US government struggles to rehire nuclear safety staff it laid off days ago • Hacker News Board

Re: US government struggles to rehire nuclear safety staff it laid off days ago

#281

Post by joyeuse6701 » Sun, Feb 16, 2025, 2:12 PM UTC

tremendoussss wrote: post #261

daghamm wrote: post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are wrong on two accounts. There are plenty of ways for getting rid of underperformers in a goverment organisation. I've seen entire teams being sacked, and also some of the hardest working people I know work for goverment organisations. Also, you cannot run the goverment like an startup that is always running on the edge. A majority of startups fail and that's fine, but one goverment organisation failing could c…

You're right it's not a startup. It's an organization in a town that voted 90%+ in favor of keeping their jobs, not being prosecuted, or some kind of "threat to democracy". You can't run an organization if the ground troops are resistant to executing the vision of leadership

Pesky things, these laws.

Re: US government struggles to rehire nuclear safety staff it laid off days ago

#282

Post by nickpeterson » Sun, Feb 16, 2025, 2:13 PM UTC

gambiting wrote: post #271

yeyeyeyeyeyeyee wrote: post #254

The US is busy making the biggest own-goal one could imagine. From a position of world-wide dominance and respect, it is being destroyed at a rate that is too quick for most to even start to comprehend what the outcome of these actions will be. I suspect the consequences of these actions will be carried for the rest of our lives, as they are not so easy to turn back. Lots of other countries are standing by watching w…

Well, Brexit took the spot previously. Not sure if US can top it, but they sure as hell trying.

It’s like blood letting, but less effective.

Re: US government struggles to rehire nuclear safety staff it laid off days ago

#283

Post by JKCalhoun » Sun, Feb 16, 2025, 2:13 PM UTC

scarab92 wrote: post #266

dralley wrote: post #257

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They are objectively in a worse financial position. I wasn't getting advertisements for female sex toys (I'm male) on Twitter before Musk took over. That's a long way to fall.

Neither of us really know Twitter's financial position, given it's now private. The rumours I'm hearing are that EBITDA is now above pre-acquistion. The fact that debt is trading hands without a haircut suggests that's probably accurate. There was a lot of waste at Twitter. Given that headcount was cut by 80%, and advertisers are returning, I'd suggest it's doing fine.

It's wild — people that look at employment of the citizens of this country as just data to feed into some kind of profit/waste equation that needs to maximize profit, discard any hint of waste.

It's not waste when those employed have paychecks to spend in the economy. What would Corporate think if half the population of the U.S. were unemployed and/or homeless?

I guess that's fine as long as profits have been maximized.

Re: US government struggles to rehire nuclear safety staff it laid off days ago

#284

Post by hobs » Sun, Feb 16, 2025, 2:13 PM UTC

scarab92 wrote: post #266

dralley wrote: post #257

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They are objectively in a worse financial position. I wasn't getting advertisements for female sex toys (I'm male) on Twitter before Musk took over. That's a long way to fall.

Neither of us really know Twitter's financial position, given it's now private. The rumours I'm hearing are that EBITDA is now above pre-acquistion. The fact that debt is trading hands without a haircut suggests that's probably accurate. There was a lot of waste at Twitter. Given that headcount was cut by 80%, and advertisers are returning, I'd suggest it's doing fine.

Literally every valuation shows its worth After reading through your posts its like you live in an alternate reality where Musk's integrity is bulletproof, his decisions are awesome, and he's basically doing it for the rest of us.

I don't know how you can sustain this with everyone throwing reality in your face that he's a short sighted rich kid who lies through his teeth and throws money around until he gets what he wants.

Re: US government struggles to rehire nuclear safety staff it laid off days ago

#285

Post by lokimedes » Sun, Feb 16, 2025, 2:14 PM UTC

gambiting wrote: post #271

yeyeyeyeyeyeyee wrote: post #254

The US is busy making the biggest own-goal one could imagine. From a position of world-wide dominance and respect, it is being destroyed at a rate that is too quick for most to even start to comprehend what the outcome of these actions will be. I suspect the consequences of these actions will be carried for the rest of our lives, as they are not so easy to turn back. Lots of other countries are standing by watching w…

Well, Brexit took the spot previously. Not sure if US can top it, but they sure as hell trying.

You have go go back to the collapse of the British empire to witness anything this grand. And that was driven by external factors.

Re: US government struggles to rehire nuclear safety staff it laid off days ago

#286

Post by ageofwant » Sun, Feb 16, 2025, 2:14 PM UTC

scarab92 wrote: post #238

drawkward wrote: post #237

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>this problem What problem? The problem of how people are fired? You dont fix that specific problem by firing everyone! Somw other problem? Show us evidence that there was a problem, before you fire. That's how you do it in a democracy.

[flagged]

You have clearly never worked in any sizeable workforce, and I can assure you your basic presumption that large private sector workforces does not have broken processes is childishly naive. The "problem" is you, making assumptions of waste where there is none to speak off, unless you can provide some actual data to back that up. The average federal employee earns about $60k/y, they are not there for the money. Firing all federal employees will same about 7h of borrowing.

I'm sorry but the narrative you have invested in so deeply is not founded in reality, not that I expect anyone explaining facts to you will make any appreciable difference.

Enjoy the pain you elected to bring upon yourself, you deserve the government you got.

Re: US government struggles to rehire nuclear safety staff it laid off days ago

#287

Post by JKCalhoun » Sun, Feb 16, 2025, 2:15 PM UTC

tremendoussss wrote: post #229

suzzer99 wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Before the election, Vivek or Elon or one of the galaxy-brains floated the idea of firing every other employee in the federal government based on the last digit of their social security number. The cruelty is the point.

I think being fair is the point. Instead of using any metric that might infringe on a protected class, let's use math?

(Curious what the last digit of Vivek's SS is.)

Re: US government struggles to rehire nuclear safety staff it laid off days ago

#288

Post by SoftTalker » Sun, Feb 16, 2025, 2:15 PM UTC

bagels wrote: post #239

somenameforme wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The "federal budget" is something people often mention, but it's quite misleading. At least in terms of what we think of. The reason is that the overwhelming majority of the budget is spent automatically - pensions, medicare, social security, and all of these expenses are unavoidable and in a mandatory expenses category. The remainder of the budget, including military, is considered discretionary. That discretionary…

That's great. Congress should be the ones making budget decisions, not Musk. Trump has control of both houses, why not cut spending and give Musk his tax breaks legally?

Congress has not made a budget in many years. They pass “continuing resolutions.” Why aren’t they doing their jobs?

Re: US government struggles to rehire nuclear safety staff it laid off days ago

#289

Post by grandempire » Sun, Feb 16, 2025, 2:16 PM UTC

gambiting wrote: post #271

yeyeyeyeyeyeyee wrote: post #254

The US is busy making the biggest own-goal one could imagine. From a position of world-wide dominance and respect, it is being destroyed at a rate that is too quick for most to even start to comprehend what the outcome of these actions will be. I suspect the consequences of these actions will be carried for the rest of our lives, as they are not so easy to turn back. Lots of other countries are standing by watching w…

Well, Brexit took the spot previously. Not sure if US can top it, but they sure as hell trying.

All the catastrophic things that were predicted form Brexit didn’t really happen though

Re: US government struggles to rehire nuclear safety staff it laid off days ago

#290

Post by enraged_camel » Sun, Feb 16, 2025, 2:16 PM UTC

gambiting wrote: post #271

yeyeyeyeyeyeyee wrote: post #254

The US is busy making the biggest own-goal one could imagine. From a position of world-wide dominance and respect, it is being destroyed at a rate that is too quick for most to even start to comprehend what the outcome of these actions will be. I suspect the consequences of these actions will be carried for the rest of our lives, as they are not so easy to turn back. Lots of other countries are standing by watching w…

Well, Brexit took the spot previously. Not sure if US can top it, but they sure as hell trying.

Brexit pales in comparison to the damage that has _already_ been done to the US federal government. The dust just hasn’t settled yet so most of it not visible right now.