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  • Else ... Not Getting Shit

    From MIKE POWELL@618:250/2 to AUGUST ABOLINS on Mon Feb 23 11:07:00 2026
    I think these days you need to either have a bunch of actives, have a golden job (ie. be a public officer, since public officers can't be fired from their jobs for all practical purposes) or run a business as a self-employed tradesman with a minimum of antiquity. Else you are not getting shit from the bank.

    It's really too bad that governments ultimately just seem to be looking out for their own pensions on the backs of workers/citizens and not implement systems that benefit the people they are relying on for taxes.

    If you mean "upper government," as in elected officials and their appointees,
    I am with you.

    If you mean the people who are actually doing the work, not so much. Those people the ones that keep everything going, don't usually get paid a whole lot for doing it, *and* they also pay taxes. If they entered government with an agreement that there'd be a pension for them when they retire, they deserve (and are owed!) that pension.

    Mike

    * SLMR 2.1a * Man who fights with wife all day gets no piece at night.

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  • From Arelor@618:250/24 to MIKE POWELL on Tue Feb 24 12:09:48 2026
    Re: Else ... Not Getting Shit
    By: MIKE POWELL to AUGUST ABOLINS on Mon Feb 23 2026 11:07 am


    If you mean the people who are actually doing the work, not so much. Those people the ones that keep everything going, don't usually get paid a whole lot for doing it, *and* they also pay taxes. If they entered government with an agreement that there'd be a pension for them when they retire, they deserve (and are owed!) that pension.


    I think that claiming they are actually doing work is a bit of a heavy estatement in a huge lot of cases.

    My experience when need to do something involving the administration is something like:

    1) Call to get an appointment. It takes ages because nobody takes the phone ever.
    2) Go there at the appointed time. The guy in charge is not there because he is having a coffee break. The coffee break takes hours, apparently.
    3) A random messup happens and you need to repeat the cycle a couple of times until it gets fixed.

    So yeah apparently we are paying these guys just to have the illusion that somebody is at the helm. I am not gonna run in defense of these guys.


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  • From MIKE POWELL@618:250/2 to ARELOR on Wed Feb 25 08:08:00 2026
    I think that claiming they are actually doing work is a bit of a heavy estatement in a huge lot of cases.

    In the 1990s/early 2000s I would have agreed that this was also my state government. However, as times got tighter, they stopped filling positions when people left. The departments that didn't get creative with getting
    rid of dead weight really had problems, so most of them figured it out.

    The people who were still around when I left in 2023 were mostly working
    their asses off.

    Sounds like Spanish managers have not got creative or maybe don't have the tight budgets that we do.
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  • From Arelor@618:250/24 to MIKE POWELL on Wed Feb 25 19:39:35 2026
    Re: Else ... Not Getting Shit
    By: MIKE POWELL to ARELOR on Wed Feb 25 2026 08:08 am


    Sounds like Spanish managers have not got creative or maybe don't have the tight budgets that we do.

    I think it is a combination of factors.

    First of all, tendency here is to have a French style reaction when the administration threatens any budget cut and people goes out on the streets and starts burning things, and budget cuts are extremely impopular so they try really hard not to do them. They'd rather increase tax presure.

    But then, when they do it, affected departments defund the wrong components of the apparatus.

    Say you lower the budget for a public University that is known for throwing parties and conventions and whatever which aren't stricly necessary. They will fire administrative personal and sell office machinery rather than stop the parties and conventions.

    So yeah, University gets a budget cut, and some essentials are removed. Maybe they fire all the Xerox operators and sell all Xerox machines but one so there is a permanent infinite queue of students trying to use the last machine standing - meanwhile some wall in a building is falling off. But the head honcho has his parties and a plasma TV in his office.

    I had the idea it was bad but know I am writting it down it reads even worse.


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  • From MIKE POWELL@618:250/2 to ARELOR on Thu Feb 26 08:18:00 2026
    I had the idea it was bad but know I am writting it down it reads even worse.

    Reading it I had a similar reaction... it does read even worse. :(

    Mike
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