Anonymous
Post 03/17/2023 08:08     Subject: The war on feds
Anonymous wrote:I'm not understanding what OP is alleging.


OP is a moron.
Anonymous
Post 03/16/2023 18:26     Subject: The war on feds
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Republicans are pandering to their populist base and have no understanding of what feds do. They’ll get what’s coming for them when they replace fed’s with Trump’s buddies. Like the spoils system? Hope so.


I mean the Republicans started with replacing feds with cheaper contractors. Now they get leaks. They know what they're doing


Contractors were supposed to be cheaper but they end up costing the government a crapload of money. And it's scary that we have a whole lot of major national programs that are now only one or two feds deep, the rest is all contractor staff who may or may not get rebadged every time that contract expires. Government is losing all of the institutional and technical and other knowledge that it needs to have in-house.


Yes, it is a deep problem.
Anonymous
Post 03/02/2023 21:15     Subject: The war on feds
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Huh? Newsflash, the feds have no idea what feds do. I worked for a think tank that helped the feds over different administrations. It's not a D or R issue, it's an overarching issue. The words fed agencies and efficient are not synonymous.

So.. your salary depended on fed agencies needing your help and.. you concluded fed agencies need your help. Lol. I've seen this first hand because I used to work at such a think tank. The cool aid was that fed agencies are clueless compared to us, the truth is we offered solutions that wouldn't work because of constraints we didn't understand.

From the outside fed agencies may seem inefficient, and a lot of how gov runs is actually inefficient, but it's the legal and political constraints that are inefficient. Lots of paperwork, procedures, and audits. But those constraints are there to avoid a bribery and graft. The alternative is administrative corruption.

It's like the joke about democracy being the worst form of gov, except for all the others. Because a dictatorship can keep the trains running on time.


NP. Except some areas treat their money as fungible. It has gotten better over the years but problems persist. I cannot tell you how many times I went into an office and found that some offices with multiple programs use program A with $$$$$ to offset costs (usually labor) on project B that was scoped to big for the money received. I’ve had managers tell me they just make sure that as long as they have enough overall money, they’re good. they’d crucify a contractor for that.

Your exception proves the point on this one. There is so much traceablility of every tax dollar that even small infractions like a department moving staff hours between projects without moving the funds, is notable. A person can say that money isn't being spent on the right priorities, but the federal gov makes sure that the will of the democracy is carried out, without kleptocracy.
Anonymous
Post 03/02/2023 21:12     Subject: The war on feds
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:WaPo article this morning says the Rs are unhappy the IRS hasn’t been answering the phones but also they want to cut the funding that makes it possible for them to answer the phones.

Also they apparently want to subpoena mid level career staff. 🙄


The IRS does not need tens of thousands more people.


What are you basing that on? Have you studied the staffing? Do you know 50% of the staff will be eligible to retire in the next 10 years?


They can replace them. They do not need 87,000 more employees.


You know we have one of the highest tax remittance rates In The world. Per person they are one of the most efficient tax agencies in the world. We could be more efficient if republicans would allow them to use their data to offer people the option to pay what they already know they owe. You have just bought into the anti tax rhetoric. They have a mandate and limited resources and bring in all our revenue. They are just a convenient punching bag for politicians who want to manipulate ignorant people like yourself.
Anonymous
Post 03/02/2023 20:54     Subject: The war on feds
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Republicans are pandering to their populist base and have no understanding of what feds do. They’ll get what’s coming for them when they replace fed’s with Trump’s buddies. Like the spoils system? Hope so.

Republicans attack on Federal workers are just following the lead from Bowser and Holmes-Norton


Really? Because the Republicans want to gut federal agencies and move what's left out of DC. I have NEVER seen Bowser or Holmes-Norton promote anything like that.

Moving Federal agencies out of DC is a side issue, but both have in the past favored the FBI moving out of their downtown HQ.

In terms of the current attacks, both have attacked Federal workers for not returning to work in person and Holmes-Norton even endorsed the Republican sponsored bill that would require them to do so.
Anonymous
Post 03/02/2023 19:50     Subject: The war on feds
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Republicans are pandering to their populist base and have no understanding of what feds do. They’ll get what’s coming for them when they replace fed’s with Trump’s buddies. Like the spoils system? Hope so.


I mean the Republicans started with replacing feds with cheaper contractors. Now they get leaks. They know what they're doing


Contractors were supposed to be cheaper but they end up costing the government a crapload of money. And it's scary that we have a whole lot of major national programs that are now only one or two feds deep, the rest is all contractor staff who may or may not get rebadged every time that contract expires. Government is losing all of the institutional and technical and other knowledge that it needs to have in-house.
Anonymous
Post 03/02/2023 13:41     Subject: The war on feds
Anonymous wrote:Republicans are pandering to their populist base and have no understanding of what feds do. They’ll get what’s coming for them when they replace fed’s with Trump’s buddies. Like the spoils system? Hope so.


I mean the Republicans started with replacing feds with cheaper contractors. Now they get leaks. They know what they're doing
Anonymous
Post 03/02/2023 13:30     Subject: The war on feds
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Huh? Newsflash, the feds have no idea what feds do. I worked for a think tank that helped the feds over different administrations. It's not a D or R issue, it's an overarching issue. The words fed agencies and efficient are not synonymous.

So.. your salary depended on fed agencies needing your help and.. you concluded fed agencies need your help. Lol. I've seen this first hand because I used to work at such a think tank. The cool aid was that fed agencies are clueless compared to us, the truth is we offered solutions that wouldn't work because of constraints we didn't understand.

From the outside fed agencies may seem inefficient, and a lot of how gov runs is actually inefficient, but it's the legal and political constraints that are inefficient. Lots of paperwork, procedures, and audits. But those constraints are there to avoid a bribery and graft. The alternative is administrative corruption.

It's like the joke about democracy being the worst form of gov, except for all the others. Because a dictatorship can keep the trains running on time.


NP. Except some areas treat their money as fungible. It has gotten better over the years but problems persist. I cannot tell you how many times I went into an office and found that some offices with multiple programs use program A with $$$$$ to offset costs (usually labor) on project B that was scoped to big for the money received. I’ve had managers tell me they just make sure that as long as they have enough overall money, they’re good. they’d crucify a contractor for that.
Anonymous
Post 02/28/2023 11:11     Subject: The war on feds
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Republicans are pandering to their populist base and have no understanding of what feds do. They’ll get what’s coming for them when they replace fed’s with Trump’s buddies. Like the spoils system? Hope so.

Republicans attack on Federal workers are just following the lead from Bowser and Holmes-Norton


Really? Because the Republicans want to gut federal agencies and move what's left out of DC. I have NEVER seen Bowser or Holmes-Norton promote anything like that.
Anonymous
Post 02/28/2023 11:03     Subject: The war on feds
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:WaPo article this morning says the Rs are unhappy the IRS hasn’t been answering the phones but also they want to cut the funding that makes it possible for them to answer the phones.

Also they apparently want to subpoena mid level career staff. 🙄


The IRS does not need tens of thousands more people.



"Last month, the Congressional Budget Office published An Analysis of Certain Proposals in the President’s 2022 Budget. Since then, CBO has completed its analysis of another proposal in the President’s budget, an increase in spending for the Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS’s) enforcement activities. CBO estimates that portions of the Administration’s proposal to increase funding for the IRS by $80 billion over the 2022–2031 period would increase revenues by approximately $200 billion over those 10 years."

https://www.cbo.gov/publication/57444

Every dollar spent on hiring new IRS agents brings in $2.50 in revenue, largely from wealthy people illegally dodging taxes they could easily afford to pay.

As long as we're still getting ROI like that we should be hiring as many more people as we can. If you don't agree I never want to hear a peep from you again about deficits, "out of control spending," or "fiscal responsibility."
Anonymous
Post 02/27/2023 23:27     Subject: The war on feds
This thread reminds me of this humor column, which still gives me a good laugh:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/26/irs-army-87000-new-employees-satire/
Anonymous
Post 02/27/2023 21:01     Subject: The war on feds
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:WaPo article this morning says the Rs are unhappy the IRS hasn’t been answering the phones but also they want to cut the funding that makes it possible for them to answer the phones.

Also they apparently want to subpoena mid level career staff. 🙄


The IRS does not need tens of thousands more people.


What are you basing that on? Have you studied the staffing? Do you know 50% of the staff will be eligible to retire in the next 10 years?


They can replace them. They do not need 87,000 more employees.


The "87,000 IRS jackboots" crap has been repeatedly debunked. Stop listening to fake news.
Anonymous
Post 02/27/2023 20:07     Subject: The war on feds
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:WaPo article this morning says the Rs are unhappy the IRS hasn’t been answering the phones but also they want to cut the funding that makes it possible for them to answer the phones.

Also they apparently want to subpoena mid level career staff. 🙄


The IRS does not need tens of thousands more people.


Literally they went from answering 10% of their phone calls to 90% because they were able to hire. Meanwhile Republicans want to cut their budget because they were not answering the phones before.
Anonymous
Post 02/27/2023 19:42     Subject: The war on feds
Who is waging the war on federal telework in D.C.?

Last I checked, it was the Mayor, and she in no R.
Anonymous
Post 02/27/2023 19:27     Subject: The war on feds
Anonymous wrote:Republicans are pandering to their populist base and have no understanding of what feds do. They’ll get what’s coming for them when they replace fed’s with Trump’s buddies. Like the spoils system? Hope so.

Republicans attack on Federal workers are just following the lead from Bowser and Holmes-Norton