Civil Servants

[Fisherking]

Well, back to civil servants.

Everyone has this stereotype of the surly person behind the counter who treats you like dirt and won't deal with your problem.

That is a very convenient stereotype for the politicians. It is even true of a very few places...Usually the DMV...

Anyway, the average civil servant is anything but overpaid for the work they do and most of the retirement plans are a shadow of what they once were.

There is waste in government, beyond any doubt! And it to a great extent stems from bureaucracy.

But the biggest part is political patronage and how it is funneled back into the privet sector.

Government is top heavy with administrators and managers who increase costs and the guy at the bottom gets all the blame.

Worthless studies of everything from traffic to how to reduce costs are a major factor in what you pay too.

Government contracts to privet firms cost you an arm and a leg, and but for accounting reasons and high managers’ salaries could be done cheaper by the public sector.

I once worked as a federal employee. In one organization, a workforce of 600 personnel supported a top level management force of 280 managers, not to mention their office staff and equipment.

All those people had to justify their jobs by writing requirements and regulations governing the work being done.

Now when costs are too high, guess who gets eliminated... They find new places for those managers and eliminate the workforce.

They can show a cost savings on paper but what was the service worth...and then they have a privet firm perform the task at only double the cost.

So by all means save your money and privatize...

Except that the reason for civil service is because the privet sector could not be trusted with the quality of work...