Comment by quietsegfault
13 days ago
If this was intentional workforce reduction, then the agencies affected should show improved efficiency or output with fewer people. We should see faster regulatory reviews, better grant decisions, stronger technical evaluations, just with leaner teams.
Instead, what we’re likely to see is degraded capacity, slower timelines, and reduced technical oversight. If that happens, will you acknowledge this was a mistake? Or will any negative outcome just get blamed on the remaining employees?
No, I accept the outcomes you are claiming are likely. I'm talking about the net results for the rest of us.
There are now 10k STEM PhDs who are (presumably, mostly) not being paid by the federal government, and are now employed in the private sector and contributing more to the federal budget than taking from it. Or retired, as noted in the article.
On the downside, some grants are maybe taking longer to be disbursed? Not ideal, but again: there's some reason we didn't previously have 100k more STEM PhDs. And we could make the same argument: if we had, we'd have faster regulatory reviews, better grant decisions, and stronger technical evaluations.
There's basically no way to argue for any number other than "more." That suggests an unfalsifiable argument.
> and are now employed in the private sector and contributing more to the federal budget than taking from it
Are they? Really?
Per the article, retirements were a big chunk. I guess the rest could be homeless and on social welfare systems for the rest of their lives, but I think it's more likely they have or will find employment elsewhere.
Maybe I don't understand your point.