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Mark Cuban offers to fund former 18F employees

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Re: Mark Cuban offers to fund former 18F employees

#41

Post by michelb »

trial3 wrote: post #16
hiddencost wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean Musk is carrying out a coup, and Cuban is trying to invest in some programmers. I think there's some day light here.

but the core problem to me feels like “billionaires in charge of what should be government functions.” this is still that bad for that reason even if Cuban is funnier on Bluesky

Sure, but that isn't going to change in the USA unless the political system changes, so it will be more of a democratic system like in many western countries where billionaires have little to no influence. I see that as unlikely to ever happen there. Funding for candidates has been crazy in the past few decades.

Re: Mark Cuban offers to fund former 18F employees

#42

Post by enlightenedfool »

mattbrewsbytes wrote: post #19

Privatization is what a lot of people believe is the answer, thinking that there is so much waste and useless things the Federal government does. These people must have never worked at a large corporation. I have a relative in the federal government and we would share stories because the dysfunctions are basically the same. Any large organization of humans working uses a pyramid organization since like the middle age…

[flagged]

Re: Mark Cuban offers to fund former 18F employees

#43

Post by fluidcruft »

mharrig1 wrote: post #3

So Mark Cuban wants to lean into exactly what DOGE is pushing by putting himself in the middle of the Governmental to Private shift? That doesn't surprise me and gives more evidence that Cuban is not dissimilar to Musk, just that he has much better PR.

Reality: someone incompetent will underbid and get the contract, then spend years flailing, failing and overrunning their budget.

Re: Mark Cuban offers to fund former 18F employees

#44

Post by jkubicek »

_fat_santa wrote: post #25

Put Mark Cuban to the side for a bit, I think the general idea of 18f going private is a good one and was my first reaction when I heard they were getting dissolved. EDIT: I think it's a good idea in the context of them getting dissolved. I would much prefer if they continued to exist within the govt, but if the choice is between going private and ceasing to exist, I would prefer they go private and I think it's a go…

I think 18F going private is a terrible idea. The US government should directly employ the people that are responsible for building and owning its core infrastructure.

Re: Mark Cuban offers to fund former 18F employees

#45

Post by hypeatei »

lesuorac wrote: post #37
hypeatei wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> These people must have never worked at a large corporation Efficiency isn't the point, the point is funneling more money to themselves and their friends.

Happens in large corporations too. Purchases of companies owned the CEO / brother. Mother hiring their children to high internal positions.

I was referring to the oligarchs that are running the current US administration. They want to defund the government, make it shitty, and then say the only option to make it better is privatize.

Re: Mark Cuban offers to fund former 18F employees

#46

Post by ThinkBeat »

This would be exactly what the Republicans want and what they have had wanted for decades.

Shrink the government and privatize as much as possible.

Turning 18F.gov¹ into 18FU.com, a company with the business model of selling their services back to the government in the future.

Seems like a risky venture.

The government could come knocking on Monday, a week later, a month later, a year later, or never. I hope Cuban is planning on funding them out of pocket for at least until it happens or at least for two years.

Of course, 81FU can start providing its services to the private sector and hope to succeed that way. I am sure a lot of companies would want to buy their services to support them.

¹ I don't know if they used that domain. I just wanted a quick way to go from in the government into a company

Re: Mark Cuban offers to fund former 18F employees

#47

Post by garrettdreyfus »

kingstoned wrote: post #32
dzonga wrote: post #15

18f has(d) really smart people. who gave up higher wages in the private sector to serve the public. then idiots like musk come along. damage from musk n co will be monumental in the years to come.

It's generally a myth that government employees are somehow receiving low total compensation and they could do better in the real economy. Here's one government employees providing stats and experiences about what it is like to work for the government: https://www.betonit.ai/p/the-joy-of-government-employment

This post says very little and you can look up almost all public salaries.

Re: Mark Cuban offers to fund former 18F employees

#48

Post by lesuorac »

kingstoned wrote: post #32
dzonga wrote: post #15

18f has(d) really smart people. who gave up higher wages in the private sector to serve the public. then idiots like musk come along. damage from musk n co will be monumental in the years to come.

It's generally a myth that government employees are somehow receiving low total compensation and they could do better in the real economy. Here's one government employees providing stats and experiences about what it is like to work for the government: https://www.betonit.ai/p/the-joy-of-government-employment

> Oh yeah, and I’m a government employee of the state of Virginia

I mean this thread is on the federal government not state governments so your link isn't really relevant.

Federal government employees cannot make more than the VP ($235,100). So if you know a role that pays more than that it pays less in the federal government. (There is some hand wavey-ness around locale pay and stuff but we're not talking 2x).

Re: Mark Cuban offers to fund former 18F employees

#49

Post by bayindirh »

enlightenedfool wrote: post #42
mattbrewsbytes wrote: post #19

Privatization is what a lot of people believe is the answer, thinking that there is so much waste and useless things the Federal government does. These people must have never worked at a large corporation. I have a relative in the federal government and we would share stories because the dysfunctions are basically the same. Any large organization of humans working uses a pyramid organization since like the middle age…

[flagged]

The thing you see as waste from outside might be the most efficient system possible given the consequences and tons of time it had for evolving.

These systems contain huge icebergs of knowledge gained, refined and organized over time. Rooting them like weeds which grow in three days flat is a huge mistake.

Re: Mark Cuban offers to fund former 18F employees

#50

Post by fire_lake »

hypeatei wrote: post #31
mattbrewsbytes wrote: post #19

Privatization is what a lot of people believe is the answer, thinking that there is so much waste and useless things the Federal government does. These people must have never worked at a large corporation. I have a relative in the federal government and we would share stories because the dysfunctions are basically the same. Any large organization of humans working uses a pyramid organization since like the middle age…

> These people must have never worked at a large corporation Efficiency isn't the point, the point is funneling more money to themselves and their friends.

Efficiency is not resilient. Supply chains were efficient before Covid and look what happened. Efficiency is a non-goal for government. I’m surprised that DOGE engineers (who presumably have deployed a load balancer or two) don’t understand this.
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