One can see Elon Musk in every word.
The email, sent from President Trump’s Office of Personnel Management to employees across the sprawling federal government, arrived just before 8:30 p.m. Thursday — almost exactly 24 hours after an air crash in Washington that killed 67 people. The message reiterated an offer earlier this week from the administration encouraging federal employees to seek new jobs in the private sector — and did so in terms that appeared to denigrate their contributions, if not cast them as lazy.
“The way to greater American prosperity is encouraging people to move from lower productivity jobs in the public sector to higher productivity jobs in the private sector,” stated the email, which was reviewed by The New York Times.
Like that. “Productivity” isn’t always the relevant criterion, to put it mildly. Human needs and making a profit don’t always seamlessly mesh. Making widgets isn’t all there is.
“There are so many public servants working in government because they want to serve the public — that is what motivates them,” said Max Stier, the president of the Partnership for Public Service, a nonprofit group that promotes best practices in government. “This series of hammer blows that federal employees have experienced has created fear and disorientation and distraction, and shows the administration has not read the room at all.”
Well you see serving the public isn’t “productive” enough.
Mr. Trump’s repeated degradations of federal workers also may not have the intended effect. Some workers said on Friday that they were increasingly motivated to keep their jobs to ensure government services would be delivered to citizens.
Uh oh – citizens? That’s subversive. It’s consumers you’re supposed to be delivering to.
Comments
19 responses to “From lower productivity to higher productivity”
This is all totally normal. Musk aides gain access to sensitive Treasury Department payment system.
This after his minions took over OPM.
I for one welcome our new autistic overlord.
If he has Musk, does Putin need Trump any more?
I don’t think this is implying the employees are lazy, I think it is indicative instead of a belief common to anti-government types, especially if they are rich executives: all government functions are inefficient, all private companies doing those same functions are always more efficient thanks to the magic of capitalism. They think – or want to imply – those people cut from government bodies will achieve more for a private company, even if doing the same thing as before.
This was totally a good and efficient use of taxpayer dollars.
Dear me, everyone around here seems to be suffering from Musk Derangement Syndrome. I can’t for the life of me figure out why.
And tell me why I should care what stupid bullshit some of his sycophants are posting to Youtube when he’s in there stealing my shit? The Wokies are conquered, could someone please stop trying to spin these ghouls’ actions in way that doesn’t acknowledge that they’re in the midst of destroying my comfortable life?
I’m probably getting a decent raise in a month or two, but it’s looking like cost of living will pretty much wipe out my gains (and that’s only one thing; my wife works at a university and who knows where all the funding comes from). This is also assuming that the other plants in Mexico don’t get screwed etc, etc…
Protesters shot, inflation through the roof, war with NATO, Taiwan gobbled up, industrial agriculture fucked in the ear, deranged third term tyrant, foreign aid gone, surveillance state, etc… but it was all worth it because the Wokies are annoying!
Oh my god the number of people who saw Trump for what he was four bloody years ago and have started gaslighting me now that he’s many magnitudes worse and with no apparent constraints (no, I haven’t been reading Substackers I’d previously had at least some reason to trust and also the comments, why would ever suspect that?). It’s so dishonest, I’d almost rather listen to the anon handles that are crowing over how awesomely cruel all this is.
But again, the Wokies are annoying, so…
“This is fine…”
A prediction: US tight oil (so-called shale oil) peaks during Trump’s term, perhaps this year, which means world petroleum production peaks. Because of the Bronze Age mentality of those around Our Supreme Leader, the subsequent chaos will be attributed to The Second Coming.
There’s an irony there, in the King of Overvalued Companies talking about productivity. Next he’ll be telling us that Dogecoin has intrinsic value.
Well, one person isn’t and I’m sure they’ll be along at some point to tell us, at length, we’re all wrong and exactly why all of this is totes legal, proper and all for the best even if it isn’t quite.
Probably not. He left a snotty six word comment about Musk derangement the other day and I deleted it (and said why). He hasn’t been back since.
And there was much rejoicing.
Yes I can’t say I pine for his relentless harangues.
It’s an old problem, isn’t it? Here’s a passage (slightly modified – it was originally about the Puritans) from Book 1 of Richard Hooker’s ‘Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity’ (1594):
‘This hath bred high terms of separation between such and the rest of the world; whereby the one sort are named The Enlightened, The Musky, and so forth; the other, liberals, wokesters, pleasers of DEI hires, not of Musk, with such like…. But be they women or be they men, if once they have tasted of that cup, let any man of contrary opinion open his mouth to persuade them, they close up their ears, his reasons they weigh not, all is answered with rehearsal of the words of Eloc, “We are of Musk; he that knoweth Musk heareth us”: as for the rest, ye are of the woke.’
(Quoted properly in the great German historian Reinhart Koselleck’s book of essays: ‘Futures Past: On the Semantics of Historical Time’.)
Bahahahahahaha
Jasmine Crockett talking about the policies of the Trump/Musk regime on Youtube:
link:
https://youtu.be/mTa9elwyovg?si=yPNZk4u9p2CmMh_9
I think Arty nailed it the other day — Musk Derangement Syndrome works both ways.
I’ll go one further — you must contract Musk Derangement Syndrome before you can accuse anyone of it.
Oh, in case anyone wants to know, the biblical verse quoted in Hooker’s remarks is from the Authorised Trump Version (printed & bound in China), the Ultra-New Testament, : 1 Eloc 4, 6.
So JV Last (at The Bulwark):