I’ve said this before (from experience). When you cut federal workers you don’t save money, you instead spend more on contractors. www.nytimes.com/2025/03/14/b... - ThreadSky

johnsipher.bsky.social • 17 hours ago

I’ve said this before (from experience). When you cut federal workers you don’t save money, you instead spend more on contractors.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/14/business/economy/trump-doge-federal-contractors.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share

Comments

periwinkle215.bsky.social•10 hours ago

That's the point! Privatize it all!

genie4ss.bsky.social•10 hours ago

and give contracts to people you have "arrangements" with

periwinkle215.bsky.social•9 hours ago

Yep...

slojmn.bsky.social•15 hours ago

When I explain this to intellectual people who get it, they counter with, “But in the long run it will be a better service and save money.” It’s mind numbing bullshit. They can’t step back and just say, “crap, I was lied to and I believed this megalomaniac.”

coachpropson.bsky.social•17 hours ago

It’s all about privatizing government.

mreddie8976.bsky.social•17 hours ago

Yeah, under contracts that his billionaire pals hold, with zero oversight and accountability

A license to loot the Treasury

bicyclebaskets.bsky.social•14 hours ago

Yes. Privatizing it all. Little oversight.

leninthewoods.bsky.social•17 hours ago

Yes! The employees and the workers get less but the contractor gets a juicy cut.

eleanorsews.bsky.social•9 hours ago

Isn’t that the general idea?

glenster1111.bsky.social•17 hours ago

And that's the point - privatize privatize privatize!!!

beskarta.bsky.social•9 hours ago

Yep. Oodles of money, and often for less quality. Contractor companies want people already trained to do a job, with experience doing the job. Close/degrade the Federal agencies means eating the seed corn...and competition goes way up for the remaining people who know the job. $$$ in wages.

captanne.bsky.social•16 hours ago

And you (we) lose continuity.

gozermac.bsky.social•17 hours ago

I’m surprised we haven’t heard messaging announcing “the same but better services without deep state lib bias”. It’s corruption of course but his ego won’t even let him dress it up as a legitimate government service benefiting the citizenry.

nickikenyon.bsky.social•16 hours ago

Correct. I started my IC career as a contractor. I made a pretty modest salary. Then I was hired as a govie, I saw how much my old company was getting for me (my slot) - nearly THREE times the salary they were paying me! Some savings…

dianewpb.bsky.social•16 hours ago

Unemployment benefits will probably be cut soon. These people who have been fired - now won't have insurance, salaries, benefits. Won't be able to pay for childcare, mortgages, rent, food. What a horrible disaster affecting us all.

elusiveapricity.bsky.social•16 hours ago

And, these contractors can go rogue at any time, just like Elon did.
“We are living off his good graces,” a Pentagon official said of Musk’s role... 👇
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/08/28/elon-musks-shadow-rule

wozahmed.bsky.social•17 hours ago

Agree. Also, a lot of people don't realise that taxes are often efficient. If you privatise everything, you add margins everywhere. Stuff gets expensive.

beat-army.bsky.social•17 hours ago

As have I. It’s been my experience as well.

mariejo1965.bsky.social•16 hours ago

That’s what we call privatization…

haddixdl.bsky.social•8 hours ago

Yeah, but it's HIS contractors saying yes sir!

proudrebelscum.bsky.social•17 hours ago

the biggest names in outsourcing are not there because they’re efficient - it’s because they sell their products most aggressively. I’ve never seen a service outsourced for less than the company was paying before.

menagerie-mom.bsky.social•12 hours ago

Yep. Been a fed & watched contractors coming too close to decisions that should be made by government personnel only.

femmedefinesse.bsky.social•17 hours ago

True of many industries. A director for a healthcare company presented a well researched paper to administrators regarding the cost savings of adding more FTE rather than relying on contractors. The research was acknowledged as accurate, but nope, not adding FTE. Hard to understand that mindset.

milo-hamilton.bsky.social•16 hours ago

The simplest concept that most don’t comprehend.

bathshebablue.bsky.social•16 hours ago

Exactly.

Mind boggling how difficult it is for some to understand this.

robsterlobster1.bsky.social•7 hours ago

That’s the point

barefoottrader.bsky.social•17 hours ago

see also: trump's EO removing $15 minimum wage for contractors.

brianwcooley.bsky.social•14 hours ago

He's going to bring Russian contractors in to help convert the U S into a Communist Country because he wants to be a leader like his mentor Putin!

colmustard77.bsky.social•17 hours ago

You end up spending more, since the corporate side will build in a hefty profit margin for themselves, which includes less benefits and pay for the worker.

oakelm.bsky.social•17 hours ago

Like an emergency visit to the hospital vs a scheduled visit.

oakelm.bsky.social•17 hours ago

I'm saying that is the difference in spend. In case I wasn't clear.

chiprogressive.bsky.social•16 hours ago

Contractors also build inefficiency in two other areas.

1. Additional layers of oversight. Managers have to also manage the contractor firm in addition to in-house staff. That firm will likely introduce parallel org charts for their internal mgmt, and that cost is billable. ~ 30% more overhead.

chiprogressive.bsky.social•16 hours ago

2. Contract staff will roll off a job after 1-3 years, institutional knowledge is lost, especially in specialized knowledge, as well as significantly reducing the size of pool of candidates for upward mobility and continuity in functional operations. Short-term cost: 20% annually. Long-term: unknown

reeseourso.bsky.social•17 hours ago

Isn’t that the point? To funnel federal funds to their cronies.

sundog1.bsky.social•17 hours ago

If the outsourcing is a permanent solution and not just a temporary overflow work around, then it will always end up at a much higher cost than having an in house employee (or in the is case, government employee) and have less oversight.

massachusettsxy.bsky.social•17 hours ago

More expense overall, more inefficiency during transition.

Total clusterfuck.

peggysc.bsky.social•15 hours ago

I've watched this happen since Reagan and I've always wondered why people think hiring a contractor, who adds a profit margin to employee costs, is cheaper than hiring employees directly.

julessky.bsky.social•8 hours ago

Until the defense contracts are cancelled.

d-d-jones.bsky.social•9 hours ago

You also end up with *more* bureaucracy - contract managers who don’t understand details and can’t fix things.

realfoxmueller.bsky.social•16 hours ago

Yet they are specifically targeting contractors. This story is bunk. A journalistic trope, the easiest one of course: irony

jpcolindesign.bsky.social•11 hours ago

Wasn't THAT the point? He operates just like a mobster. The government needs to "use the right people," or else. The Bratva doesn't have a ceremony like being "made" like the Cosa Nostra. Trump is the quintessential "Mob Associate," however.

sparklepigeon.bsky.social•16 hours ago

Typical multiplier on salary is 3x the employee’s hourly wage. So if the govt employee makes $30 per hour you’re going to pay the contract worker $90 per hour. Plus they’re going to be looking for ways to expand their project and make more $$$.

xlaszlo.bsky.social•17 hours ago

That's the point.

Also including selling off federal properties that are only usable for government purposes.

Rent seeking at best.

The UK already proved that government outsourcing is expensive.

bobbing2.bsky.social•15 hours ago

That’s really the point, isn’t? Deconstruct the government. Then privatize what they want.

daznank.bsky.social•17 hours ago

Yes, but who are the contractors? Musk is lining up for the same big contracts, and he knows the people who are looking for jobs

secretsquirrl.bsky.social•17 hours ago

Would those, "Contractors", be buddies of Trump or Musk?

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