Thread: Obamas first bad decision.

Originally Posted by nun2sharp

I hope you were not offended by anything Ive said. My comments were not directed toward any body who works for their daily bread, my comments were directed towards the "oysters and champagne along the Potomac" crowd. ie the pro politicians.

No offense taken. Just send us better politicians. They're the only ones eating oysters and drinking bubbly, along with their K Street cronies.

Anne Appelbaum had an op-ed in the Post a few weeks ago in which she points out that, while people complain about "Washington," very few people are really from here. The people who cause all the trouble, she says (and I agree with her) are sent here from other places.

So please, send us better politicians.

j

Originally Posted by Nord Jim

So please, send us better politicians.

j

Im tryin' brother I'm tryin'!

Personally I would like to see all lobbyists done away with, they steal/hinder the influence of the people!

Originally Posted by Nord Jim

So please, send us better politicians.

What about the governor of Alaska? Is she any use to you? She must be useful for something...

Originally Posted by Nord Jim

I really feel I need to respond here. First, though, the obligatory disclaimer: I am a government employee. If, on the one hand, that makes me more likely to see good in government management, I would hope that on the other hand it might give me some credibility for what I say.

There are many things that the U.S. government does very, very well.

1. Our military is tops in the world
2. Financial institutions rely on figures from the Departments of Commerce and Labor. The estimates of the GDP and employment, which are developed by civil servants, are considered gospel.
3. I'd put our National Parks up against anybody's.
4. The FAA does a good job.
5. The FBI is generally a good outfit.
6. We were the first to land on the moon.

These are just some examples.

For the past 28 years, a dedicated cadre of right wing ideologues have been trying to "starve the beast," defunding essential and non-essential government agencies alike. They claim it's because government is overfunded, but it's had the effect of taking efficient agencies and making them less efficient. That's why the FAA is still working with obsolete equipment. It's why public facilities at the National Parks are decaying. It's why NASA is a mess that is losing its lead in space exploration to the Euros and even the Chinese.

While I would agree that Congress has created a lot of dead wood in the federal agency inventory, I think you do us all a disservice when you claim that government can't do anything well. We do many critical things exceedingly well every blessed day.

j

You absolutely missed what I said....
I never said that our agencies were in bad shape, although some are, in general they do pretty good....
I said giving away money is not our strong point, any "Social" system we do, we seem to do badly....

As a civilian pilot, I'll take just a bit of an issue with the FAA doing well. The FAA has privatized a lot over the last year, and things are improving because of it. The FAA is bloated and unable to account for its budget, and has been so for longer than I've been flying. It is also beholden to the large air carriers, and to such an extent that it has done damage to general aviation in some areas, and fixing the damage will take quite an effort. As far as traffic separation, I'll say yes, they do fine with that. The inability to modernize is because of an unwillingness to modernize, not because of a lack of funds or hardware. Like any government organization, they don't move with the times, because they can't move with the times. Sadly, like most, they want to blame it on lack of funds so they can justify the next raise in their budget; and so they skew reports and point fingers everywhere but at themselves (which seems to have gone from a petulant transparency to the national pastime over the last 16 years) without really giving any good explanation of what, exactly do they want, and where, exactly is their money.

Being a full-time soldier, I can bet I don't need to explain what else I think of the government's ability do to things well.

On a lighter note (and boy does this thread need it!) those of you not a fan of Obama's appointment may appreciate this:

Barack Obama Word Association is Today's BIG Thing - OCT 31, 2008

Enjoy

Originally Posted by sidneykidney

What about the governor of Alaska? Is she any use to you? She must be useful for something...

Not really. Want her?

j

Originally Posted by Nord Jim

Not really. Want her?

j

Actually now you mention it I was looking for a way to keep my bike upright. Send her over...

Originally Posted by maplemaker

As a civilian pilot, I'll take just a bit of an issue with the FAA doing well. The FAA has privatized a lot over the last year, and things are improving because of it. The FAA is bloated and unable to account for its budget, and has been so for longer than I've been flying. It is also beholden to the large air carriers, and to such an extent that it has done damage to general aviation in some areas, and fixing the damage will take quite an effort. As far as traffic separation, I'll say yes, they do fine with that. The inability to modernize is because of an unwillingness to modernize, not because of a lack of funds or hardware. Like any government organization, they don't move with the times, because they can't move with the times. Sadly, like most, they want to blame it on lack of funds so they can justify the next raise in their budget; and so they skew reports and point fingers everywhere but at themselves (which seems to have gone from a petulant transparency to the national pastime over the last 16 years) without really giving any good explanation of what, exactly do they want, and where, exactly is their money.

Being a full-time soldier, I can bet I don't need to explain what else I think of the government's ability do to things well.

Let me point out one thing: Dilbert isn't written about government agencies. It's written about the private sector.

The larger an organization is, the more likely you'll find aspects of it that need fixing. That's true whether you're looking at government or a large corporation. The FAA is no exception, but as you've acknowledged, they do seem to keep planes from crashing into each other, so how bad could they be? My understanding is that the FAA has suffered mainly from political cronyism.

Throughout history, the military has been famous for its inexplicable inefficiencies. Read War and Peace. Military ineffficiencies give rise to such sayings as FUBAR, SNAFU, and the ever-popular "There's a right way, a wrong way, and an Army way." Although, I'll tell you: my father, the WWII master sergeant, would leave out the "wrong way" part. Yet they get the job done.

To say that the American government cannot do what other governments can is unacceptable. What makes us worse as a nation than, say, Denmark?

That, frankly, is what irks me the most about conservatives: their cynicism. The central message of conservatism seems to be "We can't afford to educate our children, protect our seniors, make health care available, protect our environment, clean up our cities, bring prosperity to our heartland --- yadda yadda yadda." The next thing they say, of course, is "We're the greatest nation in the world."

Any wonder they've just been tossed out on their ears?

j

Originally Posted by sidneykidney

Actually now you mention it I was looking for a way to keep my bike upright. Send her over...

Well, maybe. She leans to the right quite a bit.

j