The way the government has dealt with this in the past is to hire a ton of contractors. Contractors already massively outnumber federal employees. www.brookings.edu/articles/is-... - ThreadSky

bradheath.bsky.social • 1 day ago

The way the government has dealt with this in the past is to hire a ton of contractors. Contractors already massively outnumber federal employees.

https://www.brookings.edu/articles/is-government-too-big-reflections-on-the-size-and-composition-of-todays-federal-government/

Comments

umalabed.bsky.social•1 day ago

Our greatest wish was to provide safety for our children, but today I am both a mother and a father 💔. I lost everything in an instant, even the tent I had could not withstand the winds 🌪️. We are in Gaza, the dead waiting for their turn 🕊️.
https://gofund.me/2790a0f8

mochajava13.bsky.social•1 day ago

Trump is trying to privatize all of government. Lucrative for people at the top and crappy wages for everyone else. Also adds a layer of plausible deniability for any wrongdoing by contractors. And then private companies can ratchet up the amount they charge.

jbyrdmarshall.bsky.social•1 day ago

The systemic rot of our government really started the first time some clever asshole said "hey, private industry could do this better and cheaper" and he didn't get laughed out of the room.

sjstill.bsky.social•1 day ago

Not to mention, contractors cost the government more.

danmoran16.bsky.social•1 day ago

So the more government outsources, the more taxpayers have to fork over? Damn, you should tell someone!

chronoscope.bsky.social•1 day ago

They already know.

lkmc.bsky.social•1 day ago

Similar to Amazon. No benefits. But what happened to budgets and planning??? It’s all part of the CON for DON!

khinvail.bsky.social•1 day ago

I agree and if the Rs want to cancel contracts they should start with the likes of the Blackwaters and Halliburtons of the world.

4jahall.bsky.social•1 day ago

Contracts make more and cost more than employees

majortom70.bsky.social•1 day ago

Boycott MSNBC until @lawrenceodonnell.msnbc.com @maddow.msnbc.com and @chrislhayes.bsky.social use their power!

hongito.bsky.social•1 day ago

When people say the gov too big and inefficient, there's never a direct example I just hear mumbling about having to file paperwork or something. what do average Americans feel is lacking in fed bureaucracy?

I feel like it's just a meme to most people.

unknown-error.bsky.social•1 day ago

Yeah, wasn't that the con 20 years ago, 'move the jobs into the private sector and it will be cheaper'?

And we end up having to pay contractors more for many of the same services?

toobiefrank.bsky.social•1 day ago

The strategy was to have the ability to reduce labor costs when conservative governments were elected. But it’s just turned into a way for rich people to suck the government teat.

americansunited25.bsky.social•1 day ago

We need to shutdown DOGE. First battle and it shouldn’t be that hard.

kd-jenkins.bsky.social•1 day ago

Contractors are also way more expensive than direct employees. But sure, we are saving money…

toobiefrank.bsky.social•1 day ago

Contractors are expensive in the short run but employees who have healthcare and retirement benefits are expensive in the long run. However, government only expands in the long run. If you could be sure that today’s employees could be used efficiently in 20 years, hiring employees is cost effective.

stevehasegawa.bsky.social•1 day ago

Yes, and contractors are more expensive than employees. So the effect of DOGE will either be a reduction in statutorily mandated services or an increase in government costs (enriching contractors like Musk, I assume)

alexb4u.bsky.social•1 day ago

And those contractors are not cheaper, and don't see themselves as serving the public.

toobiefrank.bsky.social•1 day ago

We are a society of 320 million. The government protects us from foreign armies, spies, germs, tainted imports, hackers, and insects, plus domestic criminals, diseases, accidents, hackers, and pollutants. The only reason you don’t know of all those threats is because the government is successful.

provalone77.bsky.social•1 day ago

Contractors cost more…

bagpiper59.bsky.social•1 day ago

Always. And in every instance.

dorkenhymer.bsky.social•1 day ago

Amen!!! The legislature, those same feckless people who are allowing Trumps madness to continue, have mandated so many mandatory requirements for government contracts the government cost of the contract is double, sometimes triple the amount a non government entity would pay.

tbearz.bsky.social•1 day ago

As the US is sending contractors to Gaza.

ravenna321.bsky.social•1 day ago

And which is cheaper, seeing as that's the goal here, right?

billwsmithjr.bsky.social•1 day ago

Contractors usually also cost more than employees, but there are legal constrictions on federal employees.

silverfoxontherock.bsky.social•1 day ago

And they cost at least double of what a public servant costs (including salary and benefits).

thealtonobserver.bsky.social•1 day ago

Our government is just a giant Rube Goldberg machine, but the outcome is usually either the marble falls off at some point or someone keeps purposefully breaking one of the pieces and then immediately offering to fix it.

thealtonobserver.bsky.social•1 day ago

This is especially true with the DOD where the most advanced equipment (F35, etc.) can't be repaired by the average service member and a contractor needs to be called in (at I'm sure a very reasonable rate) to update glitching software or repair fragile hardware.

thealtonobserver.bsky.social•1 day ago

The private sector was integral to winning WW2, but the basic mechanics of the planes/tanks/etc that Ford built were not so different from the car a soldier might have at home. Now, you'd be hard pressed to find anyone who a 360 degree camera attached to a plane's weapons system in their garage.

tulycat.bsky.social•1 day ago

This was also the whole point of conservatives' push to offload a lot of the work to nonprofits. Something about points of light. Now they are the enemy.

deepstate2025.bsky.social•1 day ago

Brad Heath, I know that my 10 million person march may seem absurd on the face of it--but think of the psychological effect it will have on trump's fascist regime, if word of it spreads massively--even if it never comes to fruition.
I am 66 and don't wish to die under a dictator

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