I worked for the US Government as an employee for 25 years, and as a contractor for five years after that because my job was abolished when privatization was in vogue. Privatization "gifted" us with frozen wages and another layer of upper management. That's 30 years of work under the dictatorships of ideological trends and public opinion. It's hard to work efficiently in that kind of situation.

I live in the Sacramento area, so I have many friends who work for the State of California - and the state government is in horrible financial straits. I think it's two Fridays a month that state civil service employees are furloughed right now - the equivalent of a ten percent pay cut. Many state employees my age are enjoying the days off; but younger workers with children, mortgages, and lower wages are really hurting. If they went on strike, I wouldn't blame them.

Elected state officials avoided the furloughs and pay cuts for a while, but Attorney General Jerry Brown approved a 19 percent pay cut for elected officials this week, so it's nice to see the Fat Cats will finally be affected by their own mistakes. The only Fat Cat not affected by the pay cut was Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, because he doesn't take a salary at all - and I applaud him for that.

I'm not convinced that across-the-board cuts are ever a good idea. In thirty years of government service, I went through many times when my salary was frozen or I wasn't allowed to work overtime or to travel, or when I was furloughed. In the long run, most of these measures cost more money than they saved. If an organization is running efficiently, cuts tend to cripple it to the point where it wastes money.

When I was working away from home, I regularly defied orders not to work overtime. Far better to finish the job late Friday or on Saturday, rather than have to drive 300 miles to the worksite the following Monday. So, I'd work until I finished and take the time off on Monday. My time reports may have been fraudulent at times, but the taxpayers got their money's worth - and I got the job done efficiently (and I got the pleasure of sleeping in on Monday morning instead of driving 300 miles). If I had worked in an office under a supervisor, I would not have been able to do that. I was lucky - my managers were a hundred miles away. Employees often work far more efficiently without management looking over their shoulders.

An economic downturn can be an opportunity to make the economy more efficient, but only if cost-saving measures are logical and compassionate. Better to cure the patient with a scalpel, rather than a bludgeon. If you work for government, you're more likely to get the bludgeon.

-Joe-