[thechat] <grumble />

[erik mattheis]

This is the recently passed US stimulus bill we're talking about, I'm assuming.

If my assumption is correct, little if any of it is appropriated for
increased federal agency budgets - the biggest slice of it goes to tax
breaks. The second biggest goes to state governments to fund existing
programs. Those two things make up well over half. The only thing I
can think of that would require federal agencies to bolster their
staff with new employees or consultants would be the clean energy
stuff - most everything else just increases or extends the amount
agencies are already doling out - for example for building roads,
paying unemployment and medical benefits, etc.

My job seems to be fine for the foreseeable future - a lot of our work
is government contracts, plus I have a skill set that would make me
one of the last to be laid off in my group - or it seems to me. We
actually looked for a third CF developer for like half a year and
couldn't find one so gave up.

- Erik

On Thu, Feb 19, 2009 at 9:01 AM, Matt Warden <mwarden at gmail.com> wrote:
> All this government spending doesn't really make me feel warm inside
> from an ideological point of view, but it is great for us in
> consulting. Government agencies don't do much themselves, especially
> when we're talking about windfall appropriations. Think if you're a
> government agency with the same budget for the last 10 years, and
> suddenly you get money for a huge $50billion project. You don't have
> the personnel for that, and you know it's not going to be sustained,
> so you really can't HIRE the personnel for that ...
>
> Yeah, some jobs are created. Yeah, fake money flows into the economy.
> But it's mostly coming through consultants and contracting companies
> for short-term engagements, not long-term employment. Again, great for
> us, but we didn't need it.

-- 
Erik Mattheis

Postulate: One cat has eight tails.
Proof: No cat has seven tails. One cat has one more tail than no cat.
Therefore, one cat has eight tails.

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