Zenophobia: the irrational fear of convergent sequences.
Sunday, October 2, 2011
Saturday, October 1, 2011
How The Government Works
Once upon a time the government had a vast scrap yard in the middle of a desert. Congress said someone may steal from it at night, so they created a night watchman position (GS-4) and hired a person for the job.
Then Congress said, "How does the watchman do his job without instruction?" So they created a planning position and hired two people: one person to write the instructions (GS-12) and one person to do time studies (GS-11).
Then Congress said, "How will we know the night watchman is doing the tasks correctly?" So they created a Q.C. position and hired two people, one GS-9 to do the studies and one GS-11 to write the reports.
Then Congress said, "How are these people going to get paid?" So they created the following positions, a timekeeper (GS-09) and a payroll officer (GS-11) and hired two people.
Then Congress said, "Who will be accountable for all of these people?"
So they created an administrative position and hired three people: an Admin. Officer (GM-13), an Assistant Admin. Officer (GS-13) and a Legal Secretary (GS-08).
Then Congress said, "We have had this command in operation for one year and we are $18,000 over budget, we must cutback overall cost," so they laid off the night watchman.
Monday, September 5, 2011
A Plan for Success
It's been a while since I last posted. I want this to be a neutral blog, not full of the usual partisan acrimony, but usually anything besides yelling "tea party people are crazy!" has been hard. So, I've been waiting until something could go the other way at least a little bit, and as usual, I am not disappointed.
President Obama went on vacation (a non-issue) promising to come back after Labor Day with a new jobs plan. I have to admit that is a little troubling. First, if there is a jobs plan to be had, where has it been all this time? Second, we all know what it is going to be, nibbling around the edges hoping to float his political image through the election. He knows what we all know, there is not a lot that can be done at this point about the jobs issue.
In fact, there might never be a solution. It has been speculated by many talking heads that this could be the new "full employment", meaning that the currently unemployed are mostly going to stay unemployed going forward. The breakdown of the unemployment shows that the uneducated are disproportionately affected, as would be expected. The problem, however, is that the uneducated do not have much that is special to offer in a hyper-competitive job market.
The main problem facing The President is that government has limited ability to affect the overall jobs picture for the better. Big, government mistakes can cause big problems (see the debt ceiling fiasco) but good government action has less positive affect. The problem is that government action doesn't make people feel like the economy is getting better, for the most part it only treats the symptoms. The government should absolutely help to treat the symptoms and minimize the damage that this decade causes to our citizens, but I do not believe they are where the answer is at this point.
The really depressing part is that a real plan at the very beginning could probably have averted most of the crisis. Also, let me be clear, a real plan is not some extra money for some roads and an tax break incentive program for small business owners. A national plan looks like one of these. No government workers get laid off for budget reasons until the economy gets better at any level of government. That's a national plan. The federal government pays fifty percent of the salary of every job a company brings back from offshore for their first five years back in the US.
Obviously those have a myriad of logistical problems as I made them up here while I'm typing this post, but I think everyone gets the point. Something huge, where everybody new someone at their work that had a job because of the stimulus. That would have been a plan. The time, however, has past, and it is time to admit that.
I do not envy The President his position trying to herd a bunch of Congressman who feel more like cattle than intelligent people, but he needs to level with people. This face he puts on is not becoming. It's time that President Obama made it real that he is The President. We don't give out medals at this level for "tried hard" or "participated". What is coming out is not a plan, it's a dodge, and I think everyone knows it.
President Obama went on vacation (a non-issue) promising to come back after Labor Day with a new jobs plan. I have to admit that is a little troubling. First, if there is a jobs plan to be had, where has it been all this time? Second, we all know what it is going to be, nibbling around the edges hoping to float his political image through the election. He knows what we all know, there is not a lot that can be done at this point about the jobs issue.
In fact, there might never be a solution. It has been speculated by many talking heads that this could be the new "full employment", meaning that the currently unemployed are mostly going to stay unemployed going forward. The breakdown of the unemployment shows that the uneducated are disproportionately affected, as would be expected. The problem, however, is that the uneducated do not have much that is special to offer in a hyper-competitive job market.
The main problem facing The President is that government has limited ability to affect the overall jobs picture for the better. Big, government mistakes can cause big problems (see the debt ceiling fiasco) but good government action has less positive affect. The problem is that government action doesn't make people feel like the economy is getting better, for the most part it only treats the symptoms. The government should absolutely help to treat the symptoms and minimize the damage that this decade causes to our citizens, but I do not believe they are where the answer is at this point.
The really depressing part is that a real plan at the very beginning could probably have averted most of the crisis. Also, let me be clear, a real plan is not some extra money for some roads and an tax break incentive program for small business owners. A national plan looks like one of these. No government workers get laid off for budget reasons until the economy gets better at any level of government. That's a national plan. The federal government pays fifty percent of the salary of every job a company brings back from offshore for their first five years back in the US.
Obviously those have a myriad of logistical problems as I made them up here while I'm typing this post, but I think everyone gets the point. Something huge, where everybody new someone at their work that had a job because of the stimulus. That would have been a plan. The time, however, has past, and it is time to admit that.
I do not envy The President his position trying to herd a bunch of Congressman who feel more like cattle than intelligent people, but he needs to level with people. This face he puts on is not becoming. It's time that President Obama made it real that he is The President. We don't give out medals at this level for "tried hard" or "participated". What is coming out is not a plan, it's a dodge, and I think everyone knows it.
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Thursday, April 21, 2011
The newest Street commissar
I have just learned that I will be the newest street commissioner in my township.
To me that is an honor, I get to plan the street scape.
To me that is an honor, I get to plan the street scape.
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
May 5th
On May 5th I am suppose to take office as a board member in my township. But I am being challenged because of my write-in winning. I won as a write-in candidate. It was a surprise to those who rounded up signatures to get on the ballot. I won with the most people writing in my name. The challenger's are from the status quo.
This is the catcher there was no write in blank on the ballot and people wrote my name in below. Below others.
This is the catcher there was no write in blank on the ballot and people wrote my name in below. Below others.
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
The over all
This is my first post to a revival of an old blog. I have so many things to say. Just beer with me as I become vocal about politics. I'm usually drunk when ideas come to mind but what the hell. politics's are a drunken move. I hope that I can not only amuse you but to inform you. After all I will be taking office on May 5th of 2011. All I can say is that I hope you enjoy my banter.
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