I posted this with just the bad.  Then I felt like it was unbalanced, so I’m tacking on a good to help tip the scale on this lovely Friday.  Here it is:

Yesterday, on my drive to and from work, I needed my sunglasses! 

Now, onto the bad.

My friend, who works at a different agency from me, was sharing some ideas that her agency uses which helps track workload using activity-based costing.  Basically, employees have to report on everything they work on throughout the day, meaning charge their hours to certain projects, and the systems can then take that information and forecast their workforce needs.  I told her, that’s a great idea.  Unfortunately, I believe my agency deliberately doesn’t want to do anything like activity-based costing.  How else would they hide all the funds for the luxury spending?  For example, the nine new printers we just got yesterday?  It’s just like how they refuse to have any meaningful performance measures or targets.  So that’s why they are so “selective” about who they hire for budget jobs – must not hire anyone who may question the spending.   

It’s so sketchy in the government and I guess it should come as no surprise, but I can’t help but be disappointed.  FDA I’m pretty sure, has probably long been in bed with the pharmaceutical companies, as that last snafu with Vioxx really showed.  I would like to hope NIH is better about it – but every few months or so, there’s an article in the Washington Post about certain scientists getting kickbacks.  They always let the scientist resign (if even that) and never punish them.    

Take a look at USDA.  They had only a 90% confidence level that meat that entered the food market was free of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (mad cow disease).  It’s so unacceptable considering the effects of consuming tainted meat, but the beef industry lobbied so heavily for less testing.  If you listen to the appropriations hearings, it feels like like they’re protecting the industries, not the consumers.  This is all the big stuff.  Then you get to the day-to-day issues I come across.  The waste (nine printers?!  for what??  we’re on a continuing resolution here, that means Congress hasn’t passed any bill giving you any money yet.  That means you scrimp and save, not go out and shop til you drop!), the incompetence of the management (drunk bosses), and whole slew of other things I’m too tired to type out.