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Generation Sclerosis
Another data point in the slow-drip Frenchification of Les États-Unis: American younguns are increasingly seeking to become fonctionnaires:
Two months after President Obama took office vowing to make federal service cool again, career services specialists report an increase among college students who want to work for the government.
"Lots and lots of students lined up for the federal government," said Alan C. More, employer in residence for U.S. government programs at GMU
"What we've seen across the board is an increased interest in government," said Tim McManus, vice president for education and outreach at the nonprofit Partnership for Public Service. "We're hearing from schools that they see government as an employer of choice. Government has been the afterthought option. It's no longer a second choice."
Hat tip: Kerry Howley.
Kyle Jordan|3.26.09 @ 2:52PM|#
I...you know what? Nevermind. I'm not going to waste energy on
this shit anymore today. My brain's broken for the day.
Hope you all have a pleasant afternoon/evening/night.
|3.26.09 @ 3:02PM|#
my friends who are just graduating this upcoming semester all want govt jobs because its stable.
Fascitis Necrotizante|3.26.09 @ 3:03PM|#
guessing:
Monday on strike
Tuesday in training
Wednesday sick
Late on Thursday
And Friday, tired
Be like me,
Be a bureaucrat/official
semm|3.26.09 @ 3:05PM|#
I can give the gist of it with my pathetic french skills:
I something... on Monday
I something... tuesday
sick on wednesday
late on thursday
and then on friday, tired
something something
I'm a functionairee (govn't worker)
Tom Lundy|3.26.09 @ 3:06PM|#
"We're hearing from schools that they see government as an
employer of choice. Government has been the afterthought option.
It's no longer a second choice."
It just might be that the federallies are the only ones hiring,
knucklehead.
Kyle Jordan|3.26.09 @ 3:07PM|#
No. Kyle Jordan is an amalgamation of two of Earth's Green
Lanterns.
A false name for someone who is too paranoid to use his real name
on a website he frequents to learn from. Basically just a stealth
way for me to rant and rave while educating myself to later engage
intelligently in the matters discussed here under my real name.
|3.26.09 @ 3:08PM|#
strike on Monday
in internship Tuesday
sick Wednesday
Late on Thursday
and Friday, fatigue
do like me
be a government worker
Alan Vanneman|3.26.09 @ 3:08PM|#
It's a market economy, right? If more people are applying for government jobs, doesn't that prove that government jobs are "better"? Apparently, not many people believe they can get those $750,000 bonuses on Wall Street any more, now that the government says it won't pay for them.
|3.26.09 @ 3:11PM|#
my friends who are just graduating this upcoming semester
all want govt jobs because its stable.
that should be good news for the more enterprising in your cohort.
Those that seek government jobs today, will never be qualified to
do anything else.
|3.26.09 @ 3:19PM|#
Those that seek government jobs today, will never be
qualified to do anything else.
Tell that to those "young guns" at the IRS, buddy.
HammeredHead|3.26.09 @ 3:27PM|#
They are in for a rude awakening. When I got my MBA in 1992 and
could not get a job, I tried for the government. I took every test
and aced them. Unfortunately the good jobs go to connected people
and the crap jobs that are left to veterans and minorities.
I had few call backs and one was for a Trade Specialist GS-7. The
job duties were basically those of a receptionist. Discouraged, I
asked how that was relevant to my years of financial and economic
training. I was told that I would have to determine which
department to forward people too.
Fascitis Necrotizante|3.26.09 @ 3:27PM|#
bureaucrat/official... functionairee (govn't worker)... be a
government worker
I wasn't sure exactly what connotations "fonctionnaire" has. I
wonder if French has as many different words for "bureaucrat" as
the Inuit have for snow...
Billy!|3.26.09 @ 3:28PM|#
If you're heavily ambitious money wise gov't work ain't all that great. But Assuming you would be content with a solid middle class income in your youth and quite possibly upper middle class income by your late forties-fifties (meaning high 5 figures maybe, maybe low 6 figures) then government work is the best employment one can get. Super safe, awesome retirement package, good benefits, etc.
Go Army Dot Com|3.26.09 @ 3:30PM|#
my friends who are just graduating this upcoming semester
all want govt jobs because its stable.
Have you thought about your future, son?
Fred|3.26.09 @ 3:30PM|#
Great...something else that Obama can take credit for that he
had nothing to do with.
Yeah, great job, making gummit cool again -- has nothing to do with
thousands of people out of work looking for the most reliable
paycheck in the world, does it?
Paul|3.26.09 @ 3:34PM|#
"Lots and lots of students lined up for the federal government,"
It's not that complicated. That's where the money is.
FishyBabel|3.26.09 @ 3:36PM|#
so what does the shirt say
Backstroke of the West
All your base
Are belong to us
something something
Do not want!
something something
Baggette
|3.26.09 @ 3:50PM|#
I've never understood why libertarians think having incompetents in the government is a good idea, other than to simply discredit the idea of government as a general principle. But that seems more like knee-jerk American orneriness, not well thought out libertarian principles. Wouldn't a perfect world be a limited streamlined government staffed with well-paid very smart people? Certainly they'd do less harm working for the Energy Department than working at AIG.
Warty|3.26.09 @ 3:51PM|#
Wouldn't a perfect world be a limited streamlined government
staffed with well-paid very smart people?
Yeah, dude, and they'd ride wise bears to work.
jtuf|3.26.09 @ 3:53PM|#
my friends who are just graduating this upcoming semester
all want govt jobs because its stable.
I can sympathize with that. I started as an inner city public
school teacher the Fall after I graduated from college. I grit my
teeth and stayed on through the entire school year, because I
didn't want to abandon my students. Then I left at the end of June.
I would rather make much less money and have much less job security
than to be stuck with counter productive regulations day after
day.
Old Bull Lee|3.26.09 @ 3:56PM|#
I grokked your name, Kyle. I'm surprised those are the two lanterns you picked, but they're pretty nondescript names.
Spoonman|3.26.09 @ 4:24PM|#
Lots of my classmates want government jobs. I'm after jobs where I get promoted for being good at it, though. Luckily I have a private-sector job lined up.
Waldo|3.26.09 @ 4:25PM|#
I think it's great that we are changing those who work in Government. The young are the next step, and as long as we don't ostracize the older part of America It will be a great push for the future. No more holding back on time tested failing politics
|3.26.09 @ 4:33PM|#
I still think all government workers should be taxed at 90% until the government doesn't have to borrow any more of it's peoples savings.
|3.26.09 @ 4:37PM|#
I've never understood why libertarians think having
incompetents in the government is a good idea, other than to simply
discredit the idea of government as a general principle.
I don't think it's a good idea, so much as it is inevitable.
Wouldn't a perfect world be a limited streamlined government
staffed with well-paid very smart people?
Right on - only history has proven that government is wholely
incapable of achieving this ideal. You may as well say it would be
better if we just had unlimited free clean energy.
Certainly they'd do less harm working for the Energy Department
than working at AIG.
Really? It's been 20 years, where is my working tokamak?
alan|3.26.09 @ 4:38PM|#
A new generation of bureaucrats going in to government work at 22, retiring at 42 at a pension worth 80% of their yearly income and full health benefits for the rest of their lives. So, who plans to stick around and chip in to pay for this?
Mark|3.26.09 @ 4:41PM|#
Lots of my classmates want government jobs. I'm after jobs
where I get promoted for being good at it, though. Luckily I have a
private-sector job lined up.
You may be in for a rude shock.
KenK|3.26.09 @ 5:06PM|#
Government is the only job with a pension anymore.
If I would have gone to work for the county out of high school as a
laborer, I'd be retired right now with a better retirement than I
can expect now - since I'm on the "work-til-you-die" retirement
plan.
But try for the Feds - I think maybe the cities and states can go
bankrupt and stiff you..
|3.26.09 @ 5:44PM|#
Hat tip: Kerry Howley.
But how can I forget you, girl, when there is always something
there to remind me...?
T|3.26.09 @ 5:54PM|#
I think I died a little bit inside. I weep for our
species.
Ahh, the kids are all right. Just because some of them are
clamoring for security doesn't mean some aren't willing to expect a
little bit more.
WTF???|3.26.09 @ 5:54PM|#
From http://kerryhowley.com/ (I kid you not!
Our player, unattractively clad only in a pair of panties draped
over winged hip bones, has knobby knees, spindly legs, and a thin
little body with all the curves and contours of a match. She is
standing in front of her dresser, looking not in the mirror, but
down at two little nubbins on her chest that for all the world have
the appearance of two fried eggs. With the magic lotion that
arrived only today she is carefully massaging these tiny
protuberances, and as she does, her glance falls upon the printed
label, "Bust-O-Fill," price $3.95. What a fitting title! What a
reasonable price!
max hats|3.26.09 @ 6:08PM|#
A new generation of bureaucrats going in to government work at 22, retiring at 42 at a pension worth 80% of their yearly income and full health benefits for the rest of their lives. So, who plans to stick around and chip in to pay for this?
Your ideas about government pension are not accurate. You are
confusing military retirement pay with civil service pensions
(which, btw, have largely been replaced with 401k style "thrift
savings plans")
Rimfax|3.26.09 @ 6:44PM|#
"And you get this snappy T-shirt, too!"
Alt-text!!! I'm so proud, I could cry.
alan|3.26.09 @ 8:26PM|#
Max Hats,
I was basing my estimate off of the benefits I found for retirees
for a Florida police department. It may be a worse case scenario,
though.
Given how retirement funds for starting to eat up current budget
allocations it may be strategically advantageous for
Anarcho-Capitalist to support these generous benefit packages, at
the point they crowd out one hundred percent of spending then there
wont be any government left to spend on. It'll still be a bitch
paying it off, but you can't have everything.
engineer|3.27.09 @ 5:19AM|#
If you're lazy and only semi-competent, government jobs are great. It's practically impossible to get fired, short of criminal activity, and it's doubtful even then.
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