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Everyone at NSF overseeing the Platforms for Wireless Experimentation is gone

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Re: Everyone at NSF overseeing the Platforms for Wireless Experimentation is gone

#501

Post by DFHippie »

rayiner wrote: post #488
DFHippie wrote: post #436

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Engineering, statistics, science: these things do not change every four years. How to dig a trench or survey a boundary does not change. How to conduct clinical trials, combat disease, deliver mail: these things do not change. What is not tenable today, or ever, is firing the people with these skills every four years and re-hiring replacements, to the extent that this happens at all, based on ideological tests.

That was a fine notion before it became apparent that skilled professionals are unable to separate their work from their political ideology: https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/06/04/public-hea... This was a huge problem in the first Trump administration: https://americafirstpolicy.com/issues/20222702-federal-burea... . Do you really think that, for example, DOJ lawyers who defended Biden’s mass immigration p…

> Do you really think that, for example, DOJ lawyers who defended Biden’s mass immigration policies are going to flip and use 100% of their talents to figure out how to do mass deportations now?

This is precisely what lawyers do. They try to make the best argument for their client's case. If they do not want to make that argument, they let their client find a new lawyer (resign, if they work for the government). They don't make a shitty case because they think their client is wrong. (That being said, they cannot lie without professional repercussions.)

P.S. There were no mass immigration policies under Biden. You have been misinformed.

Re: Everyone at NSF overseeing the Platforms for Wireless Experimentation is gone

#502

Post by alaxhn »

Krasnol wrote: post #300
alaxhn wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Generally sovereign debt is not a problem until creditors become worries that the debt will not be paid back. The exact threshold is subject to the regular market fear/greed manias and is not an exact figure. Once this happens the country issuing credit will have trouble lending at favorable rates and will be forced to choose between printing money (could lead to massive inflation) and making large cuts. Here is rece…

National debt is not like credit card dept...at all. There is nobody coming to get your car if you don't pay up. My god...this is such a common misunderstanding, they should use a different word already...

All debt is functionally similar in that it represents an obligation from the borrower to the creditor generally with interest which must be paid off in full or consequences will follow. Analogies can recognize similarities in a situation which can help to illustrate a point even when situations are not identical. But sure, no one is coming to confiscate air force one if the US doesn't pay off it's debt :D.

Re: Everyone at NSF overseeing the Platforms for Wireless Experimentation is gone

#503

Post by RealityVoid »

MandieD wrote: post #460
RealityVoid wrote: post #343

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I did not live through it, but Ceaușescu in the 80's had gotten it stuck in his mind to pay Romanian national debt. So they enforced a set of draconic measures that decreased the quality of life of the populace immensely. Not saying that is what will happen here, but this is the first thing I associate in my mind when I hear of some "decisive" leader trying to pay the country's debts.

Ceausescu also had that insane forced-birth policy where women under 45 (later relaxed to 40, but then raised back to 45) who had not yet had 4 (later 5) children were not only banned from using birth control or getting abortions, they were regularly pregnancy tested. Sure, it resulted in a baby boom, but it also ended up creating those infamous orphanages full of neglected children: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dec…

Yes, some call the people born in that era "decreței" loosely translated as children of the decree. Yes, they did not really respect women's reproductive rights. There are a bunch of horror stories about that aspect of Ceaușescu's regime.

Re: Everyone at NSF overseeing the Platforms for Wireless Experimentation is gone

#504

Post by alaxhn »

hedora wrote: post #312
Krasnol wrote: post #300

Earlier quoted context omitted.

National debt is not like credit card dept...at all. There is nobody coming to get your car if you don't pay up. My god...this is such a common misunderstanding, they should use a different word already...

Well, if the government starts defaulting on payments, then bond rates go to infinity while the domestic currency goes to zero. The US is currently defaulting on all sorts of debts, and the deficit has nothing to do with it. I wonder why its credit rating hasn’t been slashed yet.

The US is not defaulting on bond payments and thus bond interest rates have not increased and the creditworthiness of bonds has not changed.

As I think you are hinting at, the US is in the process of cancelling many contracts deemed no longer in the interest of the country under a new administration. Contracts can represent a form of obligation similar to debt and there are many companies who will not sign contracts with the government due to the complications involved (or who will request very favorable terms). Unfortunately, there is not really a good rating mechanism (at least that I am aware of) for rating entities that is risky to enter into a contractional relationship with - this stuff is often passed around via word of mouth.

Re: Everyone at NSF overseeing the Platforms for Wireless Experimentation is gone

#505

Post by _heimdall »

rayiner wrote: post #487
_heimdall wrote: post #468

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a good argument to be made that the role of bureaucracy in our government is to intentionally slow down change and even out the peaks and valleys as administrations change. I'd be worried about the Chesterton's Fence problem when removing bureaucracy simply because we don't like that it gets in our way.

That’s not a role the framers ever envisioned, and it’s a bad thing to have in a democratic system. The government should be responsive—voting should result in visible changes to the government. A lot of the current polarization is due to the fact that people have been voting against globalization since 2008 and somehow we keep getting more of it. It’s dangerous in a democracy for voters to perceive that elections ar…

That's a tough comparison to make. The framers lived in a drastically different world with regards to the size and scope of the federal government.

They design a federal government that was purposely hamstrung by the states. It was poorly funded, had no standing military, only briefly had a federal bank, and had very limited purview of authority that didn't fall down to the state level.

If we want to remove bureaucracy while also rolling back many of the federal powers created over the last century or so I'd be all for it.

Removing one without the other either seems pointless (bureaucracy without authority) or risky (authority without bureaucracy) in my opinion.

Re: Everyone at NSF overseeing the Platforms for Wireless Experimentation is gone

#506

Post by _heimdall »

turtlesdown11 wrote: post #492
rayiner wrote: post #264

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Folks on the left would do well to remember that the same unelected bureaucracy that declared “resistance” to Trump would destroy an AOC or Sanders presidency too. Ultimately, it’s a good thing if electing the President can effectuate drastic changes in the executive branch, because that’s the only real lever voters have for affecting the largest and these days most powerful branch of government.

The "deep state" is just a scapegoat for stuff people don’t like or understand. It’s a way to dodge real issues. There’s no secret conspiracy—just a lot of people doing their jobs in a messy system.

The "deep state" is also used to refer to the relatively small number of unelected people who make some of the most impactful decisions on society with no voter input.

I don't know that I've ever actually heard someone talk about the "deep state" to refer to career bureaucrats just doing their jobs in large government orgs / a messy system.

Re: Everyone at NSF overseeing the Platforms for Wireless Experimentation is gone

#507

Post by acdha »

_heimdall wrote: post #506
turtlesdown11 wrote: post #492

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The "deep state" is just a scapegoat for stuff people don’t like or understand. It’s a way to dodge real issues. There’s no secret conspiracy—just a lot of people doing their jobs in a messy system.

The "deep state" is also used to refer to the relatively small number of unelected people who make some of the most impactful decisions on society with no voter input. I don't know that I've ever actually heard someone talk about the "deep state" to refer to career bureaucrats just doing their jobs in large government orgs / a messy system.

Do you have any examples of people you think do that?

Re: Everyone at NSF overseeing the Platforms for Wireless Experimentation is gone

#508

Post by acdha »

rayiner wrote: post #488
DFHippie wrote: post #436

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Engineering, statistics, science: these things do not change every four years. How to dig a trench or survey a boundary does not change. How to conduct clinical trials, combat disease, deliver mail: these things do not change. What is not tenable today, or ever, is firing the people with these skills every four years and re-hiring replacements, to the extent that this happens at all, based on ideological tests.

That was a fine notion before it became apparent that skilled professionals are unable to separate their work from their political ideology: https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/06/04/public-hea... This was a huge problem in the first Trump administration: https://americafirstpolicy.com/issues/20222702-federal-burea... . Do you really think that, for example, DOJ lawyers who defended Biden’s mass immigration p…

> Do you really think that, for example, DOJ lawyers who defended Biden’s mass immigration policies are going to flip and use 100% of their talents to figure out how to do mass deportations now?

Yes - every lawyer I’ve met considers it their professional obligation to work on their client’s behalf, even if it’s behaviour they personally disapprove of. This is especially true in government where the merit-based civil service is centered on following laws and policy.

Biden didn’t have those scary-sounding “mass immigration policies” - he asked Congress to pass much-needed reform but limited his actions to what was authorized under existing law.

Re: Everyone at NSF overseeing the Platforms for Wireless Experimentation is gone

#509

Post by Animats »

gorbachev wrote: post #419
Animats wrote: post #118

That area will then be handled by Huawai, which developed the 5G spec. The US no longer has much of a telecommunications technology industry.[1] [1] https://itif.org/publications/2021/11/08/mapping-internation...

The trade war US and China has had for years sure is going to feel different in a few years time when China is the source of increasing amount of innovation and forbids the export of that technology to US and its allies.

That's already happened. China forbids export of rare earth processing equipment and technology to the US.[1]

[1] https://www.csis.org/analysis/what-chinas-ban-rare-earths-pr...

Re: Everyone at NSF overseeing the Platforms for Wireless Experimentation is gone

#510

Post by tsimionescu »

_heimdall wrote: post #472
tsimionescu wrote: post #449

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'd be very curious where in our laws it is written that congressional budgets must be spent in their entirety every year It's included in the "CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET AND IMPOUNDMENT CONTROL ACT OF 1974"[0], Title X, at least as a base assumption. It's also part of the text of the annual appropriations bill(s), on most subjects. [0] https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/COMPS-10356/uslm/COMPS-1...

The Impoundment Control Act isn't as simple as "every dollar appropriated must be spent." It defines how a President must notify congress to request a reduction in appropriated budget. That request is expected to contain a full accounting if expected financial impacts and reasons for the changes requested. Congress then has 45 days to respond, without congressional approval the request is considered denied. What they…

The impoundment control act makes it clear that, by default, the President must spend all the money as appropriated by Congress. The president can ask Congress for a dispensation from this base requirement, and Congress can deny it, going back to the president being forced to spend the money.

Note that this law was created specifically because Nixon had gotten into the habit of not spending money as apportioned by Congress if he didn't like the specific programs. So, Congress made laws to specifically not allow Presidents to do this on a whim.

And it is obviously false that funding must be paused in order to understand what the money is being spent on and identify waste. Both companies and government agencies routinely undergo extremely thorough audits without having to pause their activity. "I have a suspicion based on no proof whatsoever that waste might be happening, let's stop activity entirely while I search for the proof I don't have for this unmotivated belief" is not and can't be a good faith position.

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