This last election cycle the democrats in Minnesota had one (of several) main talking points when it came to the local elections;
"Tim Pawlenty was evil and gutted the government of necessary and precious spending."
So I decided to see just how much the state has spent as a percent of gross STATE product which gives you the overall tax rate local Minnesotans pay at the state level;
Yeah, what a cheapskate!
On a side note I love how Minnesota had an overall tax rate of just 6% back in 1963 and now we have an estimated 11% (depending on how 2010's GSP comes in).
Just remember how "evil" Tim Pawlenty and all those nasty Republicans were when they "cut" the budget.
I find the usual howls are the loudest when it's the rate of growth of budgets being cut.
ReplyDeleteThe least are when ENTIRE bureaucrcies get canned.
Fred2's evil plan: Remove entire branches of the bureaucracy, and replace them with (much smaller) bureaucracies. i.e. the 10,000 man bureau of navel gazing and and 25,000 woman gaia defense league both get cut an replaced by the 5000person Combined Gaia Gazing Org.
You ask, why not just replace it with nothing?
GRasshopper, you have not yet understood: if you slowed the budget growth, you'd be excoriated, if you just cut you will be faced with endless crap about the worthy work these people do that will not be done. (Ok, I'm laughing too. But we are bad people. :-) )
But if you cut and replace with a much smaller org, all the apparatchniks will be too busy savagely competing for a new job in the new place ( for which they will have "priority") to really spend time bugging you. AND, you release the the usual bafflegab and propaganda about efficiency, doing more with less, etc...
This also allows you, it's a smaller bureaucracy, to not have so many higher level positions, and start a new (lower) wage scale.
If you are really clever you keep stats, and inthe new org ( which has a MUcH smaller budget, is newly formed and thus confused) you can prove whatever you want ( case per bureaucrat went up or down/solve rates etc...) and use that as an excuse to cut the budget and staff next year.
Oh... and do it quick, if you have a 3-4 month timetable, everyone is too busy scrambling for fewer jobs and backstabbing one another to organize things against you.
Finally be generous to the people you are , in effect dumpin: we'll provide "retraining", assistance in resume writing, and office to work from for 6 months, etc.. makes people feel better , its BS, and mostly is a lot cheaper than picket lines - and your costs were there anyway, so it;s no issue.
According to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median annual dental assistant salary in Minnesota is $35,000. However, the city Duluth has a different pay rate for its workers. http://techniciansalary.net/dental-assistant-salary-in-minnesota/
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