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20k federal workers take "buyout" so far, official says

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Re: 20k federal workers take "buyout" so far, official says

#401

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it possible Mr. Musk's companies are actually in deep trouble financially, and this political stuff is actually a means to an end?

Tesla is abundantly wealthy mostly on the back of it's delusional investors creating a self-fulfilling prophecy.

I'm not saying you are wrong, but GME is an interesting contrast. Despite delusional investors they didn't manage to make anything of it.

Re: 20k federal workers take "buyout" so far, official says

#402
post #9

20k represents 1%. The target is 5-10%. The messaging is 100-200k federal layoff is coming.

Since the turover rate per year is 6%, implemented hiring freeze would yield theese results.

there is a hiring freeze https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/hiri.... this buyout is meant to accelerate

Re: 20k federal workers take "buyout" so far, official says

#403

It's interesting that annual attrition rate is 6% according to the article. I hadn't considered that before. The buyouts could end up costing more than they save if the only people who take it were the ones already planning on leaving. But maybe the argument is if enough people take it before the March budget deadline, then each departments budget can be proportionately reduced in the next cycle. Does anyone know the…

there is a hiring freeze https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/hiri.... this buyout is meant to accelerate

Re: 20k federal workers take "buyout" so far, official says

#404
post #15

I think the main issue for anyone wanting to take the offer is simply: this was never authorized by congress, so the money to pay people to September is questionable if it exists at best. Meanwhile, there's a government funding deadline on March 14, 2025. So there's a very real chance at this deal offering something closer to ~1 month of pay before it suddenly gets dropped due to budget negotiations. It would be an i…

Regardless of what is budgeted, if you have a contract then that can be enforced in federal court.

Re: 20k federal workers take "buyout" so far, official says

#405
post #391
post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm skeptical. Most of these federal jobs either marginally improve millions of lives or are completely critical for 10k Americans. The former is so spread out it will be hard to connect the dots; chronic stress of wondering why is everything sus these days. The latter mostly serves the already disenfranchised, e.g. adult daycare cuts.

> Most of these federal jobs either marginally improve millions of lives or are completely critical for 10k Americans. Firstly, are you basing this assertion on any sort of reality, or are you just 'sus' about it? Secondly, marginal improvements for millions of people in many different areas is nothing to scoff at - that is precisely what a government is supposed to do - and will add up to very significant improvemen…

I don't think that they're saying that doing marginal improvements for millions of people is anything to scoff at, I that they are saying that it's a lot more difficult to directly quantify.

Re: 20k federal workers take "buyout" so far, official says

#406
post #40

I've always found this approach of reducing the number of employees unwise from the company perspective (but pretty good for the employees, though). While the unsatisfied employees are the target, my observations indicate that a high percentage of active and skilled people are willing to take this offer, as they are sure that they will find a new place within a reasonable time, so it's basically, free money. And thos…

Good, we want the competent and skilled people within government to go to private enterprise in big numbers, so they can amplify their skills and effect in private enterprise. Then we can reduce the number of government agencies, because they are always less effective than private enterprises.

The problem is when we have the lazy and incompetent bureaucrats sticking around, and us the taxpayers are paying for their pension while getting back very little in return.

Honestly, I'm not sure what all the screaming and crying on hacker news is about; hackers are all about creating efficiency with unorthodox insights and skills. pretty sure no hackers have said "why yes, I've love to pay more in taxes for the bureaucrats to retire in style after doing very little"

Re: 20k federal workers take "buyout" so far, official says

#407

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That sounds illegal

Almost any reply to a political thread in the next four years is going to be "That sounds illegal" but it's only illegal if the law gets enforced. I encourage anyone responding with "That sounds illegal" or "They can't do that" to also include in their response, "...and it will be enforced by [xxxx]." and try to come up with a realistic xxxx. EDIT: I'm not making any judgment about whether this particular thing is le…

It matters a lot in that it makes the difference between whether you can get a court injunction or not, and in that if there are sufficiently high levels of demonstrable illegality, a government would lose political legitimacy and citizens/military might simply cease obeying it.

I am not taking a position on this particular policy being legal or not, it's too technical for me to know about and it's not something I want to research.

Re: 20k federal workers take "buyout" so far, official says

#408
post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> this was never authorized by congress, Correct. > so the money to pay people to September is questionable if it exists at best Incorrect. The money is budgeted through September (end of federal FY). Things are currently only funded through March 15 (CRs and whatnot). The money is or will be there. Historically, even if there is a furlough, this money is backfilled and folks are paid. Note that there will probably b…

If they were not paid because they were on "admin leave", does that look bad for Trump, or does that look bad for Congress? And who in a Republican Congress will want to do that anyway? They're mostly on board for this bullshit aren't they?

I guarantee Trump and his sycophants will just turn around and say they were lazy bums who wanted to get paid to do nothing, and the fact that this option was presented in the form of an early retirement offer will make exactly no difference.

You've gotta understand the dynamics of social media information warfare. Loyalty trumps any other considerations like factuality or consistency, people will denounce tomorrow what they championed today if need be. I've seen some pro posters who post contradictory responses to Trump or Musk statements and then just delete whichever one gets less positive engagement.

Re: 20k federal workers take "buyout" so far, official says

#409

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There's a big difference. There's no difference in the short term. Something being illegal, doesn't mean it will stop anytime soon in this political situation. Remaking the same obvious point is tedious and smacks of word games to try a to make a backdoor political statement. Yes, some act is odious and against a law. Not relevant to whether or not it will have the desired consequence, regardless of who is ever hel…

There is a simple dictionary difference between "legal" and "illegal." Using the actual meaning of a word is kinda the opposite of playing word games.

From the first instance:

> That sounds illegal

> There is a simple dictionary difference between "legal" and "illegal.

This is kind of response is a repeat of exactly what I have described.

Again, "illegal" was used in context to mean something else. ie The damage will be remedied...which it cannot fully be, nor is it likely to be. Sampling conversations going forward from that, is where the thread has been allowed to be unraveled.

Elevating the original statement to be more than what it meant in context, is irrelevant. Posters are continually choosing new (eg dictionary!) interpretations of the sentiment at every turn.

Re: 20k federal workers take "buyout" so far, official says

#410

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, I've always been trying to be objective as possible when it comes to the hate sent towards Tesla, SpaceX, etc from the heat Elon is getting but having lived near Hawthorne, I've met a couple of people who worked at SpaceX and it is insane. I had a really good friend who moved from the midwest with his wife to spacex and she became a favorite at spacex which meant she lived at spacex. He would see her like once…

Why was this guys wife so important to have around the office at SpaceX if she wasn’t an employee?

I think he is saying she is a SpaceX employee, and was doing well at her job but working a lot.
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