What does the "Assistant Associate Director for Wage and Hour Compliance" at the Health And Human Services Division actually do? Got me. Whatever it is, I can't imagine it's the kind of thing that we couldn't find a way to get by without. But as usual, when analyzing the actions of those in government I'm asking the wrong question.
When I say "What do they do" I mean, what is the end product of their position. But in the federal government no one cares what the end product is, if there is in fact an end product at all. And that's why so many of us don't 'get' government. We're too accustomed to the world of the private sector where end product is everything.
But if you were to ask Barak Obama or one of his principle advisers, or anyone in congress what that A.A.D for W.H.C. does they'll be able to tell you instantly. Their answer would be that he pays taxes. He consumes goods. He pays his mortgage and borrows money. And most important of all, he pays his union dues, and he votes the way he's told to vote.
When the administration talks about jobs 'saved or created' they aren't talking about saving the jobs of people who actually contribute to the economy. Issues like productivity are secondary. The jobs they want to save have to do with getting people elected, and that means Big Labor. So the A.A.D for W.H.C. is 'saved' and the small businessman who actually contributes to our cumulative wealth instead of just redistributing it, is the guy they learn to do without.
If the union member wants to teach a little something to a kid in a public school or put out an occasional fire, that's OK with them. (So long as they don't work 'too hard' and make the other union members look bad.) But so long as the votes keep flowing and the dues keep getting paid, the 'bailout' money is going to keep flowing.
One positive note is that the whole 'bailout' thing has been taken to such a preposterous extreme that the administration no longer feels the need to mask their efforts behind grand rhetoric. Now they're just sending the money directly to the unions instead. They no longer even care about rewarding people who actually hold jobs. Even that shabby pretense has been done away with. Now, so long as you are a union member and 'vote the right way' there is bailout money for you.
They have gone from 'saving or creating' useless unionized bureaucrats, to saving or creating entitlements for people who don't actually do anything at all anymore.
3 comments:
But in the federal government no one cares what the end product is, if there is in fact an end product at all
That doesn't apply to every portion of the federal government. At least at the Naval Shipyards, we have a product to produce, and performance that can actually be measured. If we can't outperform the private nuclear yards, we can always be shut down like many of the Naval yards were in the early 90s.
You know better than most that the area you're in is not like the rest of the federal government. And it's the things you site that make it different. You could just as easily be a private contractor.
Actually, of the two private companies that do naval nuclear work, I know the local one is actually horrible when it comes to cost and quality.
Ours is a good example that it's not an issue of "private is better than government". The real issue is that "free market is better than monopolies". Northrup Grumman's shipyard is the only place that can build aircraft carriers, which gives them leverage than no public yard has. The public yards are competing with each other, and NGNN is not.
I will say that, when I see all of the articles saying that all federal workers are overpaid, I take solace in two things. First, I work in one of the only areas of government specifically listed in the Constitution (national defense). Second, if we were really overpaid here, we wouldn't hemorrhage employees to the private sector at such a rapid rate.
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