Aren't You Glad You Voted For Trump

[normiss 814]

38 minutes ago, billvon said:

So if someone assassinated Trump, and could prove that he was doing it to save the US, he would be free to go?

Fascinating.

Recently chatting with a few Veteran buddies and their thoughts on the oath we took when we entered the service and some feel they are committed to honoring their oath of defending the country.

Some Vets very well may be struggling with the deep commitment they feel to that oath and how it might be needed in the future.

Times I never expected to consider living in America.

[normiss 814]

1 minute ago, gowlerk said:

Be careful Bill. The NSA is still fully staffed.

Just wait till Friday. Hard to tell who is next. POTUS Elon and FOTUS Trump are working on access to ALL data, especially the financial information.

[JerryBaumchen 1,384]

Hi folks,

Looks like they eat their own:  “the DOGE push to downsize government employees will hit the coalition that elected Trump.”

Republicans worry Trump’s firings of federal workers will hit red states hard - oregonlive.com

Jerry Baumchen

[dogyks 5]

49 minutes ago, JerryBaumchen said:

Hi folks,

Looks like they eat their own:  “the DOGE push to downsize government employees will hit the coalition that elected Trump.”

Republicans worry Trump’s firings of federal workers will hit red states hard - oregonlive.com

Jerry Baumchen

It's an unfortunate reality that the $36 some odd Trillion for which we're in the hole will be a challenge to pay off.  The first thing is to balance the budget - you know, quit digging the hole deeper.

I hear a lot of bitching about the particulars, but I'm impressed that the approach being taken is not at all superficial.

There is no painless way to deal with the economic disaster we face.  The worst thing is to do nothing and let it all go to hell.  The best thing is to quit spending money we don't have for things we don't need, just for starts.

Do I like Trump?  Not even slightly.

I'm impressed that Musk isn't intimidated by the task he's been given, and doesn't view patience as a virtue.  Like in skydiving, there's a certain immediacy involved.

Any part of the government that expects to conduct business as usual should be in for a rude awakening, if it is to survive at all.

Hell, I'm amazed that we've made it this far.

[nigel99 521]

1 hour ago, JerryBaumchen said:

Hi folks,

Looks like they eat their own:  “the DOGE push to downsize government employees will hit the coalition that elected Trump.”

Republicans worry Trump’s firings of federal workers will hit red states hard - oregonlive.com

Jerry Baumchen

Trump and Musk are going about this in a highly unethical and probably illegal way. Part of the problem with bloat is that no politician wants the cuts in their area. 

If the US is anything like UK/Aus public servants typically get a job for life and as a result you can get very incompetent and or lazy people staying.

Early 2000’s working at a UK research lab we had an old engineer who didn’t know how use computers. He literally sat and read the newspaper each day. There was no pretence that he was working, just ticking along to retirement. 

Organisational change is tough and requires strong leadership. My current employer has 15000 people and are a train wreck as far as organisational change goes. 

[base698 20]

14 hours ago, nigel99 said:

Organisational change is tough and requires strong leadership. My current employer has 15000 people and are a train wreck as far as organisational change goes. 

I recently saw a talk claiming it's actually impossible.  I've seen one crater from billion market cap to worthless personally and think that's probably close to correct.  Beyond window dressing or rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic it's impossible.

The core team has to be really tight other wise it crumbles to any pressure.

Edited February 19 by base698

[dogyks 5]

I've seen it work - sort of.  Unfortunately, a counterproductive culture was surgically removed and replaced with personnel who understood the new paradigm.

When you have a workforce indoctrinated in ideology that would make Lewis Carroll groan, you can't just tell them "you're not allowed to be stupid anymore" and expect them to snap out of it.

[nigel99 521]

57 minutes ago, base698 said:

I recently saw a talk claiming it's actually impossible.  I've seen one crater from billion market cap to worthless personally and think that's probably close to correct.  Beyond window dressing or rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic it's impossible.

The core team has to be really tight other wise it crumbles to any pressure.

Years ago there was an article in an engineering magazine that mentioned how even the threat of death doesn’t make people change. The examples given were medical advice to stop smoking or to change diet.

[nigel99 521]

44 minutes ago, dogyks said:

I've seen it work - sort of.  Unfortunately, a counterproductive culture was surgically removed and replaced with personnel who understood the new paradigm.

When you have a workforce indoctrinated in ideology that would make Lewis Carroll groan, you can't just tell them "you're not allowed to be stupid anymore" and expect them to snap out of it.

I’m coming to the end of my psych degree, and change is interesting. I think it’s possible if you change the leadership and plan for the resulting churn. 

I’ve seen it work in smaller organisations, I was in senior management in a company of 500 people. I’d imagine the inertia in a larger organisation makes it next to impossible.

[wmw999 2,475]

The larger and more mature the organization, the more people there are who learn to work the system. And people are naturally resistant to change — they generally get ahead by working the system. So they’re fine with others having to change and lose, but only as long as they can protect themselves (that ox-goring thing).

And the people who have the most to lose in an organization are often management — that’s why it’s always the line workers who are cut. You can always make someone else’s job “more efficient,” but god forbid someone should say you’re not doing your max

Wendy P.

[BIGUN 1,338]

13 minutes ago, wmw999 said:

people are naturally resistant to change

Firm believer in Deming's methods. He used his knowledge from the Hawthorne Effect and perfected it to a bottom-up approach to change.

TRIVIA: Juran was an engineer at the Hawthorne facility and Deming was a young doctoral candidate.    

[wmw999 2,475]

32 minutes ago, BIGUN said:

Firm believer in Deming's methods. He used his knowledge from the Hawthorne Effect and perfected it to a bottom-up approach to change.

TRIVIA: Juran was an engineer at the Hawthorne facility and Deming was a young doctoral candidate.    

Likewise. I was a LSS Black Belt; it’s a huge number of useful tools. But like everything else, too many of the new BB’s drank the koolaid, and tried to black belt every.single.issue.

People who have some real input really do react better to change. Not the kind of input you give to toddlers (do you want the green socks or the red socks?), but useful stuff

Wendy P. 

[BIGUN 1,338]

7 minutes ago, wmw999 said:

too many of the new BB’s drank the koolaid, and tried to black belt every.single.issue.

Truth.

[David Wang 60]

$70 million DOGE cut at Purdue

Edited February 19 by David Wang

[jakee 1,528]

10 hours ago, dogyks said:

There is no painless way to deal with the economic disaster we face.  The worst thing is to do nothing and let it all go to hell.  The best thing is to quit spending money we don't have for things we don't need, just for starts.

The worst things you can do are to break the law, and to make spending cuts you don't understand. It is much more expensive to reverse the impact of a cut that had serious unintended consequences than it is to keep operating that service normally.

[dogyks 5]

3 hours ago, BIGUN said:

Truth.

Too many getting certified saw the fundamentals for the first time and didn't have perspective into which to put them.

I'd been well versed in all of it before LSSBB certification, so taking it with a grain of salt wasn't difficult.

[nigel99 521]

Well Trump just called himself King.

I guess no dictator ever calls themselves dictator. 

[dogyks 5]

14 minutes ago, nigel99 said:

Well Trump just called himself King.

I guess no dictator ever calls themselves dictator. 

We desperately need someone to aggressively address the disaster that is our government's finances, and Trump is doing so.  Unfortunately, he's batshit crazy.

[JerryBaumchen 1,384]

1 hour ago, dogyks said:

We desperately need someone to aggressively address the disaster that is our government's finances, and Trump is doing so.  Unfortunately, he's batshit crazy.

Hi dogyks,

For many yrs, I have believed that we should reduce the size of the fed gov't.

Disclaimer:  I spent 30 yrs for the fed gov't & am now a fed retiree.

However, IMO a proper reduction [ subjective? - of course ] requires a scalpel and not a sledge hammer.

And, yes: Trump is batshit crazy.  I do not believe that down deep Trump really cares; remember, his first attempt at the presidency was as a Democrat.  His true desire is just to himself in the news; the center of attention.

Jerry Baumchen

[dogyks 5]

Pharmacia (Upjohn) had two warning letters from the FDA when Pfizer bought the company.  On the day the sign out front changed, all of the employees were moved offsite and out processed (with exception of maintenance and power plant personnel).

It was drastic, but having consulted at Schering-Plough and Wyeth Ayerst after they were hit with consent decrees (the next step), I can't say it wasn't warranted.

The US Government is in debt to the tune of $1/3 Million per taxpayer, so continuing on the same path isn't an option.  Neither is a patient approach.

Trump reminds me of a cartoon in which a guy with a cheery look - and a bolo bat in his back pocket - is ripping wires out of a bomb while the authorities are peeking around the corner.

If the people he has making the changes understand numbers and history, we have a chance.  If not, well, we were fucked anyway.

 

[JerryBaumchen 1,384]

1 hour ago, dogyks said:

Pharmacia (Upjohn) had two warning letters from the FDA when Pfizer bought the company.  On the day the sign out front changed, all of the employees were moved offsite and out processed (with exception of maintenance and power plant personnel).

It was drastic, but having consulted at Schering-Plough and Wyeth Ayerst after they were hit with consent decrees (the next step), I can't say it wasn't warranted.

The US Government is in debt to the tune of $1/3 Million per taxpayer, so continuing on the same path isn't an option.  Neither is a patient approach.

Trump reminds me of a cartoon in which a guy with a cheery look - and a bolo bat in his back pocket - is ripping wires out of a bomb while the authorities are peeking around the corner.

If the people he has making the changes understand numbers and history, we have a chance.  If not, well, we were fucked anyway.

 

Hi dogyks,

Like this idiot:  Controversial ex-judge from Oregon appointed to Trump administration - oregonlive.com

'Local Republican groups, including the Oregon Conservative Caucus, lauded the appointment.'

Jerry Baumchen

 

[JoeWeber 2,760]

4 hours ago, dogyks said:

We desperately need someone to aggressively address the disaster that is our government's finances, and Trump is doing so.  Unfortunately, he's batshit crazy.

Singapore owes more per person than us and can afford awesome food courts and clean streets. National debt isn't a bill divided up after dinner. It isn't great but it also isn't such an immediate thing that aggressive and indiscriminate whacking in all directions is the best solution. The idea that innocents must suffer en masse because we'd never get enough money to service the debt by fairly taxing the morbidly rich shouldn't be made unless first the morbidly rich were fairly taxed as a matter of fundamental fairness. That should be step one not putting them in charge of raping the middle class to get even richer.

[BIGUN 1,338]

19 minutes ago, JoeWeber said:

National debt isn't a bill divided up after dinner. It isn't great but it also isn't such an immediate thing that aggressive and indiscriminate whacking in all directions is the best solution.

No argument. Nor, does it take into account the revenues generated from areas other than the sound bite of "Every American Owes X."

IMO: Bill Clinton's Workforce Reduction Act, while somewhat brutal, still had a methodology of assessing the need, then submitting it to Congress. 

[olofscience 485]

14 hours ago, dogyks said:

Trump reminds me of a cartoon in which a guy with a cheery look - and a bolo bat in his back pocket - is ripping wires out of a bomb while the authorities are peeking around the corner.

If the people he has making the changes understand numbers and history, we have a chance.  If not, well, we were fucked anyway.

You sound like you voted for him and are trying to convince yourself that it was the right decision...

I suggest you read "The Psychology of Persuasion" by Dr. Cialdini, especially the section on Consistency.

[jakee 1,528]

On 2/18/2025 at 8:55 PM, dogyks said:

There is no painless way to deal with the economic disaster we face.  The worst thing is to do nothing and let it all go to hell. 

Just another example here that you can always do a hell of a lot worse than nothing.

Trump administration’s mass firings could leave federal government with ‘monumental’ bill

In there supposed quest to root out fraud Doge is committing widespread fraud by giving definitively false reasons for firing people, leaving the government exposed to a staggering number of lawsuits. Paying more for the people you fired without any of the benefits of having them still doing their jobs. 

And that's before getting into firing 7,000 IRS employees during tax season - an approach which always leads to a much greater drop in government revenue. Now why on earth would two billionaires with extremely complex tax affairs (one of them a serial fraudster) think that's a good idea?