Heirarchy of public employees (State/local only)

[bucs90]

Since we've got discussions about unions, budgets, teachers, cops, necessity, etc, etc, I thought "Why not put our priorities down? What is truly necessary, and what is a luxury?" So, at the state and local level, what public sector jobs are most necessary, and which are least necessary? Important to know in regards to a tight budget. Mine:


1- Cops. There is no private option for law enforcement. Evil is out there. A civil society depends on a stable police force. In an absolute bare-bones budget, we still need men with guns to protect us and our homes. I include court services under this section, as they are the ones who process the arrests and hire judges, etc.

2- Firemen/EMS. Firemen are also often certified as paramedics, and more often than not, are the first medical aid for car accidents, heart attacks, medical emergencies in general. They deal with chemical spills, fires of course, car accidents, and provide a very unheralded service of medical aid since they are staffed with paramedics. In terms of public emergency, firemen can do just about anything cops do except things requiring an arrest to be made. A private option could be feasable, but then poor communities wouldn't get service.

3- Road maintenance- Face it, our society is a car dependent one. If our roads fall apart, we won't get to work, firemen and cops wont' get to emergencies, our economy wouldn't churn. We take it for granted. But what if a couple major highways fell, and we couldn't fix them, ever?

4- Teachers- they educate our kids. Without much parenting going on these days, teachers are often expected to be the day-time parent/babysitter. The reason I put them #4, however, is the fact that a very successful private school sector has emerged, and if the Democrats would only allow school vouchers to pass (freedom of choice!!!!!!) then more would be able to take advantage of the wonderful private schools. So, with a good private option available, I can't put them higher than 4.

5- Sanitation/Sewer/Trash- I don't wanna live in filth. Do you?

6- Recreation- Yeah, it's nice to have parks and soccer leagues. But really, it's not necessary at all. Not only are there private options, but there are flat-out free spontaneous options called pick-up games for sports, and free options for parks called "The woods."

So there you have it. When doing a budget and considering union busting, thats the priority list I'd use.

 

[Oddball]

Gubmint-run schools are a luxury.

Privatize them and let the teachers be free agents.

 

[bucs90]

Gubmint-run schools are a luxury.

Privatize them and let the teachers be free agents.

True. I wouldn't privatize them all, because we do owe our poor people at least a chance at an education. An 8 year old with shit-head parents shouldn't suffer if they decide not to pay for his schooling in a private-only society. I don't see a scenario where there are no government schools at all.

But I'm a big fan of private schools. AND I'm a big fan of school vouchers.

Unfortunately, liberals only believe in freedom of choice when it comes to killing a child, not educating one.

 

[percysunshine]

Since we've got discussions about unions, budgets, teachers, cops, necessity, etc, etc, I thought "Why not put our priorities down? What is truly necessary, and what is a luxury?" So, at the state and local level, what public sector jobs are most necessary, and which are least necessary? Important to know in regards to a tight budget. Mine:


1- Cops. There is no private option for law enforcement. Evil is out there. A civil society depends on a stable police force. In an absolute bare-bones budget, we still need men with guns to protect us and our homes. I include court services under this section, as they are the ones who process the arrests and hire judges, etc.

2- Firemen/EMS. Firemen are also often certified as paramedics, and more often than not, are the first medical aid for car accidents, heart attacks, medical emergencies in general. They deal with chemical spills, fires of course, car accidents, and provide a very unheralded service of medical aid since they are staffed with paramedics. In terms of public emergency, firemen can do just about anything cops do except things requiring an arrest to be made. A private option could be feasable, but then poor communities wouldn't get service.

3- Road maintenance- Face it, our society is a car dependent one. If our roads fall apart, we won't get to work, firemen and cops wont' get to emergencies, our economy wouldn't churn. We take it for granted. But what if a couple major highways fell, and we couldn't fix them, ever?

4- Teachers- they educate our kids. Without much parenting going on these days, teachers are often expected to be the day-time parent/babysitter. The reason I put them #4, however, is the fact that a very successful private school sector has emerged, and if the Democrats would only allow school vouchers to pass (freedom of choice!!!!!!) then more would be able to take advantage of the wonderful private schools. So, with a good private option available, I can't put them higher than 4.

5- Sanitation/Sewer/Trash- I don't wanna live in filth. Do you?

6- Recreation- Yeah, it's nice to have parks and soccer leagues. But really, it's not necessary at all. Not only are there private options, but there are flat-out free spontaneous options called pick-up games for sports, and free options for parks called "The woods."

So there you have it. When doing a budget and considering union busting, thats the priority list I'd use.

I noticed that there were no administrators on your list.

 

[bucs90]

Since we've got discussions about unions, budgets, teachers, cops, necessity, etc, etc, I thought "Why not put our priorities down? What is truly necessary, and what is a luxury?" So, at the state and local level, what public sector jobs are most necessary, and which are least necessary? Important to know in regards to a tight budget. Mine:


1- Cops. There is no private option for law enforcement. Evil is out there. A civil society depends on a stable police force. In an absolute bare-bones budget, we still need men with guns to protect us and our homes. I include court services under this section, as they are the ones who process the arrests and hire judges, etc.

2- Firemen/EMS. Firemen are also often certified as paramedics, and more often than not, are the first medical aid for car accidents, heart attacks, medical emergencies in general. They deal with chemical spills, fires of course, car accidents, and provide a very unheralded service of medical aid since they are staffed with paramedics. In terms of public emergency, firemen can do just about anything cops do except things requiring an arrest to be made. A private option could be feasable, but then poor communities wouldn't get service.

3- Road maintenance- Face it, our society is a car dependent one. If our roads fall apart, we won't get to work, firemen and cops wont' get to emergencies, our economy wouldn't churn. We take it for granted. But what if a couple major highways fell, and we couldn't fix them, ever?

4- Teachers- they educate our kids. Without much parenting going on these days, teachers are often expected to be the day-time parent/babysitter. The reason I put them #4, however, is the fact that a very successful private school sector has emerged, and if the Democrats would only allow school vouchers to pass (freedom of choice!!!!!!) then more would be able to take advantage of the wonderful private schools. So, with a good private option available, I can't put them higher than 4.

5- Sanitation/Sewer/Trash- I don't wanna live in filth. Do you?

6- Recreation- Yeah, it's nice to have parks and soccer leagues. But really, it's not necessary at all. Not only are there private options, but there are flat-out free spontaneous options called pick-up games for sports, and free options for parks called "The woods."

So there you have it. When doing a budget and considering union busting, thats the priority list I'd use.

I noticed that there were no administrators on your list.

You mean mayors, council members, etc? Yeah, I'm posting this in the context of an administrator making a budget. But I suppose you could have a sheriff acting as mayor, like in the Old West.

But it's kinda a chicken/egg deal. Gotta have a government (administrators) to have a gov't employee. As far as admin of each group, like police commissioner, fire chief, school superindendent, well, they are included as the head of the chain of command for each of the above.

I'm sure I left a few local public jobs off. Feel free to add to the list.

 

[Oddball]

Gubmint-run schools are a luxury.

Privatize them and let the teachers be free agents.

True. I wouldn't privatize them all, because we do owe our poor people at least a chance at an education. An 8 year old with shit-head parents shouldn't suffer if they decide not to pay for his schooling in a private-only society. I don't see a scenario where there are no government schools at all.

But I'm a big fan of private schools. AND I'm a big fan of school vouchers.

Unfortunately, liberals only believe in freedom of choice when it comes to killing a child, not educating one.

Shit head parents already are letting their kids to fail getting an education.

OTOH, low income people who do care about their kids have no problem at all getting all the food and clothing they want at Wal-Mart, Target and K-Mart.

 

[bucs90]

Gubmint-run schools are a luxury.

Privatize them and let the teachers be free agents.

True. I wouldn't privatize them all, because we do owe our poor people at least a chance at an education. An 8 year old with shit-head parents shouldn't suffer if they decide not to pay for his schooling in a private-only society. I don't see a scenario where there are no government schools at all.

But I'm a big fan of private schools. AND I'm a big fan of school vouchers.

Unfortunately, liberals only believe in freedom of choice when it comes to killing a child, not educating one.

Shit head parents already are letting their kids to fail getting an education.

OTOH, low income people who do care about their kids have no problem at all getting all the food and clothing they want at Wal-Mart, Target and K-Mart.

Isn't it amazing? I've seen low income families who have kids that are well mannered, smart, have clothing and toys. And they go to public schools and shop at WalMart (evil greedy corporate racist imperialist oppressive company) and WalMart's low prices allow that family to get their kid decent clothes and even a video game, tv, laptop, etc, as well as good food. But screw the imperialist corporatist profit hungry WalMart!!!!

 

[Big Black Dog]

State Government level:

Governor: Got to have someone officially the head of the State.
State Senators: Maybe each State could get by with just 10 total for the whole State. Anymore to me seems excessive.
State Representatives: Same thing. They would be necessary in our form of government but here again, why do we really need more than 10?
Note: Maybe we should have 11 State Senators and 11 State Representatives. That way, there would never be a tie when it came down to voting.

The Congress for the State should be in session no longer than 6 months per year. Anything more than that is unnecessary.

State Police Force: Self-explans. Who else could give us a speeding ticket on the State level or arrest our criminals?

No local police needed: Everybody in law enforcement would be a State policeman. No need for multiple levels of crime enforcement.

Firemen: When your house is burning to the ground, you need to call somebody.

Lottery Commissioner: He collects more taxes for the State than anybody else. They just call it the Lottery.

State Tax Collector/Treasurer: He collects the taxes and no matter how much money the State decides to spend, he is the guy that says "NO" when there is no money in the coffers. If you can't pay cash for it, then it doesn't happen.

No need for Public Assistance people. If you can't feed or house yourself, then you need to move to another State. I recommend California. It's usually warm there and it's conducive to sleeping outside if necessary.

Citizen Proof Commissioner: You must prove you are a legal resident of the State in order to stay in the State more than 2 weeks - unless visiting with a relative. This includes tourists. Bring those tourist dollars to us but spend them all within two weeks and then get the hell out. Take a post card with you too.

Off the top of my head, that's all I can think of that are truly necessary to run a State Government.

 

[bucs90]

BBD, thats a pretty good list. I like the idea of all police being state police. No locals, no counties.

The only issue would be local ordinances. For example, coastal cities having dog-leash laws on the beach, etc. If the state officer wasn't sworn in as an official of the local gov't, he wouldn't have authority to enforce local laws, only state laws. Thats how it alread is actually. South Carolina State Troopers can't arrest a person for a local disorderly conduct charge, only a state charge. But local cops can enforce both local and state charges. Strangely, the local cops have more power than the state cops in that regard.

But you could have all state cops, then have them assigned to a particular county or city permanently, and have that city or county swear them in as deputies or constables of that local gov't, while maintaining their full-time state authority.

Some states have considered this. Many cities have already combined several small PD's into one "Metro Police" department. I think Las Vegas is the most famous "Metro" police dept.

 

[California Girl]

Federal Employees Search

Just take a look at the list of public sector organizations, agencies, etc. Are you seriously telling me we cannot cut without getting rid of teachers, police and fire?

 

[Oddball]

True. I wouldn't privatize them all, because we do owe our poor people at least a chance at an education. An 8 year old with shit-head parents shouldn't suffer if they decide not to pay for his schooling in a private-only society. I don't see a scenario where there are no government schools at all.

But I'm a big fan of private schools. AND I'm a big fan of school vouchers.

Unfortunately, liberals only believe in freedom of choice when it comes to killing a child, not educating one.

Shit head parents already are letting their kids to fail getting an education.

OTOH, low income people who do care about their kids have no problem at all getting all the food and clothing they want at Wal-Mart, Target and K-Mart.

Isn't it amazing? I've seen low income families who have kids that are well mannered, smart, have clothing and toys.

And I've also seen rich kids who've had every opportunity served to them on a silver platter, who are dumb as dirt.

 

[boedicca]

I'd add the court system to the necessary services list, all though civil actions should be purely fee based and not subsidized with taxpayer money.

 

[bucs90]

Shit head parents already are letting their kids to fail getting an education.

OTOH, low income people who do care about their kids have no problem at all getting all the food and clothing they want at Wal-Mart, Target and K-Mart.

Isn't it amazing? I've seen low income families who have kids that are well mannered, smart, have clothing and toys.

And I've also seen rich kids who've had every opportunity served to them on a silver platter, who are dumb as dirt.

Yep. The dirty secret is that throwing money at an education problem will NEVER fix it. Education problems are a mental problem, not a financial one.

 

[boedicca]

Posted in another thread, but illustrative here. Spending per pupil in constant $2008 dollars, and test scores.

More Money =/= Better Education

 

[bucs90]

"Spending per pupil" means what? It means how much they are paying teachers in relation to how many students they have.

They sure aren't just writing a check to the student to take home and give to mommy.

"Spending per pupil" is code for "Pay the unions".

 

[American I Am]

You want to see insane, just try to follow this. Ohio.gov | Agencies

Now thats a lot of departments.

And each department has a Director, who most likely than not has a deputy Director, of which each probably has a number of Administrative assistants, Executive secretaries so on and so forth, you can only imagine the branching out from there.

 

[bodecea]

Gubmint-run schools are a luxury.

Privatize them and let the teachers be free agents.

Ah, let's have an education system like Mexico's.