I hear ya. I don't agree with everything either but it sure seems to occupy a lot of opposition times. One thing is I really don't think Trump is stupid, I think his in the moment reactions, rhetoric is a distraction and unnecessary and a portion of it is without class which I can't stand. However, I think his strategy is exactly what he intends to do and is carrying it out. For example, my opinion is the "birthright citizenship" charge is simply meant to be a distraction that will occupy the left hand's time while he carries out the deportation of criminals with the right hand unabashedly. I am not saying he is the brightest light, but to me, this first 15 days of strategy were all planned, and I do believe have been in the works, I don't think anything he has done has been a knee jerk in anyway. Time will tell if it is effective. Remember, it will take many many years to see if any of this is truly successful or not. I remember back as a kid when the US first threatened tarrifs on China and unfortunately backed off. Many economists will tell you if we were stronger than, we would be in a better position now but again, we are able to measure that now over a 30 year span.
Long story short, I don't get too much caught up in the day to day, it really is not worth it as a lot of this is smoke. 6 months from now, you may start to see some results or you may not, time will tell.
As to the government layoffs. Again, I think it is more of a catalyst to what is to come. Look, I think as Americans, you really have to question the fact of working from home BS. Let me give you an example - the IRS. There are in depth investigations going on right now regarding exposure of taxpayer data. One root cause they believe is employees taking paper returns home to their house to process and not having proper cyber security nor shredding docs. That doesn't happen if they were processed in the office, it just doesn't. It is inexcusable to have an IRS employee working from home. That is only one agency and a big one. I don't necessarily disagree with the buyout. I can guarantee from an accounting standpoint it is a lot more cost effective to dump these workers, rather than allowing full benefits and payroll for another decade while they put in maybe 20 hours per week. I will give you another example of a Depart of Defense employee (who is a personal friend). His mandated work schedule since COVID - 1 day in the office, 4 days at home, every other Friday off. He is paid in full. He has told me that (he is what you would call upper level mgr, not director, but experienced mgmt) he works 9 full hours in the office on that 1 day. The other 4 at home, he puts in maybe 10 hours total. Not b/c he is lazy, but b/c of the system. There is not much he can work on at home. So, tell me how that is taxpayer money well spent.
End of day, I don't know what the right answer is, but I am all for trying something different. If it fails, it fails, we are no worse off IMO.
Tom
