The Kids (Aren't) Alright - World Happiness Report

[SimonBolivar 10,957]

8 minutes ago, Neonmoon said:

I will confirm the percentages for the private sector.

20% actually give a shit and want to make a difference 

80% completely fucking useless  Post on Surly

 

 

[Cum Rocket 136]

8 minutes ago, Neonmoon said:

I will confirm the percentages for the private sector.

20% actually give a shit and want to make a difference 

80% completely fucking useless

 

Equating public and private sector efficiency is so obviously stupid, it's not surprising that you're doing it.

2 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

Bingo.  Public sector.  Private sector.  Church committees.  Your boy scout troop.  You name it, that's a common experience.

I do think it's perhaps exaggerated by those of us who have some pretty damned high standards, but the point remains that in any given situation, the group of "meh" is always much larger than the group of "these dudes get shit DONE."

It's exceedingly hard to get fired from a government job. Any idea what effect that has on performance? 

that's the difference in your supposed 20/80 split. As MIA pointed out, a large amount of government employees could not get comparable jobs in private sector and are unfireable. Again, guess what happens?

 

[DaysOff 7,947]

Can confirm. Shit you're lucky to get the bare minimum from most.
In my experience it breaks down like this:
20% actually give a shit and want to make a difference 
40% can't get a job anywhere else.
20% Contractors
20% completely fucking useless.

Y'all remember that next time you're sitting in the ass end, and I'm talking to air traffic control in the dark of night with snow blowing sideways.

[Brisketexan 105,092]

1 minute ago, Cum Rocket said:

Equating public and private sector efficiency is so obviously stupid, it's not surprising that you're doing it.

Yes.  My customer service experience with (fucking name it.....ordering food?  Tech help?  Insurance issues?  Retail sales?) in the private sector has been stellar, and demonstrates that the private sector is the end-all, be-all.

Jesus fucking Christ.  Simply regurgitating tired right-wing talking points, ignoring the log in your own eye.

People in jobs that treat them the worst - low pay, subject to abuse from the public/their superiors - tend not to perform at a high level.  Shock and surprise.

When it comes to the public sector, attitudes like yours are a self-fulfilling prophecy.  What person in their right mind would want to go into teaching right now?  People like you are going to hate on them as "indoctrinating kids" when all they're fucking trying to do is teach the basics, shit on them as lazy even though they will give much more of their own time and effort than the job actually requires, demonize them at school board meetings, and vote for officials who gleefully starve them of pay.  And you wonder why the quality of our teachers declines.

You're a piece of shit, who treats people like shit, and then wonders why they don't all bend over backwards to serve you.  

[Brisketexan 105,092]

2 minutes ago, DaysOff said:

Y'all remember that next time you're sitting in the ass end, and I'm talking to air traffic control in the dark of night with snow blowing sideways.

You know what their solution is, right?  Pay ATCs even less.  Treat them even more like shit.  And demand 2X the work out of them that they're currently doing.  Oh, and call them crybaby pussies when they have to hang it up because all their hair is falling out from the stress.

[Celery Man 20,934]

14 minutes ago, BehoId, The Underminer! said:

Government job often misses the biggest motivating factor out there: going belly up.  DMV gonna shut down soon?

 

[Cum Rocket 136]

1 minute ago, Brisketexan said:

Yes.  My customer service experience with (fucking name it.....ordering food?  Tech help?  Insurance issues?  Retail sales?) in the private sector has been stellar, and demonstrates that the private sector is the end-all, be-all.

Jesus fucking Christ.  Simply regurgitating tired right-wing talking points, ignoring the log in your own eye.

People in jobs that treat them the worst - low pay, subject to abuse from the public/their superiors - tend not to perform at a high level.  Shock and surprise.

When it comes to the public sector, attitudes like yours are a self-fulfilling prophecy.  What person in their right mind would want to go into teaching right now?  People like you are going to hate on them as "indoctrinating kids" when all they're fucking trying to do is teach the basics, shit on them as lazy even though they will give much more of their own time and effort than the job actually requires, demonize them at school board meetings, and vote for officials who gleefully starve them of pay.  And you wonder why the quality of our teachers declines.

You're a piece of shit, who treats people like shit, and then wonders why they don't all bend over backwards to serve you.  

Good God you're dense. I've never once said anything about teachers yet you keep bringing them up.

And I'm not saying all government employees are assholes. I've focused much more on them being lazy.

You get so hung on what you want to say, you're not even paying attention to what you're responding to. Take a deep breath. 

[F250 28,766]

18 minutes ago, BehoId, The Underminer! said:

Government job often misses the biggest motivating factor out there: going belly up.  DMV gonna shut down soon?

DPS centers are being defunded so probably.

"Nobody needs a drivers license these days" - Texas Legislatures

[Brisketexan 105,092]

1 hour ago, Cum Rocket said:

2 hours ago, gsoda3 said:

government jobs.  

Lol this is the correct answer.

Fuck off, you lying piece of shit.  

And they're not the assholes.  YOU ARE.

"Gee, I wonder why, when I go through my life treating person after person with scorn and contempt, they don't bend over backwards to please me."

You're a piece of shit who gets what they deserve, every time you have a bad experience.

Edited March 21 by Brisketexan

[Herbie Hancock 7,345]

DPS centers are being defunded so probably.
"Nobody needs a drivers license these days" - Texas Legislatures

I tried to create an appointment to renew my drivers license 3 months before it expired. The earliest appointment they had available was 7 weeks after it expired. Fuck the DMV.

[Cum Rocket 136]

2 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

Fuck off, you lying piece of shit.  

And they're not the assholes.  YOU ARE.

"Gee, I wonder why, when I go through my life treating person after person with scorn and contempt, they don't bend over backwards to please me."

You're a piece of shit who gets what they deserve, every time you have a bad experience.

That was in response to places you could work and do "just enough".

Work on being less consistently wrong. Love your passion though.

[Brisketexan 105,092]

5 minutes ago, F250 said:

DPS centers are being defunded so probably.

"Nobody needs a drivers license these days" - Texas Legislatures

Well, they don't.

Know why?

Because you need one to VOTE.  And we can't have that.

Took my daughter -- with a funny-sounding "not American" name -- forever to get a damned TDL, and THREE FUCKING TRIES to register to vote.  ME?  I got my TDL with minimal effort and was able to register to vote without much effort either.  Yeah, no idea why her generation thinks there's fuckery afoot.

[Brisketexan 105,092]

Just now, Cum Rocket said:

That was in response to places you could work and do "just enough".

Yeah....and I was on the phone with gov't officials and employees at 1:00 in the morning as COVID was crushing their local resources, and they were tearing their hair out trying to figure out ways to save lives and care for their community.  Guess they were doing "just enough" as they broke down on the phone with me.

So, I'll repeat it, because it can never, ever, ever be said enough: FUCK YOU.

[YGIFS 19,449]

7 minutes ago, Cum Rocket said:

Good God you're dense. I've never once said anything about teachers yet you keep bringing them up.

And I'm not saying all government employees are assholes. I've focused much more on them being lazy.

You get so hung on what you want to say, you're not even paying attention to what you're responding to. Take a deep breath. 

He's a lot of things, but he ain't dense.  There are lazy people in all walks of life.  It's the nature of our society/civilization.  Having worked in government and politics and all across a broad spectrum of private sector jobs from startup to Fortune50...there are lazy people in every facet of our planet because our technology and food-sourcing enables it.  I don't have to be the fastest, smartest guy out in the field to avoid getting eaten anymore.  I just have to be faster and smarter than you.  And that appears to be a very low bar.  

Many a morning my oldest girl tells me about what she wants to do when she grows up---astronaut, veterinarian, or writer always percolate to the top.  And many a morning, I reply the same, "So long as you're happy and kind, do whatever you want.  But get busy building your dreams or somebody else will pay you to build theirs."  

[F250 28,766]

Just now, Brisketexan said:

Well, they don't.

Know why?

Because you need one to VOTE.  And we can't have that.

Took my daughter -- with a funny-sounding "not American" name -- forever to get a damned TDL, and THREE FUCKING TRIES to register to vote.  ME?  I got my TDL with minimal effort and was able to register to vote without much effort either.  Yeah, no idea why her generation thinks there's fuckery afoot.

My youngest had to make several attempts to register to vote and numerous attempts to get his license. He also has a non-American name. He had no issues getting a passport.

[Brisketexan 105,092]

4 minutes ago, YGIFS said:

And many a morning, I reply the same, "So long as you're happy and kind, do whatever you want.  But get busy building your dreams or somebody else will pay you to build theirs."  

You forgot to tell her the secrets to success in America, according to the Cum Rockets who dominate our society: "Also, be mean, and treat other people like shit.  If you don't, you're a failure."

[Guest]

[Frank Drebin 5,663]

Just now, Brisketexan said:

You forgot to tell her the secrets to success in America, according to the Cum Rockets who dominate our society: "Also, be mean, and treat other people like shit.  If you don't, you're a failure."

You should read all your posts and assess where you fall on the meanness versus kindness spectrum. 

[Sawbonz 27,545]

On 3/20/2024 at 3:12 PM, Thetexashammer said:

Or, instead posting tweets, you could figure out what her actual arguments are and respond to them. She makes valid and thoughtful points. It' pretty hard to criticize an argument with which you have no familiarity.

If someone tweets stupid bullshit, why would I be expected to sift through all that to find any valid and thoughtful points that person may have? 

[Captainant 27,646]

3 minutes ago, Frank Drebin said:

You should read all your posts and assess where you fall on the meanness versus kindness spectrum. 

You really wanna play the post history game, Johnny deacon?

[DaysOff 7,947]

You know what their solution is, right?  Pay ATCs even less.  Treat them even more like shit.  And demand 2X the work out of them that they're currently doing.  Oh, and call them crybaby pussies when they have to hang it up because all their hair is falling out from the stress.

Or try to privatize them like a good capitalist. NAV Canada is so horrendous those controllers would stroke out sitting in at NY or Chicago TRACON.

[Thetexashammer 1,062]

4 minutes ago, Sawbonz said:

If someone tweets stupid bullshit, why would I be expected to sift through all that to find any valid and thoughtful points that person may have? 

Because what they have to say in a long form interview is thought provoking, unique, and a valuable contribution?

[Brisketexan 105,092]

9 minutes ago, Frank Drebin said:

You should read all your posts and assess where you fall on the meanness versus kindness spectrum. 

I confess that I have a weakness: I think that mean people suck.

I guess they really are the poor, mistreated portion of our society.  We should definitely treat them with kid gloves, and empower their shittiness.

Naah, I'll keep on loathing people who don't give a shit about others/have zero empathy for their fellow human beings, who celebrate cruelty, and champion being shitty.  I'm good with that.  The one group I'm not very tolerant of is that group.

[aggie08 21,494]

7 minutes ago, Captainant said:

You really wanna play the post history game, Johnny deacon?

It's okay that he occasionally gets drunk and harasses our resident transgender posters because he listens to the Gospel on his long morning walks. #findyourownhappiness

[Frank Drebin 5,663]

4 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

I confess that I have a weakness: I think that mean people suck.

I guess they really are the poor, mistreated portion of our society.  We should definitely treat them with kid gloves, and empower their shittiness.

Naah, I'll keep on loathing people who don't give a shit about others/have zero empathy for their fellow human beings, who celebrate cruelty, and champion being shitty.  I'm good with that.  The one group I'm not very tolerant of is that group.

You're the hero we need.

[F250 28,766]

5 minutes ago, Thetexashammer said:

Because what they have to say in a long form interview is thought provoking, unique, and a valuable contribution?

Oh, so you are familiar with the writings of J Stang?

[alincoln 2,371]

Another awful thread.  Well done

[SimonBolivar 10,957]

1 minute ago, alincoln said:

Another awful thread.  Well done

Well it does fit with the thread topic.

[Sawbonz 27,545]

2 hours ago, Celery Man said:

are you under the impression that the cost of a burger relative to how much money you make personally over time is the conversation that we're having?

There is a certain type of person who can only see any given topic in terms of how it does or does not affect them personally 

[Sawbonz 27,545]

12 minutes ago, Thetexashammer said:

Because what they have to say in a long form interview is thought provoking, unique, and a valuable contribution?

Why would I waste time trying to figure out if they have something substantive to say when what they put out for quick public consumption is such ridiculous tripe?

[YGIFS 19,449]

If ever there was a time for the meme "Won't somebody think of the children?!?!?!?"  It's on a thread literally about children's mental state as we meander as Surly does.  

Private Sector, on the whole, is more efficient than the Public Sector.  I think we all agree.  We need a functioning public sector for myriad functions, on that we all agree.  Both sectors are failing our children, on that we all agree.  The State of Texas is woefully more ineffective and bloated as a State Government than most any other state.  On that, I think we all agree.  What we don't want to talk about at cocktail parties is who has had 25 years to course-correct that but won't.  And in the end, it's our children who will foot the bill and suffer the consequences.  And somebody get Brisket a goddamn McRib sandwich, stat!  

[fattyflattie 4,639]

3 minutes ago, Sawbonz said:

There is a certain type of person who can only see any given topic in terms of how it does or does not affect them personally 

We spent the whole last page talking about the 80/20 rule. And yet we still gaf about how they feel their life is going? Maybe they should tighten up and dip into the 20% and find some happiness.   

[Brisketexan 105,092]

11 minutes ago, Frank Drebin said:

You're the hero we need.

Nahh, I'm just done with coddling fuckers and calling them anything but the fuckers that they are.

Not heroic. Just sick of their shit.

[Celery Man 20,934]

2 minutes ago, fattyflattie said:

We spent the whole last page talking about the 80/20 rule. And yet we still gaf about how they feel their life is going? Maybe they should tighten up and dip into the 20% and find some happiness.   

The math doesn’t work out.

[F250 28,766]

10 minutes ago, BeardIP said:

So we are at the point in the game where people are actually, seriously and earnestly trying to equate government work and bureaucracy as equally efficient as the private sector.

I doubt we have many government workers on this thread.

People have been posting on this thread all day since 8 AM. The traffic will die out in 30 minutes like it always does because people are done "working" for the day.

lulz hard working private sector workers

[Brisketexan 105,092]

11 minutes ago, BeardIP said:

Oh, and TIL Briskettexan's mom apparently works at the Austin DPS. The only explanation I can think of to explain his death on the hill of the last page or two. 

My old man worked for a safety regulator for 20+ years.

I regularly cross paths with people who bust their asses to make sure that shitheels like you don't die - whether it be from lack of water, sanitation, disease.  

And people like you treat those folks with nothing but disdain.  You're the assholes leaving your shit behind for "the servant class," about whom you give zero shits, to clean up.  You simultaneously take them all for granted, and heap scorn upon them.  Yet, they still keep doing their jobs.  Because even fucking assholes deserve clean water and pipe lines that don't explode next to their house.  They do their job, for you, in spite of the fact that you don't deserve a goddamned thing.

[Frank Drebin 5,663]

5 minutes ago, YGIFS said:

If ever there was a time for the meme "Won't somebody think of the children?!?!?!?"  It's on a thread literally about children's mental state as we meander as Surly does.  

Private Sector, on the whole, is more efficient than the Public Sector.  I think we all agree.  We need a functioning public sector for myriad functions, on that we all agree.  Both sectors are failing our children, on that we all agree.  The State of Texas is woefully more ineffective and bloated as a State Government than most any other state.  On that, I think we all agree.  What we don't want to talk about at cocktail parties is who has had 25 years to course-correct that but won't.  And in the end, it's our children who will foot the bill and suffer the consequences.  And somebody get Brisket a goddamn McRib sandwich, stat!  

I don't agree with that at all.  And I doubt any of us has enough information to truly know.

[Sawbonz 27,545]

The DPS office in Waxahachie is filled with the most pleasant, helpful people you can imagine. Honestly seems like it can’t really be a DPS office

[52-80 19,148]

1 hour ago, Celery Man said:

the thing I was making light of is that you did so while quoting a comment that contains obviously bullshit totally not objective data

well, the thing is, fatty was right.  maybe not in the percentages, but the fact that the cost of eating out (black) matched wages (dashed red)-- specifically wages for individual, non-supervisory employees in mostly very blue collar jobs.  the other lines are cost of food at home, and blended total food spend.

you didnt specify a timeframe but mentioned "previous twenty years" so i rounded up to a nice 2000 start date.

 

switching gears to talks of the "middle class stagnation/shrinking", these might rile people up a bit:

this is from the Congressional Budget Office's late 2023 publication of Distribution of Household Income, pages 26 and 28

and then this one...if you consider 20-80th income as middle class, its size has been constant.

in fact if you segregate the middle three quintiles as working class (20-40), middle class (40-60), and upper middle (60-80), itll show the "middle" did shrink because they promoted upwards into the upper middle! 

 

[YGIFS 19,449]

It's an aggregation of how much we spend as a state from state tax dollars, how much we spend as a state from federal tax dollars, how much the real estate upon which our state facilities sit is actually worth (and pay no taxes obviously), personnel wages for all of the above, and the debt service obligations.  Just because we have a budget surplus doesn't hide the fact that we're a very unhealthy, slow transiting, dirty, and under-educated state.  We also, for a "no federal dollars on our watch" still receive over a quarter-trillion dollars from the federal government.  Now we rank low in per capita spending because we don't invest in our citizens, particularly our young people.  But we sure as shit toss money around on buildings and meaningless personnel.  The new Capitol Complex in Austin is a shining example of that.  No reasonable 'small government' advocate should have green-lit that real estate disaster.  Took hundreds of millions off the property tax rolls so one guy could go into a building once a year to talk with somebody in person about an issue.  

Anyway, we're in a race to the bottom.  Our kids will meet us there.

[utee94 15,811]

5 minutes ago, Sawbonz said:

The DPS office in Waxahachie is filled with the most pleasant, helpful people you can imagine. Honestly seems like it can’t really be a DPS office

I absolutely love the "new" DPS policy of making appointments. Sure they can book up well ahead of time, but if embracing that discipline of scheduling early, means I'm not waiting hours upon hours in a Beetlejuice-like hellscape of first-come first-served, then I'm completely down for it.  And the people I've interacted with have been quite lovely ever since the transition.

[52-80 19,148]

1 hour ago, Frank Drebin said:

City parking enforcement pretty much anywhere I have been are some ruthlessly efficient bastards.  They and Chic Fil A are the gold standard of efficiency.

I think there's unexplored, untapped potential in the government identifying the most difficult problems to solve... and then deploying a squadron of ex- meter maids on those jobs.

[DaysOff 7,947]

The DPS office in Waxahachie is filled with the most pleasant, helpful people you can imagine. Honestly seems like it can’t really be a DPS office

Boerne too.

[Captainant 27,646]

17 minutes ago, 52-80 said:

well, the thing is, fatty was right.  maybe not in the percentages, but the fact that the cost of eating out (black) matched wages (dashed red)-- specifically wages for individual, non-supervisory employees in mostly very blue collar jobs.  the other lines are cost of food at home, and blended total food spend.

you didnt specify a timeframe but mentioned "previous twenty years" so i rounded up to a nice 2000 start date.

 

switching gears to talks of the "middle class stagnation/shrinking", these might rile people up a bit:

this is from the Congressional Budget Office's late 2023 publication of Distribution of Household Income, pages 26 and 28

and then this one...if you consider 20-80th income as middle class, its size has been constant.

in fact if you segregate the middle three quintiles as working class (20-40), middle class (40-60), and upper middle (60-80), itll show the "middle" did shrink because they promoted upwards into the upper middle! 

 

Lol a FRED graph showing averages, which we know are extremely top heavy thanks to median data, and then a couple of percentage increase graphs which really nicely conceal the truth of how fucking far apart those pay numbers are

Truly, you are a master of graph based communication. 

Edited March 21 by Captainant

[Brisketexan 105,092]

Emotion and “experience”. Got it.

Yes. I have direct hands on experience in the very thing that we are talking about. And jackasses like you see that as a negative. Hell of a world we live in.

[Sawbonz 27,545]

2 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

Yes. I have direct hands on experience in the very thing that we are talking about. And jackasses like you see that as a negative. Hell of a world we live in.

 

[Frank Drebin 5,663]

13 minutes ago, YGIFS said:

It's an aggregation of how much we spend as a state from state tax dollars, how much we spend as a state from federal tax dollars, how much the real estate upon which our state facilities sit is actually worth (and pay no taxes obviously), personnel wages for all of the above, and the debt service obligations.  Just because we have a budget surplus doesn't hide the fact that we're a very unhealthy, slow transiting, dirty, and under-educated state.  We also, for a "no federal dollars on our watch" still receive over a quarter-trillion dollars from the federal government.  Now we rank low in per capita spending because we don't invest in our citizens, particularly our young people.  But we sure as shit toss money around on buildings and meaningless personnel.  The new Capitol Complex in Austin is a shining example of that.  No reasonable 'small government' advocate should have green-lit that real estate disaster.  Took hundreds of millions off the property tax rolls so one guy could go into a building once a year to talk with somebody in person about an issue.  

Anyway, we're in a race to the bottom.  Our kids will meet us there.

You were comparing us to other states.  Which ones should we emulate?  And how do you know enough about how other states are run to make any kind of meaningful comparison?

I have meaningful information on and experience with governments in Texas, California, Colorado, and Montana.  I am not sure I would say any of that lot are run well.  

 

13 minutes ago, utee94 said:

I absolutely love the "new" DPS policy of making appointments. Sure they can book up well ahead of time, but if embracing that discipline of scheduling early, means I'm not waiting hours upon hours in a Beetlejuice-like hellscape of first-come first-served, then I'm completely down for it.  And the people I've interacted with have been quite lovely ever since the transition.

Last time I renewed in person I went to the DPS office in Hempstead.  I literally sat on a back porch of a trailer in a white plastic chair for 5 minutes before going in.  That was the waiting area, and it was awesome.

[Celery Man 20,934]

21 minutes ago, 52-80 said:

well, the thing is, fatty was right.  maybe not in the percentages, but the fact that the cost of eating out (black) matched wages (dashed red)-- specifically wages for individual, non-supervisory employees in mostly very blue collar jobs.  the other lines are cost of food at home, and blended total food spend.

you didnt specify a timeframe but mentioned "previous twenty years" so i rounded up to a nice 2000 start date.

 

switching gears to talks of the "middle class stagnation/shrinking", these might rile people up a bit:

this is from the Congressional Budget Office's late 2023 publication of Distribution of Household Income, pages 26 and 28

and then this one...if you consider 20-80th income as middle class, its size has been constant.

in fact if you segregate the middle three quintiles as working class (20-40), middle class (40-60), and upper middle (60-80), itll show the "middle" did shrink because they promoted upwards into the upper middle! 

 

The specific metric was wages quadrupling over 10 years, which is stupid. Of course as we’ve discovered, what he meant was something somehow even stupider.

[YGIFS 19,449]

5 minutes ago, Frank Drebin said:

You were comparing us to other states.  Which ones should we emulate?  And how do you know enough about how other states are run to make any kind of meaningful comparison?

I have meaningful information on and experience with governments in Texas, California, Colorado, and Montana.  I am not sure I would say any of that lot are run well.  .

To your point, no state is run "well", it's degrees of less suckitude (insert South Austin Mom joke here).  Admittedly, the choke point in the assembly line of all states is the actual state government of which we have little knowledge because they're all purposely obfuscated.  But we can see inputs and we can see outcomes.  That much is somewhat known.  For a small government state, we onboard an awful lot of resources (taxes, land, and people) and turn out pretty shitty eventualities (education, health, transportation, infrastructure, power, water/air quality and abundance, corruption, etc.).  But yes, to your point...in the inner workings of what happens between taking in and kicking out is hard to make a meaningful comparison with.  There's a "Yellowstone" episode in here somewhere.  

Okay, back to the kids.  Said the Baptist Preacher.....................

[Brisketexan 105,092]

But you don't have anything more than most of us also have. In fact, your "direct" experience is actually indirect and secondhand. 
And to extrapolate those experiences and peanut butter spread it across the public sector as a whole is so mind-numbingly and frustratingly emotional, I question if there is actually any testosterone at all coursing through your old veins.

Wait…so it’s GOOD for yall to extrapolate across the public sector as a whole to say it’s shitty and they suck, based on your experiences…but when I extrapolate based on my decades of direct experience with the public sector, that’s MIND NUMBING and bad. Fascinating.