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Posted

We could also, you know, raise government revenue as well. Typically successful austerity measures involve both spending cuts and tax increases.

That is how we were able to achieve what we did in the 1990s for example.

Posted

On the RTO issue.  The Patent and Trademark Office has used remote work for patent examiners, in particular, for decades, long before Covid.

It was necessary to attract technical talent to the examining corps, when living in the greater DC area held no appeal, much less on a gubmint salary.

It worked quite well as I don't think anyone on the non-office side could tell whether an examiner was teleworking or in-office.

I suspect that there are more than a few federal workers like this.

Also, curiously, the PTO has opened regional patent offices in Detroit, Dallas, San Jose, Denver and maybe a couple of other places.  It hasn't seemed to change much in terms of operation or really location of employees, but I think they do present "telework" hubs reducing remote workers' travel to Alexandria.

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Posted (edited)

The point being, as I think we all know, that remote work can be a very good thing that makes a lot of sense, especially for government.

It's not all "bad Covid policy" or some type of worker laziness.

Not directly relevant to the RTO thing, but I am not opposed perhaps to moving more government function out of DC.  That makes a certain amount of sense if done in measured fashion.

Edited by TwiceHorn
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Posted
17 minutes ago, Nuge said:

https://www.yahoo.com/news/education-department-staff-warned-trump-032124645.html

What kind of bullshit is this?  Even if you take the buyout it could be cancelled at any time and you have no recourse.

All you wanted to know about that.  https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/will-employees-who-resign-have-a-remedy

Receiving severance past the March 14 budget authorization is a very dicey proposition, as is entering a contract with the government for severance pay, period.  The documents also have releases purporting to prevent suits against the government.

Posted

Question for you law folks--what prevents Musk and Trump from cutting funding to the courts, court staff and congressional staff or along party lines?  Seems like they'd be kneecapping the judicial system as well but who cares about the rule of law when you have blanket immunity? 

Posted (edited)
10 hours ago, Mdhorn said:

Question for you law folks--what prevents Musk and Trump from cutting funding to the courts, court staff and congressional staff or along party lines?  Seems like they'd be kneecapping the judicial system as well but who cares about the rule of law when you have blanket immunity? 

Well, nothing really.  But, the federal judiciary is divvied up among districts.  And districts have Trumpy judges and non-Trumpy judges, and it would be difficult to strangle the non-Trumpy judges without also strangling the Trumpy judges.

Also, one thing the plutocrats don't acknowledge but may know to a greater or lesser extent:  they are heavily dependent on a status-quo, rule-based judiciary in their business and personal lives and they fuck with that at their peril.  And, they are also politically heavily reliant on a friendly judiciary at this point.  Also perilous for them.

Finally, I think when push comes to shove, the judiciary is going to do a better job of protecting its power than the legislative branch has done.

Edited by TwiceHorn
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