"Vic Smith" wrote in message
wrote:

That's three bulleted list items that say the same thing. "First (second
and third) by eliminating the cumbersome bureaucratic red tape and the
redundant layers of supervision would streamline the task." Such a
telling
error to make when discussing redundancy. It's a clue that private
citizens can be just as redundant as Federal employees.

Duck. There are Department of Redundancy Departments everywhere.

(-:

Yessir. I've been involved in lots of government contracting (lots of no
bid, special circumstance stuff, too) and I've never seen it save the
buckets of money people claim it will. Worse, still, there's just
another
layer added to the process that often works out to confuse and delay the
work being done. Contracting out software is one of the worst areas
because
once the contractor leaves or takes another job, good luck getting timely
maintenance from someone who understands the system. Oh, the eff-ups
I've
seen with contracted software.

Much of the government contracting is pure corruption on all sides.
I saw something - can't vouch for the truth of it - about fed money
going to post-Katrina reconstruction.

Yes, I've seen a lot of news reports about absolutely naked corruption in
handing out FEMA money. Still, I'd rather *some* benefits trickle down
unlike Somalia, where the crooks get hold of the relief aid right off the
plane and SELL it to the people who need it. That's just one of the many
ways that corrupt leaders stay in power.

The winning bidder - if it was even bid - skimmed about 30%.
Nobody knows how much was kicked back or in what form to the fed
bodies who let the contract.
Call him the "general."

Skimming - it's a time honored US (probably world-wide) practice. I wonder
how many people ended up buried in holes in the desert after they were found
skimming from Las Vegas casinos. I'm waiting for the day when our officials
treat votes with the same sanctity that LV treats casino winnings. HD CCTV,
polygraphs, honesty testing and the old "Casino" standby: You can have the
money and the saw or you can just walk away. Still want the money?

Then he subbed the work to subs who subbed it further, each taking a
cut. The end workers were mostly illegals paid not much more than min
wage.

I remember seeing more than one story about how it was illegals that did a
lot of the rebuilding. A lot of people believe every illegal immigrant is a
criminal bent on getting on the US welfare teat and never letting go. My
experience is that they are awfully hard, fast and efficient workers. I had
a crew of them knock on my door the day a huge tree branch fell on my front
lawn. Within less than an hour they had cut up the limb and swept up all
the leaves and saw dust, loading the wood into their pickup. For $75 it was
like it never happened. Looks like crooked contractors figured that out,
too - that they could underpay their illegals and pocket the difference.

Googling Katrina contracts can reveal some of it, but I don't much
have the heart for it.

Me neither. I know it happened, I know we paid people to rebuild in the
same f*cking place so that we can pay them again for the same sort of
disaster in the future. Like welfare and unemployment, we do exactly the
WRONG things when we have opportunities to change them.

Though some seem to think I'm a "dirty damned lib" they obviously don't
really read what I've written. They look for buzzwords that set them off
and then go off on rants about how bad one side or the other is. BOTH sides
are bad.

Not many libs I know would FORCE people to relocate to safer ground if they
want any kind of government assistance after a wipeout like Katrina. Free
choice, they rant. Well, my free choice is that I don't want to pay for
idiots to rebuild the very houses they lost and will likely lose again after
the next CAT 5 storm.

Not many libs I know believe able-bodied person should NOT get unemployment
unless they show up every day, dressed and ready for work at a government
unemployment office. Once there they either have to take retraining
(computer classes, mostly), spend the day interviewing for work or washing
and waxing the floors in the building to get a check.

Paying people to sit at home and mope after losing their jobs is the
absolute WORST thing we could do for them and for the country. Once people
(or birds in winter) become used to handouts, they eventually can't live
without them. But it's standard operating procedure and it's dumb, Dumb,
DUMB!!

If you can't feed or clothe your children you shouldn't get a welfare check,
you get them taken away and adopted out PERMANENTLY to those that can.
Sound "liberal" to you? My lib friends certainly don't think so! (-: There
should be no backsies, either. Even if the parents sober up and lead
exemplary lives, once those children are placed in a better home, they are
gone. Records sealed,

Contracting works well in business or government if there is a
dedicated and honest core staff overseeing it.

That's why I believe that the government can work if there's honest
"brokerage" that ensures things are done fairly and by the book instead of
the way you described what happened after Katrina.

I was an IT contractor and I've seen it work.

Me three.

Probably what the government needs is a Bureau of Contracting Bureau.
And its employees must be made to attend a School of Ethics School.

I wonder if that's enough to keep people from acting out their basest
instincts.

--
Bobby G.