A nation of cronyism

velvetsurfer432 said:As long as we’re stuck with this current system where the administration is picked through general elections, we aren't going to see people making decisions based on what's actually right for the country. It's a bit like trying to run a high-tech laboratory using a popularity contest; the math just doesn't work. Democracy isn't a one-size-fits-all solution for every culture or landscape. No politician is ever going to volunteer to strip away benefits from their potential voters, and when you look at the electorate, they're looking for volume over substance—after all, every vote carries the same weight regardless of how much expertise is behind it. Is there a fix? Honestly, I haven't a clue. Our Constitution claims we are a democratic society, but perhaps things will change once we've burned through every cent we have. Maybe then the banks won't lend us a dime unless we agree to hand over our sovereignty over spending? Some kind of intervention from the IMF, perhaps? I don't know:

👍

You've basically voiced everything I was thinking, saving me the trouble of typing it all out myself.

My only glimmer of hope lies in seeing a surge of truly independent congressional candidates—people who act as genuine representatives of the people—emerging on the national stage. Perhaps if we can finally shatter this two-party stranglehold that primarily serves party interests (and leaves the clueless masses out in the cold), we might see a tiny spark of something that could pull us out of this mess... Sadly, that feels like a slow-burning process where we shouldn't expect much movement for at least the next twenty years. If that fails, Option B is that we get swallowed whole by some version of American-style two-party politics, and then we're all truly stuck, living our lives as nothing more than little ants serving the whims of some massive lobby...

brightheron64 said:👍

You've basically voiced everything I was thinking, saving me the trouble of typing it all out myself.

My only glimmer of hope lies in seeing a surge of truly independent congressional candidates—people who act as genuine representatives of the people—emerging on the national stage. Perhaps if we can finally shatter this two-party stranglehold that primarily serves party interests (and leaves the clueless masses out in the cold), we might see a tiny spark of something that could pull us out of this mess... Sadly, that feels like a slow-burning process where we shouldn't expect much movement for at least the next twenty years. If that fails, Option B is that we get swallowed whole by some version of American-style two-party politics, and then we're all truly stuck, living our lives as nothing more than little ants serving the whims of some massive lobby...

What’s your take on Lester?
Come on, if you're feeling it, give me five decent people and five total scumbags in domestic politics, according to you.

What an absolute mountain of nonsense.
I have to ask, when people start throwing around terms like "public sector bloat," who exactly are they targeting? Are we supposed to count our nurses and doctors, our teachers, daycare workers, soldiers on peacekeeping missions, police officers, street sweepers, or even firefighters under that umbrella?
And as for the whole "expert" debate—let’s be realistic here. No truly talented professional with a university degree, even with a decent salary scale or a coefficient of 1.1 and a base pay of 4$67, is going to stick around in government service. It’s just not happening. Any halfway decent private firm out there can easily offer them at least fifty percent more than what the state provides.

Jonathan Smith12 said:What an absolute mountain of nonsense.
I have to ask, when people start throwing around terms like "public sector bloat," who exactly are they targeting? Are we supposed to count our nurses and doctors, our teachers, daycare workers, soldiers on peacekeeping missions, police officers, street sweepers, or even firefighters under that umbrella?
And as for the whole "expert" debate—let’s be realistic here. No truly talented professional with a university degree, even with a decent salary scale or a coefficient of 1.1 and a base pay of 4$67, is going to stick around in government service. It’s just not happening. Any halfway decent private firm out there can easily offer them at least fifty percent more than what the state provides.

Why on earth would you claim this was written as a heap of stupidity? 🤷

The core issue within the American National Administration and state-owned enterprises isn't some nurse working at a hospital in $1667 or a patrol officer idling on a street corner in $1167; the real problem lies with the cronyists. To put it bluntly, it’s those people who are always lurking in the background—holding titles that carry zero actual weight while pulling in massive salaries. It's much like having Fiorentini over at Hajduk 😉 where nobody actually knows what the man does, yet he pulls in a fantastic paycheck 😠

There are far too many of these cronies riding the government teat, landing their often entirely fabricated positions through political connections or simple nepotism. Unfortunately, this type of thing is baked into the culture here. How many times have you received a call from a close or distant relative asking, "Hey, can you somehow pull some strings to get my son or daughter a job?" References don't matter; the only thing that counts is the paycheck. Quality of work? Who cares. 🙄

Structural changes are desperately needed in this country, both at the political level and across society as a whole. And that... well, that is the hardest part of all.

Jonathan Smith12 said:What an absolute mountain of nonsense.
I have to ask, when people start throwing around terms like "public sector bloat," who exactly are they targeting? Are we supposed to count our nurses and doctors, our teachers, daycare workers, soldiers on peacekeeping missions, police officers, street sweepers, or even firefighters under that umbrella?
And as for the whole "expert" debate—let’s be realistic here. No truly talented professional with a university degree, even with a decent salary scale or a coefficient of 1.1 and a base pay of 4$67, is going to stick around in government service. It’s just not happening. Any halfway decent private firm out there can easily offer them at least fifty percent more than what the state provides.

To start with, here is just one of many real-world examples.

Kolegica and I (both employees at a private corporation) visited a public agency to resolve some issues.

We were met with: "Why are you showing up now (12:20 PM)? It's Friday."

Despite their sour attitudes, we insisted on completing the task we were sent for because business hours last until 3:00 PM. We finished everything in less than ninety minutes despite their constant complaining. One of them even gathered her things and went home early simply because she had nothing to do anyway.

The entire workload of those four women—and I know exactly what they do because they use our software—could be handled by either Kolegica or myself in half the time. You probably think their director, who is fully aware of this, would ever consider laying off his four employees to hire someone like us. He certainly would not.

Since conditions are so miserable in certain government agencies, why don't you unfortunate souls just quit? Do you have any idea how many daycare workers, teachers, professors, and other staff members are waiting for a job opening? And don't even get me started on the bureaucrats.

The state is rotten to its core because it squanders money on idle bureaucracy and pays out pensions to people who should still be in their prime working years. If they cut unnecessary funding, there would be enough capital to pay world-class experts who actually earn their keep. However, such people would quickly clash with someone like Šeks, so this state—or rather, those representing it—uses its broken mechanisms to maintain control, unconcerned that they are dragging us all into the gutter, because they know the truth always surfaces eventually.

Finally, look into the payroll at the County Road Administration; see who actually works, when they work, and when they last hired anyone through a legitimate, non-fictitious job posting.

The issue isn't whether there are hardworking government employees earning low wages; the issue is that the entire system is fundamentally corrupt. The Austro-Canadian empire collapsed over a century ago, yet their bureaucratic structure remains, for us, nothing short of a Utopia.

Level playing field for everyone.
By that, I mean accountability, staying on top of things, actual skill, and real expertise should be the baseline—just like in any private firm out there.

I’m sick of the endless whining and people hiding behind mountains of paperwork just to justify their coffee breaks.
And enough with stretching every long weekend into a mini-vacation.
It’s time to get them off their backsides; they work for us, not the other way around...

Is anyone actually going to step up and deal with this massive bureaucratic slug that survives solely by sucking the life out of everyone else's hard work?
We need to hit them with the same performance standards we expect from everyone else, instead of letting the government act as a safe haven where they can lie to themselves and to us.

So, we’ve got a public sector strike going on... Look, I’m all for it, but does anyone actually remember the last time we saw anything like this happen in the private sector?

Jonathan Smith12 said:What an absolute mountain of nonsense.
I have to ask, when people start throwing around terms like "public sector bloat," who exactly are they targeting? Are we supposed to count our nurses and doctors, our teachers, daycare workers, soldiers on peacekeeping missions, police officers, street sweepers, or even firefighters under that umbrella?
And as for the whole "expert" debate—let’s be realistic here. No truly talented professional with a university degree, even with a decent salary scale or a coefficient of 1.1 and a base pay of 4$67, is going to stick around in government service. It’s just not happening. Any halfway decent private firm out there can easily offer them at least fifty percent more than what the state provides.

I suspect public sector wages actually outpace the private market on average, regardless of how much schooling someone has undergone.