Buh Bye

 Buh Bye;

If anyone cares, I am well and extremely happy. Playing at guitar, working out, eating well and staying in shape to enjoy life as long as possible.

But, in the words of most reality star quitters, "I'm Done!"

I enjoyed it while it lasted.

To all, enjoy life; and love but verify!

You won't have Cranky to kick around anymore!

JK, never felt kicked around.

A Political Comment

 

A Political Comment

The following is the opinion of a cranky old man with virtually no expertise in the topic opined.  Opposing opinions are welcome, but they are wrong. 

As almost no one reads blog posts anymore and Blogger won’t display my post for days after I hit PUBLISH, I feel it is safe to actually vent on a political issue.

What particularly grabs my attention is the DOGE effort to cut Government spending.

No sooner than it was announced that two billionaire business and technical geniuses would head an agency to slash government waste, than the Democrat talking point was, as stated by that efficiency genius Senator Elizabeth Warren,

"The Office of Government Efficiency is off to a great start with split leadership: two people to do the work of one person," Warren said in a post on X, sarcastically adding, "Yeah, this seems REALLY efficient."

Could there be a more negative comment, not to mention incredibly STUPID! (OK, so I did mention it.)

First of all the two people are not drawing a salary so…Oh hell even if they were it is still an incredibly ignorant comment.

Next, talking heads keep advising me that government spending is 90% Social Security, Medicare and Defense and those programs can’t be touched.  As if there is no waste in these areas, and cuts can not be made without diminishing service.

Apparently to many, the thought of reducing government spending is not just a bad idea, but a dangerous concept. 

Hmmm, dangerous to whom?

My experience in operations of a large brokerage firm was expense cuts were periodically directived from above. As soon as profits began to slip All departments would receive notice to,

“Cut spending 10% across the board!”

Periodically expenses would be cut and operations if anything improved.

HOW?

Over the years, computers and technology advances increased operation productivity by factors of 2 and 3, yet staff remained the same until cuts were mandated.

Managers are never incentivized to cut costs on their own. 

Why? 

The importance of most departments is often an expression of it’s budget.  If a manager cut his budget by 10%, he was not only not rewarded, but his importance was diminished from the eyes above.

Managers knew what staff or processes needed to be cut but would never do so until mandated.  Many employees were given busy-work, waiting for the eventual mandated expense cuts.

Older employees ready to retire, wait for the mandated cuts, knowing they will be given pay packages to leave in lieu of not suing for age discrimination.

In my operations area, from 1970 to 2010 we went from processing orders and executions on the New York Stock Exchange at an average of 9 million shares a day with 110 employees, to processing volumes of 350 million shares a day with 15 employees.  Service went from unsustainable to instantaneous.  Errors went from significant, to insignificant.

Does any of this waste exist in Government.  Government where employee numbers have grown explosively even while technology has cut work load in half many times in the last 30 years?

The whining of many that DOGE just,

“Does not understand the inner workings of operations like the dedicated expert employees!” 

Reminds me of hired efficiency experts putting fresh eyes on processes in areas where I once worked.  Often the experts, “Did not understand” because many obsolete processes were simply unexplainable.

Perhaps Government is not the same as the competitive world of business.  Maybe these many areas of waste that are stripped from corporations via “Mandated cuts” do not exist in Government.

Maybe.

Then again, maybe Elizabeth Warren is right.  Two people to do the work of one is waste.  Perhaps we do not even need one person. 

DOGE should simply put out a memo to heads of all Government agencies,

“Cut expenses by 10%, or pack your bags!”

Those cuts would be made before the ink was dry and productivity and service would only improve!

The preceding was the opinion of a cranky old man and not necessarily that of management…Mrs. Cranky.

Presents for the Wife

 Presents for the Wife

OK. I’m just going to admit it, I hate getting presents for my wife.  Birthday, Anniversary, Christmas, Mother’s Day, it never ends.  I’m not cheap (well maybe a little) it is just that when it comes to presents, a woman cannot be pleased.

I repeat “A WOMAN CAN NOT BE PLEASED!”

They say they can, but they cannot.

It starts two weeks before an occasion.

“What do you want for ________?”

“Oh, I don’t want anything, it’s fine.”

This is code for you better get something and you need to put some thought into it.  I learned this code from wife #1 and it did not go well.

“No, it is important, I am getting you something and I want it to be nice.”

“Surprise me.”

This is code for do some research and get me something nice that I have been wanting.  I learned this code from wife #2 and it did not go well.

A woman will not be specific about what they want because if you didn’t think of it yourself the present does not count.  

OK, I’ll surprise her.  

Turns out sexy outfits are a bad idea.

“You bought that for you, not for me!”

There was some truth in that, but still...

Clothes of any sort are risky, they may appreciate the thought, but never your taste, and you had better get the right size.

“Do you really think I am that fat!”

Jewelry is nice, but also expensive and after a few years wives run out of fingers toes and ears.

Flowers and candy are nice, but flowers die and candy goes to the hips.  Both are also assumed to be last minute no thinking presents…not great.

I learned as a young lad through situation comedy TV shows that any gadget relating to housework is a really bad idea.  Come home with a better vacuum cleaner for no particular occasion and it is appreciated, on a special day? NO!

Anyway, it is getting near Christmas, normally time for the dance to begin.

This year I am going to skip the dance. 

I think I’ll just get a nice coffee (tea) mug that says,

“MERRY CHRISTMAS…I’m a jerk!”