A post by Maynard
Tammy noted this article about how the government’s “stimulus” plan was in fact hiring lots of government workers.
The $787 billion economic recovery package also is stimulating growth in the federal government as agencies hire thousands of workers and spend millions of dollars to oversee and implement the package, according to government records and spokesmen.
Fourteen of the top federal agencies responsible for spending under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act say they’ve hired about 3,000 workers with stimulus money. That’s helped fuel the continued growth of the federal government, which increased by more than 25,000 employees, or 1.3%, since December 2008, according to the latest quarterly report. During that time, the ranks of the nation’s unemployed increased by nearly 4 million, Labor Department statistics show.
Overall, there are about 2 million federal workers, the data show.
Private employment down, government employment up. This brings to mind the fable of the night watchman.
Night Watchman
Once upon a time the government had a vast scrap yard in the middle of a desert. Congress said someone might steal from it at night, so they created a night watchman position (GS-4) and hired a person for the job.
Then Congress said, “How does the watchman do his job without instruction?” So they created a planning position and hired two people: one person to write the instructions (GS-12) and one person to do time studies (GS-11).
Then Congress said, “How will we know the night watchman is doing the tasks correctly?” So they created a Q.C. position and hired two people, one GS-9 to do the studies and one GS-11 to write the reports.
Then Congress said, “How are these people going to get paid?” So they created the following positions, a timekeeper (GS-09) and a payroll officer (GS-11) and hired two people.
Then Congress said, “Who will be accountable for all of these people?”
So they created an administrative position and hired three people: an Admin. Officer (GM-13), an Assistant Admin. Officer (GS-13) and a Legal Secretary (GS-08).
Then Congress said, “We have had this command in operation for one year and we are $18,000 over budget, we must cutback overall cost,” so they laid off the night watchman.
Work is either productive (in that the task is actually a vital component of the production process) or it’s unproductive (that is, it produces nothing). There can be no consumption if there’s no production. That’s why we can’t save the world by creating arbitrary government jobs. The government is great at consuming, but lousy at producing.
The mandarins of Washington are largely parasites.We put up with them because we understand that government is a necessary evil. For all its limitations, we need a government, because anarchy doesn’t work. In controlled doses, government becomes an honorable thing. But this government takes itself much too seriously. They squander our national treasure and sell our children into debt in order to prove they’re powerful masters rather than civil servants, fountains of goodies rather than looters and wasters.
“Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?” — Juvenal ~55-138AD
Loosely translated from the Latin as “Who will guard the guards themselves?”
Fans of the comic “Watchmen” (such as myself) are familiar with that quote.
Yes, the fed is growing, but what you are not seeing is the ‘aging’ of the FED. According to human resource data from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), approximately 60 percent of the 1.9 million employees of federal agencies will reach retirement age by 2017 (2008 number). The FED has been pushing hard to recruit new blood into the system for the past 3 years. In normal circumstances, taking a FED job over a private sector position was considered a permanent career move (depending, of course, on the position). Today, talented people who would normally be in the private sector are seeing the FED as a ballast in these rough times. This is a really good thing, because they are bringing their private sector mentality and brains with them. There is a fear from the private sector that all the brains are going into the FED . There has also been a trend of moving in and out of the FED rather than going into it for a lifetime. Pay band’s have been changed to make the FED more competitive with the Private sector to keep retention rates high. This change in culture is really going to make a difference in how ‘the guts’ of government will work in the next generation. So yes, they are expanding now to cover the overlap over the next 10 years, but as time goes on, many of the positions of retiree’s will not be filled, and naturally, the agencies will become smaller and more efficient… at least that’s the plan. Here is the rub… those 1.9 million retiree’s get the government pensions, talk about legacy costs!
too precious.
Mob loan sharks in Congress. “The kids doin ok? Hows the wife? Big Pelli says you got yourself into us for 17 big ones. Wutt we gunna do about dis? Now summa da boys from a good guy we both know gunna come in for a few jobs. Tink you can accolmodate dem boys? Good union wages now Joey.”
Tink about it and take care, life bein brutish nasty and short ya know?” “Let us know real soon.”