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naraburns  nihil supernum  1yr ago (text post)   Edited 1yr ago   34453 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of November 14, 2022

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There are two key problems.

One is that some roles really do require technical skill. What’s the point in hiring a construction worker to the IRS audit department? To military contract awards? Shorter terms limit the opportunity to learn the ropes, even from a blank slatist perspective.

Second is career. Getting someone to drop, say, 6 years on a job which they can never hold again is a hard sell. No guarantee of transferable skills. Probably terrible compensation compared to market rate labor. It’s got all the problems of maternity leave, except for longer.

Maybe mandatory service can assuage 2 at the cost of making 1 worse. I don’t want to see what command-economy contortions would be needed to mitigate 1. Better, I think, to let government careers exist.

Relatively few government roles require non-interopable skills. You mention the IRS, why would we be hiring construction workers when accountants exist? Hell, off the cuff, let's make working a couple years in audits a mandatory part of licensing. Or, make all licensed accountants do a few audits a year as pro Bono work.

Or my preferred solution, privatize tax collection, the IRS is hilariously clunky and bad at its job. Give JPM and BAC and Goldman the opportunity to bid on federal tax collection for each state, the government will raise more money and it'll be so much user friendlier.

Relatively few government roles require non-interopable skills.

There's a considerable amount of domain expertise in government work (like any other field), even between departments. In the absence of long-term federal employees, these functions will be performed by contractors.

Or my preferred solution, privatize tax collection, the IRS is hilariously clunky and bad at its job. Give JPM and BAC and Goldman the opportunity to bid on federal tax collection for each state, the government will raise more money and it'll be so much user friendlier.

The history of tax farming suggests it will be anything but cost effective and user friendly.

There's also the flip incentive problem that term limiting in any serious capacity means that having a stable alternative career path becomes much more valuable leading to the revolving door of politics. It also empowers those who can retain knowledge of the system who are not term limited by being outside the government entirely such as lobbyists and consultants.

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