Name:   Talullahhound - Subject:   A Change is gonna come. Date:   2/21/2016 1:42:30 PM

I would agree with some of your statements about the government. But it has less to do with the people and more to do with the way government gets organized.  There is overlap in responsibilites and functions, too much management to the point it stifles creatvity and efficiency, and then you have the poitical appointees who come in and really have no idea what they are doing.  Most of the time, they are people that have political connections, people that have worked on the campaign, lawyers and think tank people who drift in to add the governmet to their resume.  For example, I knew of an office that was headed by a Senior Executive, had a staff of 4 and a budget of $1M.  Their sole responsibility was to manage a contract for a company to produce a report that no one used. It had been started during someone's rein for who knows what purpose. But over a period of time with computers and other sources, it no longer was useful.  Yet, no one would kill it either.  Then there are the special assistants - these are people who someone promoted and that person left, so these people now don't have job. 

People often talk say you can't fire a government employee.  Well, yes you can.  But it takes a year or more of almost full time counseling, work plans, 2nd chances, etc, and most managers think it is easier to just isolate them and wait for them to get another job, or make their lives so miserable, they quit or retire.  Change that though, and people - even good people - become subject to the whims of political appointees who may not like reality  and you find yourself without a job.  You think that is farfetched - not at all.

Donald Rumfeld spent millions in the Department of Defense on a new annual performance rating system. And when he went, it was repealed so quickly and probably at as much expense. 

Al Gore came up with reinventing government.  Do you know how tht came out?  They traded work done by govenrment workers for work done by contractors... In the end, it didn't save any money, it just changed the color of the money, because everyone still has to pay overhead and benefits, whether it is the government or it is a contractor.  The idea was that you could let a contractor go, when their expertise was no longer needed... good in theory, but it never happened.