Sweeping Trump proposal seeks to shrink government, merge agencies

[Ray From Cleveland]

keep going TRUMP!!!...they need to layoff workers/etc

Congress won't approve it.

my dad worked for the government and he would tell stories of laziness/sleeping/etc

I once had a coworker that used to work with NASA here in Cleveland. Some of the stories he told were almost unbelievable. They had to use their stipend or get it cut for the next year, so they wasted as much money as they could.

They would buy a truckloads of office supplies that they didn't need, so the employees took them home. Boxes of pens, pencils, paper, printer cartridges, calculators, even filling cabinets. He told me they would hire the most expensive construction companies to do something like remove and replace a 3,000 foot sidewalk, have it removed and replaced again in six months.

If I were Trump, I would create an oversight committee to detect waste and abuse. They would get paid by commission based on how much they save the taxpayers.

...remember how these BASTARDS used our tax money to buy $20,000 for DRUMSTICKS?? so that the government t employees could drum along?
GSA finds more than $250,000 spent on one-day event - CNNPolitics
these bastards should've been--in the least--fired!!
GSA exec takes the Fifth on Las Vegas spending scandal - CNNPolitics

Years ago I worked at a music store as a guitar teacher. One of my students worked at a place that made bolts and screws. They got the contract for the space shuttle.

He told me that each bolt for the shuttle had to include a 130 page government document. If one thing was wrong, you couldn't go back and edit it. You had to start from scratch each time.

They sold these bolts to the government for $550.00 each. So I asked him what was the difference between those bolts and one I might buy at the hardware store? He told me the 130 page documents and it was government money. Other than that, the bolts that go into the shuttle were no different than the bolt that went into your lawn tractor.

 

[danielpalos]

keep going TRUMP!!!...they need to layoff workers/etc

Congress won't approve it.

my dad worked for the government and he would tell stories of laziness/sleeping/etc

I once had a coworker that used to work with NASA here in Cleveland. Some of the stories he told were almost unbelievable. They had to use their stipend or get it cut for the next year, so they wasted as much money as they could.

They would buy a truckloads of office supplies that they didn't need, so the employees took them home. Boxes of pens, pencils, paper, printer cartridges, calculators, even filling cabinets. He told me they would hire the most expensive construction companies to do something like remove and replace a 3,000 foot sidewalk, have it removed and replaced again in six months.

If I were Trump, I would create an oversight committee to detect waste and abuse. They would get paid by commission based on how much they save the taxpayers.

upgrading workstations and other research equipment, would be more cost effective.

a local supercomputer could be cloud based, for easier and more convenient, supercomputing power access.

 

[Harpy Eagle]

keep going TRUMP!!!...they need to layoff workers/etc

Congress won't approve it.

my dad worked for the government and he would tell stories of laziness/sleeping/etc

I once had a coworker that used to work with NASA here in Cleveland. Some of the stories he told were almost unbelievable. They had to use their stipend or get it cut for the next year, so they wasted as much money as they could.

They would buy a truckloads of office supplies that they didn't need, so the employees took them home. Boxes of pens, pencils, paper, printer cartridges, calculators, even filling cabinets. He told me they would hire the most expensive construction companies to do something like remove and replace a 3,000 foot sidewalk, have it removed and replaced again in six months.

If I were Trump, I would create an oversight committee to detect waste and abuse. They would get paid by commission based on how much they save the taxpayers.

The military was, and likely still is, the same way. When I was the Operation Chief for our squadron I had to track the money for both supplies and TAD money. In August and early September every year I had to schedule more cross countries for the pilots to make sure all the money was spent out of the TDA budget or I got my ass handed to me by the XO for "wasting money" (his term for money not spent). The number of flights to NAS Key West always went up in that time of the year.

 

[Harpy Eagle]

keep going TRUMP!!!...they need to layoff workers/etc

Congress won't approve it.

my dad worked for the government and he would tell stories of laziness/sleeping/etc

I once had a coworker that used to work with NASA here in Cleveland. Some of the stories he told were almost unbelievable. They had to use their stipend or get it cut for the next year, so they wasted as much money as they could.

They would buy a truckloads of office supplies that they didn't need, so the employees took them home. Boxes of pens, pencils, paper, printer cartridges, calculators, even filling cabinets. He told me they would hire the most expensive construction companies to do something like remove and replace a 3,000 foot sidewalk, have it removed and replaced again in six months.

If I were Trump, I would create an oversight committee to detect waste and abuse. They would get paid by commission based on how much they save the taxpayers.

upgrading workstations and other research equipment, would be more cost effective.

a local supercomputer could be cloud based, for easier and more convenient, supercomputing power access.

The problem is that comes out of a different budget and all those purchases have to be approved from on high. That is why the money was never spent on anything good.

 

[candycorn]

Seems to me like periodic, predictable, scheduled re-organizations, scheduled overhauls, scheduled assessments is a great idea. In that sense, I can get behind this.

A much better solution to the reorganization however is to not worry so much about the departments and labels and such. That is window dressing.

Here is what I think we should do on this front:

Every 10 years, have "zero based budgeting". Currently what happens is that the budget in 2018 is based on the budget from 2017 which was based on the budget from 2016 etc... Every 10 years, have a budget that starts at zero. Each expenditure has to be approved. Anything over X amount of dollars (call it 1 million, 5 million, 10 million, whatever) has to be approved by Congress. The full body. Not the sub committee on blah blah blah.
In Texas they used to have something called the "sunset commission" which was supposed to "sunset" programs that were no longer needed. I think anything DOT related (for example) that talks about fastening seat belts should not be funded. State agencies, private businesses, and just friggin common sense should suffice.
Commercial Motor Vehicle Safety Belt Program

I'm sure that there are dozens, if not hundreds, of programs just like that. The CDC uses our tax money to tell people in health care to wash hands. Is there anyone in the HC industry that doesn't know this?
CDC.GOV



These are the easily seen wasteful spending. How many different programs like this are hidden? I'm sure the FAA has something they put out for pilots that is just common sense you learn on day one in flight school and every other day you are behind the stick.

If you want to re-organize the cabinet to have fewer cabinet secretaries...okay. But if you don't address the spending in an intelligent way...what does it matter?

Intelligence? I'm expecting too much from Trump.

 

[danielpalos]

keep going TRUMP!!!...they need to layoff workers/etc

Congress won't approve it.

my dad worked for the government and he would tell stories of laziness/sleeping/etc

I once had a coworker that used to work with NASA here in Cleveland. Some of the stories he told were almost unbelievable. They had to use their stipend or get it cut for the next year, so they wasted as much money as they could.

They would buy a truckloads of office supplies that they didn't need, so the employees took them home. Boxes of pens, pencils, paper, printer cartridges, calculators, even filling cabinets. He told me they would hire the most expensive construction companies to do something like remove and replace a 3,000 foot sidewalk, have it removed and replaced again in six months.

If I were Trump, I would create an oversight committee to detect waste and abuse. They would get paid by commission based on how much they save the taxpayers.

upgrading workstations and other research equipment, would be more cost effective.

a local supercomputer could be cloud based, for easier and more convenient, supercomputing power access.

The problem is that comes out of a different budget and all those purchases have to be approved from on high. That is why the money was never spent on anything good.

If, capital has to be spent, anway; why not get more "speed" out of our existing research investments.

Upgrading research "infrastructure" is more cost effective.

Practical applications are better local asteroid monitoring and computing intensive research applications.

 

[BluesLegend]

keep going TRUMP!!!...they need to layoff workers/etc

Congress won't approve it.

my dad worked for the government and he would tell stories of laziness/sleeping/etc

I once had a coworker that used to work with NASA here in Cleveland. Some of the stories he told were almost unbelievable. They had to use their stipend or get it cut for the next year, so they wasted as much money as they could.

They would buy a truckloads of office supplies that they didn't need, so the employees took them home. Boxes of pens, pencils, paper, printer cartridges, calculators, even filling cabinets. He told me they would hire the most expensive construction companies to do something like remove and replace a 3,000 foot sidewalk, have it removed and replaced again in six months.

If I were Trump, I would create an oversight committee to detect waste and abuse. They would get paid by commission based on how much they save the taxpayers.

Just the Federal government has spent nearly $40 TRILLION dollars over the past 10 years and what do we have to show for it??? That's $120,000 for every man, woman, and child in the USA.

 

[Harpy Eagle]

Congress won't approve it.

my dad worked for the government and he would tell stories of laziness/sleeping/etc

I once had a coworker that used to work with NASA here in Cleveland. Some of the stories he told were almost unbelievable. They had to use their stipend or get it cut for the next year, so they wasted as much money as they could.

They would buy a truckloads of office supplies that they didn't need, so the employees took them home. Boxes of pens, pencils, paper, printer cartridges, calculators, even filling cabinets. He told me they would hire the most expensive construction companies to do something like remove and replace a 3,000 foot sidewalk, have it removed and replaced again in six months.

If I were Trump, I would create an oversight committee to detect waste and abuse. They would get paid by commission based on how much they save the taxpayers.

upgrading workstations and other research equipment, would be more cost effective.

a local supercomputer could be cloud based, for easier and more convenient, supercomputing power access.

The problem is that comes out of a different budget and all those purchases have to be approved from on high. That is why the money was never spent on anything good.

If, capital has to be spent, anway; why not get more "speed" out of our existing research investments.

Upgrading research "infrastructure" is more cost effective.

Practical applications are better local asteroid monitoring and computing intensive research applications.

You are being logical here, that is normally not allowed within the confines of the government.

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

Seems to me like periodic, predictable, scheduled re-organizations, scheduled overhauls, scheduled assessments is a great idea. In that sense, I can get behind this.

A much better solution to the reorganization however is to not worry so much about the departments and labels and such. That is window dressing.

Here is what I think we should do on this front:

Every 10 years, have "zero based budgeting". Currently what happens is that the budget in 2018 is based on the budget from 2017 which was based on the budget from 2016 etc... Every 10 years, have a budget that starts at zero. Each expenditure has to be approved. Anything over X amount of dollars (call it 1 million, 5 million, 10 million, whatever) has to be approved by Congress. The full body. Not the sub committee on blah blah blah.
In Texas they used to have something called the "sunset commission" which was supposed to "sunset" programs that were no longer needed. I think anything DOT related (for example) that talks about fastening seat belts should not be funded. State agencies, private businesses, and just friggin common sense should suffice.
Commercial Motor Vehicle Safety Belt Program

I'm sure that there are dozens, if not hundreds, of programs just like that. The CDC uses our tax money to tell people in health care to wash hands. Is there anyone in the HC industry that doesn't know this?
CDC.GOV



These are the easily seen wasteful spending. How many different programs like this are hidden? I'm sure the FAA has something they put out for pilots that is just common sense you learn on day one in flight school and every other day you are behind the stick.

If you want to re-organize the cabinet to have fewer cabinet secretaries...okay. But if you don't address the spending in an intelligent way...what does it matter?

Intelligence? I'm expecting too much from Trump.

As a truck driver, I couldn't agree more about the seat belts. It should be my business if I want to drive with a seatbelt or not--not the governments. Our founders never dreamt that our government should be run by insurance companies.

But this is the problem with all bureaucracies. They are control freaks and have nobody they have to answer to because they are bureaucrats. That's why I'm in favor of getting rid of at least 90% of our bureaucracies.

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

keep going TRUMP!!!...they need to layoff workers/etc

Congress won't approve it.

my dad worked for the government and he would tell stories of laziness/sleeping/etc

I once had a coworker that used to work with NASA here in Cleveland. Some of the stories he told were almost unbelievable. They had to use their stipend or get it cut for the next year, so they wasted as much money as they could.

They would buy a truckloads of office supplies that they didn't need, so the employees took them home. Boxes of pens, pencils, paper, printer cartridges, calculators, even filling cabinets. He told me they would hire the most expensive construction companies to do something like remove and replace a 3,000 foot sidewalk, have it removed and replaced again in six months.

If I were Trump, I would create an oversight committee to detect waste and abuse. They would get paid by commission based on how much they save the taxpayers.

The military was, and likely still is, the same way. When I was the Operation Chief for our squadron I had to track the money for both supplies and TAD money. In August and early September every year I had to schedule more cross countries for the pilots to make sure all the money was spent out of the TDA budget or I got my ass handed to me by the XO for "wasting money" (his term for money not spent). The number of flights to NAS Key West always went up in that time of the year.

It is sad that there is no oversight committee for money spent. Once Congress gives it to you, it's time to throw a party.