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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

#531

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?

Both Tesla and SpaceX are insanely profitable.

SpaceX is not insanely profitable. Starlink might become so, but it isn't yet.

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

#532
post #426

Earlier quoted context omitted.

True. The rule of law died on Jan 20. Musk is likely doing a lot of things that are strictly illegal, but it seems quite likely that Trump has assured him he has his back with pardons if need be. Also, Trump controls federal law enforcement agencies that have likely been told to look the other way. The only legal vulnerability would be at the state level and they're not doing things there.

> The rule of law died Jan 20 This kind of hyperbole isn’t helpful when the outgoing President hands out pardons like they were coupons, nor when the President can’t remember signing EOs and is known to have limited mental faculties for the past few years, all while being shielded by his inner circle. I mean the Constitution is pretty specific about a President not fit to do their job. If you had said “the rule of la…

The reason it's defensible is that now checks and balances are gone because there aren't even token checks/balances from partisanship--the remaining functions of government are controlled by a single party, purging anyone who isn't loyal and willing to do whatever they deem justified.

They're paving a road to hell.

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

#533
post #317

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And even if they were to 1. find an uncompromised court, and 2. win a judgment to get paid... Who is ordered to pay them? The Treasury, which is under the control of...? You guessed it! The very people who do not intend to pay.

If they get judgement from US court can they enforce it in another country where US government has some assets?

In theory they could send baliffs to collect. Maybe they could try claiming assets located in a blue state?

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

#534

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The requirements for making a contract are minimal. If your friend says "I bet you a hundred dollars that you can't run over there and back in less than a minute" and you say nothing in response but start running, you've entered into a binding contract. Your other points still stand, but an email that makes an offer and makes it clear that you accept by responding "Resign" and a response to that email that says "Resi…

This is confidently wrong. The requirements for contracting with the federal government are nothing like the requirements between private citizens. There are specific statutory procedures which must be followed for an enforceable government contract, including but not limited to congressional funding.

Maybe I should have quoted the part I was disagreeing with, but I thought I had made it clear.

>And you think that an offer accepted by sending an email with "Resign" in the subject line is subject to these protections?

I'm saying that if you say "accept this agreement by sending 'Resign' in the subject line" and someone does so, that's a legally valid offer and acceptance of a contract. Are standards higher for the federal government on this?

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

#535
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…

Kind of odd seeing people casually discuss the mechanics/details of what's been going on this last week, as if they whole thing isn't just flagrantly illegal. Reminds me of this: https://www.upworthy.com/hypernormalization-explained .

Ironically, enough, interacting with that website without an adblocker is itself a great example of hypernormalization.

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

#537

My personal and probably not unique prediction is that these people will be let go and not be paid - same thing he did with twitter.

To make that blanket statement about twitter layoffs is just blatantly not true

Which part isn't true?

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

#538
post #451

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is not true. There are thousands of cases at various stages still in progress. This ruling was specific to one specific avenue being pursued. Source: the body of the article you posted.

Can you quote the part about thousands or provide a source? I see that there is an ongoing executive lawsuit and one for managers but didn't see anything about thousands of individual lawsuits.

Fair point that it wasn't quoted. Here's a summary: https://www.twitterlayofflawsuit.com/case-summaries

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

#539

Earlier quoted context omitted.

China is the world's largest economy by large (in terms of their internal costs - PPP), have 1.4 billion people meaning a proportionally larger share of extremely capable outliers, a highly capable technocratic orientated leadership with defacto authoritarian powers to get things done, and they are highly motivated to demonstrate successes in space. And a lot of SpaceX's 'secret sauce' isn't really secretive. For ins…

Are they behind? China has a space station and they have done a sample return from the Moon. They've landed on Mars as well. If you stick to a narrow definition of rockets, there's a case to put SpaceX ahead. But overall, they are closing the gap with the US very quickly. I would not be surprised if they put humans on the Moon before Artemis or SpaceX.

Yeah I'm definitely only speaking in terms of rockets. In terms of achievements I think China is probably #1 overall, but it's close -- SpaceX's Polaris Dawn mission puts them well ahead in terms of human spaceflight. That said if we just dropped the whole SLS nonsense and started dedicating NASA's $20 billion+ per year to actually doing stuff, our achievements would rapidly surpass given the edge in rocketry.

Artemis definitely isn't going to be putting anybody on the Moon. It again relies on the SLS which is just an endless money pit. But I do think it'll be interesting to see if SpaceX gets there before China. But I think the big picture is on Mars. I expect whoever gets their first will probably foretell who dominates space for the next century. Because once you can put men on Mars, the entire Solar System starts to viably become your playground.

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

#540
Late to the party, but I know of at least two highly-paid coworkers that already had plans to retire, but are now just hoping for several months of extra pay (it's essentially the only situation where I would recommend someone take this offer-- if it works out, great for them; if it doesn't, well they were going to leave anyway)
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