The nobler sort of man emphasizes the good qualities in others, and does not accentuate the bad. The inferior does the reverse.
Confucius
A Surprising Note about Federal IT Pay
I remember when I worked as a contractor at NASA-Houston (Clear Lake City) years ago (shuttle robotic arm related software programs), one of the federal workers I worked with was a NASA version of Corporal Radar O'Reilly of the M*A*S*H series. (Radar was known for his horse-trading prowess in terms of scrounging up whatever the doctors needed.) However, other federal workers were less motivated; I saw some of them going to the gym in the early afternoon and others spent time socializing around water coolers.
I've had a long-standing interest in IT managerial issues, including J. Daniel Couger's research on programmer motivation and IBM programmer productivity studies. The literature shows considerable variability in performance levels (e.g., an able programmer can accomplish more than a small team of average programmers), and that shows up in the government. I have posted a number of my experiences
in the past, but let me briefly summarize a few: one federal manager came to me to access how Oracle software licenses were deployed across the installation, despite the fact I had no information beyond personnel granted Oracle support accounts.
In another case, a federal project manager, who had pushed an upgrade project for a certain Oracle application, was upset when I completed an application server installation; she considered continuing Microsoft document setups by administrative staff to be a success criterion. In fact, the Oracle upgrade no longer supported custom print drivers (which the document setups accommodated) and instead generated standard Adobe pdf and other output types. The project manager had been falsely told by the prime contractors (whom had previously failed the installation twice on their own) that they had upgraded the application prior to my arrival and they had failed to brief her on the nature of the upgrade as described, but she decided to lash out at my "incompetence" (in front of her prime contractors) for failing to preserve what she considered the salient criterion of maintaining her administrative staff's busy work in preparing documents. I also had to mentor the prime contractor's inexperienced developer how to adapt the application for the new application server.
There are several other incidents I could mention, but I think I've made my point. However, one of the myths I had been led to believe was that federal IT personnel made significantly less than in the private sector. Apparently that's not true:
An InformationWeek salary survey earlier this year of 20,492 IT pros (931 of whom worked in federal government) showed that, on average, government IT workers earn about 10% more than their private sector colleagues. The survey found that federal IT managers earn an average of $121,000 a year, as opposed to $110,000 in all industries surveyed, and that federal IT staffers earn $94,000 a year in the government, as opposed to $85,000 overall.
Drugs and Public Safety: A New Federal Study
I side with libertarians on a number of issues, but there are some obvious limitations to individual rights: for example, I don't have the right to make unsupported damaging claims about another human being, I don't have the right to incite a panic, etc. I can't distribute unsafe pharmaceuticals or ill-prepared food. Similarly, if I drive a public school bus or my car, I cannot drive in a suboptimal state, whether we are talking about lack of sleep or in an impaired state.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration just released its first study involving deceased drivers in fatal accidents. Granted, there are limitations to the study; only about two-thirds of relevant drivers were tested for drugs and the number of drugs tested for vary across states (not to mention, unlike alcohol, the lack of various diagnostic standards of impairment), but nevertheless we see a troubling trend increasing from 13% in 2005 to 18% in 2009 of the detection of drugs; prescribed drugs, illicit drugs, and over-the-counter medications were aggregated for the analysis. It is very difficult to keep people from doing harm to themselves or others in a free country. But what I do know is that it won't be resolved by lowering the barrier to entry or promoting its social acceptability.
A Compromise on the Bush Taxes?
One of the frustrating things of watching today's talking point dance between the Dems and the GOP at the White House is that the Dems are approaching the matter from an ideological versus practical perspective. Warren Buffett, who I've sharply criticized, asks the right question, but draws the wrong conclusion. In pointing out that he pays maybe 17% of his overall income in taxes but his secretary might top 30% on a more limited income, Buffett is justifying increasing the marginal rate to 39.6%. The more salient question is: why is Buffett paying 17% versus 35% of his income? In particular, this seems to reflect the lower tax rate of capital gains. Buffett could be making more of a convincing argument to suggest, say, more of a flat tax or making the tax treatment of capital gains more progressive (e.g., capping the amount of gains eligible for a particular tax rate). Or, for example, the Democrats could agree to maintain favorable tax treatment of small business/entrepreneurial/venture capital income.
Instead, the Democrats are playing a high-stakes game of chicken, as if a 13% increase in the top tax rate, which might pull in up to $70B a year, is material relative to $1T-plus deficits.
Sen. Lindsey Graham: No GOP Votes for a National Sales Tax? Thumbs DOWN!
On the best Sunday morning talk show, Fox News Sunday, Sen. Lindsey Graham said that there was not a single GOP vote for a national sales tax. He did not elaborate, but I suspect the talking point behind that statement is a Republican fear that a national sales tax would essentially allow the progressive Dems to lock in their super-spending policy initiatives and take away the pressure from fiscal responsibility and discipline. However, I disagree with this point of view.
In comparatively analyzing the American economy, it is clear, in my judgment, that (1) we are deficient in saving and have spent beyond our means, both on aggregate personal and government levels, (2) our government has made unrealistic, unsustainable promises, especially to senior citizens and employees, and (3) we have had dysfunctional government policies that promote moral hazard and do not vest many citizens in frugal government operations or (indirectly through insurance) health care decisions.
But we have to face some facts. First, we have a $13.8T debt that needs to be serviced. The interest payments will soon crowd out defense or domestic expenditures; this is something we can't simply punt to another Congress or Administration. Second, we are pulling in only just north of $2T in revenues while spending over $3T. The only way we are going to grow revenues long-term is through pro-growth policies, which will expand the tax base and amount of individuals and companies. We have to be realistic in terms of business and employment gains in the short term; income and jobs were boosted by massive liquidity during the real estate bubble. A national consumption tax (something, by the way, implemented by many players in the global economy) would provide more balance in taxation, more incentive to save and invest, and would have relatively modest effects on overall consumption.
Political Humor
A few originals:
- President Obama is very upset over WikiLeaks. He just found out what Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid were saying behind his back...
- President Obama got a split lip over the holiday weekend. The Republicans had given him an early Christmas present, a pair of scissors, as a symbolic way of urging him to cut his budget. Obama had never used a budget cutter before and hurt himself...
- Pollster Scott Rasmussen got a gift subscription to the Dead Fish of the Month Club. The donor is anonymous, but the first selection was an Asian carp.
Musical Interlude: Holiday Tunes
Dean Martin, "Baby, It's Cold Outside". (I prefer the version from the film Elf, between Leon Redbone and Zooey Deschanel, but Youtube doesn't allow embedding of relevant videos. Click here.)
