know, but I suspect, as PPs have said, that there are sufficient caveats in most agency agreements to allow the government this discretion. Maybe it will be a disaster, and they'll retreat from the policy - but maybe not. And regardless, you'll have to suffer through the disaster for a while first.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can someone post the poll that shows “federal employee telework” in the top 500 issues of voter concern?

It’s taxes. High on the list of voter concerns is how much they pay in federal taxes.

Feds are paid by taxpayers. Elon/Vivek feel that ordering feds into the office will result in 25% of Feds leaving. They won’t replace them - no it won’t be one to one, some vital jobs will be replaced, but if you hold agencies to their on board numbers after these hypothetical departures, you’ve still reduced by 25% and saving that payroll. Does it add up to $2T? No, but it’s seen to be contributing.

It’s also meat for the voters. They have the idea that feds are fat and lazy to start, and throw in working from home and what they’re imagining feds are doing/not doing. You can tell all you want that you (the royal “you”) are working hard, but that’s not the perception. And perception means a lot in politics.

The federal payroll is 5%of th budget.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can someone post the poll that shows “federal employee telework” in the top 500 issues of voter concern?

It’s taxes. High on the list of voter concerns is how much they pay in federal taxes.

Feds are paid by taxpayers. Elon/Vivek feel that ordering feds into the office will result in 25% of Feds leaving. They won’t replace them - no it won’t be one to one, some vital jobs will be replaced, but if you hold agencies to their on board numbers after these hypothetical departures, you’ve still reduced by 25% and saving that payroll. Does it add up to $2T? No, but it’s seen to be contributing.

It’s also meat for the voters. They have the idea that feds are fat and lazy to start, and throw in working from home and what they’re imagining feds are doing/not doing. You can tell all you want that you (the royal “you”) are working hard, but that’s not the perception. And perception means a lot in politics.

Let Fox News tell it, we are all millionaire money launderers doing major time card theft and plotting against conservatives. They don’t make the connection that the person they call to help with their Social Security checks and all of the staff at the VA hospital are federal employees.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can someone post the poll that shows “federal employee telework” in the top 500 issues of voter concern?

It’s taxes. High on the list of voter concerns is how much they pay in federal taxes.

Feds are paid by taxpayers. Elon/Vivek feel that ordering feds into the office will result in 25% of Feds leaving. They won’t replace them - no it won’t be one to one, some vital jobs will be replaced, but if you hold agencies to their on board numbers after these hypothetical departures, you’ve still reduced by 25% and saving that payroll. Does it add up to $2T? No, but it’s seen to be contributing.

It’s also meat for the voters. They have the idea that feds are fat and lazy to start, and throw in working from home and what they’re imagining feds are doing/not doing. You can tell all you want that you (the royal “you”) are working hard, but that’s not the perception. And perception means a lot in politics.

The federal payroll is 5%of th budget.

Jeez that’s more than I assumed it was. That’s wild knowing how much our “budget” is. Yeah…burn it all down.

[Anonymous]

[twitter]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can someone post the poll that shows “federal employee telework” in the top 500 issues of voter concern?

It’s taxes. High on the list of voter concerns is how much they pay in federal taxes.

Feds are paid by taxpayers. Elon/Vivek feel that ordering feds into the office will result in 25% of Feds leaving. They won’t replace them - no it won’t be one to one, some vital jobs will be replaced, but if you hold agencies to their on board numbers after these hypothetical departures, you’ve still reduced by 25% and saving that payroll. Does it add up to $2T? No, but it’s seen to be contributing.

It’s also meat for the voters. They have the idea that feds are fat and lazy to start, and throw in working from home and what they’re imagining feds are doing/not doing. You can tell all you want that you (the royal “you”) are working hard, but that’s not the perception. And perception means a lot in politics.

The federal payroll is 5%of th budget.

Jeez that’s more than I assumed it was. That’s wild knowing how much our “budget” is. Yeah…burn it all down.

1/3 of that is running the VA and administering veterans’s benefits.

I gather you didn’t serve.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:[twitter]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can someone post the poll that shows “federal employee telework” in the top 500 issues of voter concern?

It’s taxes. High on the list of voter concerns is how much they pay in federal taxes.

Feds are paid by taxpayers. Elon/Vivek feel that ordering feds into the office will result in 25% of Feds leaving. They won’t replace them - no it won’t be one to one, some vital jobs will be replaced, but if you hold agencies to their on board numbers after these hypothetical departures, you’ve still reduced by 25% and saving that payroll. Does it add up to $2T? No, but it’s seen to be contributing.

It’s also meat for the voters. They have the idea that feds are fat and lazy to start, and throw in working from home and what they’re imagining feds are doing/not doing. You can tell all you want that you (the royal “you”) are working hard, but that’s not the perception. And perception means a lot in politics.

The federal payroll is 5%of th budget.

Jeez that’s more than I assumed it was. That’s wild knowing how much our “budget” is. Yeah…burn it all down.

1/3 of that is running the VA and administering veterans’s benefits.

I gather you didn’t serve.

Well at least the military will feel it somehow. Trump thinks they are all losers anyway, so I wouldn’t be surprised if Elon and Vivek felt fine with removing VA benefits.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:[twitter]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can someone post the poll that shows “federal employee telework” in the top 500 issues of voter concern?

It’s taxes. High on the list of voter concerns is how much they pay in federal taxes.

Feds are paid by taxpayers. Elon/Vivek feel that ordering feds into the office will result in 25% of Feds leaving. They won’t replace them - no it won’t be one to one, some vital jobs will be replaced, but if you hold agencies to their on board numbers after these hypothetical departures, you’ve still reduced by 25% and saving that payroll. Does it add up to $2T? No, but it’s seen to be contributing.

It’s also meat for the voters. They have the idea that feds are fat and lazy to start, and throw in working from home and what they’re imagining feds are doing/not doing. You can tell all you want that you (the royal “you”) are working hard, but that’s not the perception. And perception means a lot in politics.

The federal payroll is 5%of th budget.

Jeez that’s more than I assumed it was. That’s wild knowing how much our “budget” is. Yeah…burn it all down.

1/3 of that is running the VA and administering veterans’s benefits.

I gather you didn’t serve.

Well at least the military will feel it somehow. Trump thinks they are all losers anyway, so I wouldn’t be surprised if Elon and Vivek felt fine with removing VA benefits.

1/3 of the federal workforce…it’s not 1/3 of the $8TN budget.

SS, Medicare, Disability and Debt interest payments are $6.3TN of the $8.0TN.

Would love if they cut off all the disability fraudsters in rural/middle America.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can someone post the poll that shows “federal employee telework” in the top 500 issues of voter concern?

It’s taxes. High on the list of voter concerns is how much they pay in federal taxes.

Feds are paid by taxpayers. Elon/Vivek feel that ordering feds into the office will result in 25% of Feds leaving. They won’t replace them - no it won’t be one to one, some vital jobs will be replaced, but if you hold agencies to their on board numbers after these hypothetical departures, you’ve still reduced by 25% and saving that payroll. Does it add up to $2T? No, but it’s seen to be contributing.

It’s also meat for the voters. They have the idea that feds are fat and lazy to start, and throw in working from home and what they’re imagining feds are doing/not doing. You can tell all you want that you (the royal “you”) are working hard, but that’s not the perception. And perception means a lot in politics.

Disagree. This is first and foremost about gutting the agencies that regulate their own businesses. They don't want government oversight.

Then a secondary purpose, they enjoy the attention: being in the news, being seen as "hard" and a villain who will stick it to some group or other (today it's feds, tomorrow who knows). That appeals to the base as well.

It's in no way about cost savings, that is just the cover story.