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Comment by howmayiannoyyou | Hacker News Reader

Ghost payrolls.

If you don't understand ghost payrolling then you don't understand government. This happens at almost all levels from city to federal to varying degrees. I've seen flagrant more subtle abuses over the years. Try to understand the USGOV is the largest employer in America and unlike the private sector, it's unable to rely on its "board" (Congress) for effective oversight or reform. You're witnessing an attempt at a "turnaround" with all ugliness that comes with it.

Trump, like or hate him, is determined to put a dent in the fiscal nightmare this dysfunction has created for America. Hopefully everyone understands the problem isn't going to be fixed, but if he can achieve a substantive reduction in expense it will either give the next administration momentum to continue rationalizing government, or it could just as well provide cover that "enough/too-much was done" and its time to expand and spend again, into oblivion.

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I do not get why the turnaround is not done by implementing policies already suggested by existing departments or by funding more agencies that have a net positive return (i guess similar to the irs or the other i can't remember the name).

Furthermore, I would expect statistics to be done before "if you do not answer this you're fired", this just feels like a lazy attempt to say "we're reducing budget expenses" when in reality it's making life and work impossible or very hard for a part of the government workforce. And this attitude is something you don't want because you'll have less motivated workers, less efficient gov agencies, and will have to spend more to obtain the same result as before

I also couldn't find data on ghost payrolls in public sector in us, i'm not american but the only result i get are about discussing the posting of ghost jobs on the side of private companies

There are structures already in place for oversight. If someone is somehow hiding from the management, inspector general, and both internal and external auditors, this email isn’t going to flush them out.

If debt/deficit reduction was the goal we wouldn't see tax cuts on the rich, gutting the IRS, and teases of $5k rebate checks.

I cannot fathom this is an effective way to turn things around. I was thinking about how somone with a bit of self respect and decent skill set will just find another employer where they can be valued more (the bar is really low now) .

This, to me, seems like an effective way to get rid of effective talent.

> Ghost payrolls.

Oh, wow, talk about not understanding ghost payrolling.

Providing bullshit filler tasks for ghost employees is ghost payrolling 101. Anyone who actually has ghost payroll "employees" working under them can answer that email with bullshit ten-point bullet lists in a matter of minutes. The farther whoever's evaluating the bullet list from the actual list, the better, because the farther they are, the less likely they are to figure out if the list is bullshit.

Bulk audits are literally what enables ghost payrolling in the first place. The bulkier, the better.

The "fiscal nightmare" (your phrasing) is the result of mandatory spending like Medicare, Social Security, interest on the debt, etc. Please educate yourself by understanding where the money actually goes:

https://fiscaldata.treasury.gov/americas-finance-guide/feder...

https://usafacts.org/articles/this-chart-tells-you-everythin...

Even if you reduced the federal payroll to $0 tomorrow, you'd still be running deficit.

You don't believe this.

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