US Politics Thread

[Moxie]

Indeed Kieran, The bloat in the public sector is astronomical... and by public sector we should include the private/public partnerships where corporations charge bloated amounts to the taxpayer for services that would never stand up in the private sector. There is little value for money.

Wages are a fraction of the cost too - endless conferences, low value studies and expense claims that make your eyes bleed...

You also have to wonder about appointing people are supposedly "qualified" and "experienced" in some of the public sector roles.... it largely means more of the same.

Maybe fresh eyes are required to gut the system completely and rebuild from the ground up. Unfortunately there are so many beaks in the trough and powerful vested interests who benefit from retaining the status quo, it's a pretty tough task.

I think this is somewhat cynical. Though you are right to call out the private sector in terms of their part. For example, in the US, if health insurance and medications weren't so inflated, then Medicare wouldn't be so inflated.

I think that bureaucrats serve a function, especially in a population of 335 million in the US. These are also good, middle-class government jobs, with pensions. It serves us all that there continue to be such jobs, lest we forget. More importantly, these people serve a function. Is there bloat? I'm sure. Similarly to unions, which I am generally in favor of, but sometimes also inflate the staffing needs, that over-burdens producers. These things can be trimmed. But should not be gutted.

I absolutely agree that Trump is trying to appoint people who are not qualified or experienced, neither in the public sector, nor in the departments he's trying to have them head. But you can't just gut these agencies, because you want to. They serve actual functions. And appointing incompetent people to head them is the way to disaster.