{"id":132626,"date":"2017-01-24T10:04:24","date_gmt":"2017-01-24T17:04:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/01\/24\/trumps-alt-truth-on-the-federal-workforce.html"},"modified":"2017-01-24T10:04:24","modified_gmt":"2017-01-24T17:04:24","slug":"trumps-alt-truth-on-the-federal-workforce","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/01\/24\/trumps-alt-truth-on-the-federal-workforce.html","title":{"rendered":"Trump's Alt-Truth on the Federal Workforce"},"content":{"rendered":"

Not surprisingly, Trump — in freezing hiring of federal workers — is relying on, um, apparently made-up understandings of the federal workforce growth. While Sean "Baghdad Bob" Spicer says the President is halting the "dramatic expansion of the federal workforce in recent years," the reality is very different:<\/p>\n

1. The federal workforce is about the size it was when Barack Obama took office.
2. The federal workforce is growing more slowly than the civilian workforce, including in "recent years."
3. The federal workforce, as a share of the total non-farm workforce, is at its lowest point in 70 years.<\/p>\n

But, hey, why let little things like facts<\/i> get in the way of truthiness and desire policy directions?<\/p>\n

If you want to argue that, even in the face of the above statistics, the federal workforce should be smaller, for reasons of philosophy or corporatism or efficiency, that's a legitimate discussion about which many people believe different things. But if you're so insecure about your position that you have to lie about the justification, well, that says something, too.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n
\n
\n<\/a>
\nThe Trump administration just told a whopper about the size of the federal workforce<\/a><\/span>
\nThe federal workforce is smaller than it’s ever been, but Trump wants to make it even smaller.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

View on Google+<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Not surprisingly, Trump — in freezing hiring of federal workers — is relying on, um, apparently made-up understandings of the federal workforce growth. While Sean "Baghdad Bob" Spicer says the President is halting the "dramatic expansion of the federal workforce in recent years," the reality is very different: 1. The federal workforce is about the … Continue reading “Trump's Alt-Truth on the Federal Workforce”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[106],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-132626","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-plusposts"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":136816,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2018\/06\/22\/the-trump-gilded-age-government-restructuring-plan.html","url_meta":{"origin":132626,"position":0},"title":"The Trump “Gilded Age” Government Restructuring Plan","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 22-Jun-18 10:48pm","format":false,"excerpt":"I have no doubt that there are any number of \"Hey, we can cut down on government oversight and regulation of big business\" consolidations going on here in the name of \"efficiency\". Also any number of \"If we consolidate this stuff, then we can more easily cut its budget!\" ploys.But\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/The_Bosses_of_the_Senate_by_Joseph_Keppler5B15D.jpgimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/The_Bosses_of_the_Senate_by_Joseph_Keppler5B15D.jpgimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/The_Bosses_of_the_Senate_by_Joseph_Keppler5B15D.jpgimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":132620,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/01\/23\/executive-orders-are-patriotic-again.html","url_meta":{"origin":132626,"position":1},"title":"Executive Orders are Patriotic Again!","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 23-Jan-17 1:06pm","format":false,"excerpt":"And on this morning's hit parade:1. Ditching the Trans-Pacific Partnership -- Which will have some Trump supporters of a business ilk grinding their teeth, and some Trump opponents who hated the TPP grinding theirs. This was one where there was no easy answer, but net-net I'm just as glad to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":38583,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2013\/08\/28\/who-watches-the-watchmen-financial-regulation-edition.html","url_meta":{"origin":132626,"position":2},"title":"Who Watches the Watchmen? (Financial Regulation Edition)","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 28-Aug-13 1:34pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Well, given the revolving door of once-and-future financial institution execs in the upper ranks of treasury \/ finance \/ regulatory groups in government, and the dearth of any meaningful punishment of those institutions that commit egregious crimes against the nation's economy, it's hardly a wonder that the folks in the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":132291,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/12\/13\/the-dept-of-energy-wont-rat-out-workers-involved-in-climate-change-work.html","url_meta":{"origin":132626,"position":3},"title":"The Dept. of Energy won't rat out workers involved in climate change work","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 13-Dec-16 12:46pm","format":false,"excerpt":"In response to a lengthy survey sent out to DoE leadership by the Trump transition team -- which, in addition to other info, asked for lists of employees who had attended climate change conferences, worked on climate change research, etc., the DoE has responded:'\u201cThe Department of Energy received significant feedback\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":51415,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/06\/10\/because-the-answer-to-every-problem-is-privatization.html","url_meta":{"origin":132626,"position":4},"title":"Because the answer to every problem is … privatization!","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 10-Jun-15 12:09pm","format":false,"excerpt":"While I am no fan of the TSA, not only is it unclear that privatization would improve their operations any, there's plenty of reason to think the opposite:1. Privatizing government services adds the profit motive into the service mix. Cost efficiencies tend to come through trimmed training, reduced workforce or\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":136181,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2018\/04\/29\/back-to-school.html","url_meta":{"origin":132626,"position":5},"title":"Back to School!","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 29-Apr-18 10:17pm","format":false,"excerpt":"So this coming week, I'm back to school -- five-day, 8-5 boot camp training for my PMP (Project Management Professional) cert. I've actually been managing projects and programs (and managing project and program managers) for a decade or two, but enough of the jobs I'm trying to get (and not\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/256553915B15D.gifimgmax%3D660.gif?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132626","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=132626"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132626\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=132626"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=132626"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=132626"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}