Federal deficit cuts
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From: Gulf Coast
Federal deficit cuts
http://www.fedsmith.com/article/3107...s-federal.html
I was reading an article yesterday about the work of Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management, the Federal Workforce, and the District of Columbia. It was saying they found 1.4 trillion in cuts over the next 10 years. The cuts were condensed into 17 ideas. Of those 17 all but three involved cutting compensation and the federal workforce. If those ideas are implemented, I take a 25% pay cut. The wife takes another 16% pay cut. My household will take a 40% pay cut. Yup that'll make for a strong economy, when many federal workers start walking from their financial responsibilities and declaring bankruptcy. It'll also solve the problem of having long term employees on the payroll because they won't be able to get their clearances renewed and will be fired.
If many of those ideas go through, it will be very tough to find anybody willing to work for the feds in something other than a low end job. Those who have to have a great deal of knowledge and/or skill will not find federal employment worth their time. In my job I literally have to know and be able to apply two complete Titles of the US Code. I have to be familiar enough with over 400 other Titles to know when something needs to be looked at further. There are few jobs in the economy that require that level of knowledge. Those that do also pay a decent amount. That much of a pay cut will take our compensation back to the level of a street cop, five years ago. There is nothing wrong with being a street cop, but the required knowledge level is much, much higher for my job.
Notice there was nothing in the ideas floated that results in a restructuring of the federal agencies. There will still be the overlap, wasteful spending and inefficiencies that result in the deficits. I think if they actually did a good amount of reorganizing, the government would find that cutting 10% of the federal workforce is low, and none of the personnel cuts would be painful to any of the organizations. I can think of two right off the bat. Take HUD, FHA, RD, VA, and the myriad other federal agency involved with guaranteeing mortgages and roll them into one organization. Many people could be retired out and not replaced with new hires. Unfortunately it would serve to increase the average wage of the federal worker, because someone with having that amount of knowledge will have to be paid adequately.
The feds could also undo and correct some of the things they did with Customs and Border Protection. They could roll border patrol and the customs and immigration officers into one large uniformed organization. The academies for each could be combined. While at the same time rolling Immigration and Customs Enforcement (the investigative arm) back into CBP as more of a detective bureau. These changes will result in fewer required personnel, but again more knowledge means more pay, and the average pay will have to go up.
I'm sure there are more reorganization ideas I'm not thinking of that will result in significant cost savings to the government, but bosses don't' want to hear it, or do it because they would lose too much power.
I was reading an article yesterday about the work of Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management, the Federal Workforce, and the District of Columbia. It was saying they found 1.4 trillion in cuts over the next 10 years. The cuts were condensed into 17 ideas. Of those 17 all but three involved cutting compensation and the federal workforce. If those ideas are implemented, I take a 25% pay cut. The wife takes another 16% pay cut. My household will take a 40% pay cut. Yup that'll make for a strong economy, when many federal workers start walking from their financial responsibilities and declaring bankruptcy. It'll also solve the problem of having long term employees on the payroll because they won't be able to get their clearances renewed and will be fired.
If many of those ideas go through, it will be very tough to find anybody willing to work for the feds in something other than a low end job. Those who have to have a great deal of knowledge and/or skill will not find federal employment worth their time. In my job I literally have to know and be able to apply two complete Titles of the US Code. I have to be familiar enough with over 400 other Titles to know when something needs to be looked at further. There are few jobs in the economy that require that level of knowledge. Those that do also pay a decent amount. That much of a pay cut will take our compensation back to the level of a street cop, five years ago. There is nothing wrong with being a street cop, but the required knowledge level is much, much higher for my job.
Notice there was nothing in the ideas floated that results in a restructuring of the federal agencies. There will still be the overlap, wasteful spending and inefficiencies that result in the deficits. I think if they actually did a good amount of reorganizing, the government would find that cutting 10% of the federal workforce is low, and none of the personnel cuts would be painful to any of the organizations. I can think of two right off the bat. Take HUD, FHA, RD, VA, and the myriad other federal agency involved with guaranteeing mortgages and roll them into one organization. Many people could be retired out and not replaced with new hires. Unfortunately it would serve to increase the average wage of the federal worker, because someone with having that amount of knowledge will have to be paid adequately.
The feds could also undo and correct some of the things they did with Customs and Border Protection. They could roll border patrol and the customs and immigration officers into one large uniformed organization. The academies for each could be combined. While at the same time rolling Immigration and Customs Enforcement (the investigative arm) back into CBP as more of a detective bureau. These changes will result in fewer required personnel, but again more knowledge means more pay, and the average pay will have to go up.
I'm sure there are more reorganization ideas I'm not thinking of that will result in significant cost savings to the government, but bosses don't' want to hear it, or do it because they would lose too much power.