Music and Texts of Gary Bachlund

 

The Story of Innocent Bloat

 

 

 

                  Once upon a time there was a land with people, some of whom as wise and good stewards were destined to lead. But most were those slothful others who were unwilling to lead and therefore condemned to follow.
                  "One for you and one for us," said politicians to the little folk, "for our betterment and our good."
                  "One for you and one for public safety and one for us," said politicians to the little folk, "for peace in your neighborhood." Someone said, "It's simply innocent bloat."
                  "One for you and one for public safety and one for public education and one for us," said politicians to the little folk, "to lead our youth through angst-filled childhood." Educators thought, "We'll learn it's innocent bloat."
                  "One for you and for one for public safety and one for public education and one for administrative services and that meager little one for us," said politicians to the little folk, "it's practical that we should." Administrators said, "We'll administer the truth; it's necessary, innocent bloat."
                  "One for you and one for public safety and one for public education and one for administrative services and one for public works and and that measly, meager little one for us," said politicians to the little folk, "to preserve each river, the sky and our green-leaved wood." The public workers worked themselves up to say, "It's  innocent bloat."
                  "One for you and one for public safety and one for public education and one for administrative services and one for public works and one for the attorneys and and that minuscule, measly, meager little one for us," said politicians to the little folk, "in order clarify what's misunderstood." The attorneys happily testified, "It's rightly innocent bloat."
                  "One for you and one for public safety and one for public education and one for administrative services and one for public works and one for the attorneys and one for public health and that modest, minuscule, measly, meager  little one for us," said politicians to the little folk, "for wellness, health, and motherhood." The health officials well prescribed, "It's benign, innocent bloat."
                  "One for you and one for public safety and one for public education and one for administrative services and one for public works and one for the attorneys and one for public health and one for the regulators and that minute, modest, minuscule, measly, meager  little one for us," said politicians to the little folk, "though we'd truly do with less, if possibly we could." The regulators ruled a ruling, "It's regular, innocent bloat."
                  "One for you and one for public safety and one for public education and one for administrative services and one for public works and one for the attorneys and one for public health and one for the regulators and one for redevelopment and that minor, minute, modest, minuscule, measly, meager little one for us," said politicians to the little folk, "that we make safe your work and livelihood." Developers developed this development as "It's justly innocent bloat."
                  "One for you and one for public safety and one for public education and one for administrative services and one for public works and one for the attorneys and one for public health and one for the regulators and one for redevelopment and one for affirmative actions and that mean, minor, minute, modest, minuscule, measly, meager little one for us," said politicians to the little folk, "for love and peace and brotherhood." Someone affirmed with conviction, "It's positive, innocent bloat."
                  "One for you and one for public safety and one for public education and one for administrative services and one for public works and one for the attorneys and one for public health and one for the regulators and one for redevelopment and one for affirmative actions and one for the forecasters and that minimum, mean, minor, minute, modest, minuscule, measly, meager little one for us," said politicians to the little folk, "to prepare for unknown eventuality and each and every likelihood." The forecasters foresaw it as "predicted, innocent bloat."
                  "One for you and one for public safety and one for public education and one for administrative services and one for public works and one for the attorneys and one for public health and one for the regulators and one for redevelopment and one for affirmative actions and one for the forecasters and one for the compliance officers and of course, in answer to our complaints, two for us," said politicians to the little folk. "With so much work and so much labor, our need for more should not be withstood." The compliance team requested that folks comply with this scheme: "Please comply with sub-chapters one through ten thousand written to explain this innocent bloat."
                  "One for you and one for public safety and one for public education and one for administrative services and one for public works and one for the attorneys and one for public health and one for the regulators and one for redevelopment and one for affirmative actions and one for the forecasters and one for the compliance officers and one for public re-education and of course, in answer to our complaints, three for us," said politicians to the little folk. "You know, of course, it's for the common good." The fewer among the common folk were willing to say, "It's common, innocent bloat."
                  "One for you and one for public safety and one for public education and one for administrative services and one for public works and one for the attorneys and one for public health and one for the regulators and one for redevelopment and one for affirmative action and one for the forecasters and one for the compliance officers and one for public re-education and one for the correction of public speech and of course, in answer to our complaints, four for us," said politicians to the little folk, "because it's not about the single individual nor about some silly notion of selfhood." Among the common, burdened folk some began to note, "This might not be just innocent bloat."
                  "One for you and one for public safety and one for public education and one for administrative services and one for public works and one for the attorneys and one for public health and one for the regulators and one for redevelopment and one for affirmative actions and one for the forecasters and one for the compliance officers and one for public re-education and one for the correction of public speech and one for the enforcement of thought and of course, in answer to our complaints, five for us," said politicians to the little folk, "for our labor to teach you simple minded folk to think the way we think you should." The folks in public safety, public education, administrative services, public works, the attorneys and the folks in public health, the regulators and redevelopers, the folks for affirmative actions, the forecasters and compliance officers, those for public re-education and for the correction of public speech and the enforcement of thought all opined with force, "It's all just innocent bloat."
                  "One for you and one for public safety and one for public education and one for administrative services and one for public works and one for the attorneys and one for public health and one for the regulators and one for redevelopment and one for affirmative actions and one for the forecasters and one for the compliance officers and one for public re-education and one for the correction of public speech and one for the enforcement of thought and something more for upper management and of course, in answer to our complaints, six for us," said politicians to the little folk. "It has always been that for which we have stood." And louder did the folks in public safety, public education, administrative services, public works, the attorneys and the folks in public health, the regulators and redevelopers, the folks for affirmative actions, the forecasters and compliance officers, those for public re-education and for the correction of public speech and the enforcement of thought, but especially the upper management, all cried of course, "It's no more than innocent bloat."
                  "One for you and one for public safety and one for public education and one for administrative services and one for public works and one for the attorneys and one for public health and one for the regulators and one for redevelopment and one for affirmative actions and one for the forecasters and one for the compliance officers and one for public re-education and one for the correction of public speech and one for the enforcement of thought and still something more for upper management and then yet more for our fresh and new beloved, dear maximum leader and of course, in answer to our complaints, even more for us," said politicians laughing at the little folk. Then all together did the folks in public safety, public education, administrative services, public works, the attorneys and the folks in public health, the regulators and redevelopers, the folks for affirmative actions, the forecasters and compliance officers, those for public re-education and for the correction of public speech and the enforcement of thought, but especially the upper management and politicians openly ask: "Why not? We say we're worth it! How could you not think we would? How utterly naive; did you ever really believe this was just innocent bloat?"

                  Once upon a time there was a land with human sheep, and the human shepherds who seemed once both humanly wise and good would lead their human sheep to slaughter. Ah, men....
 

Original material - Copyright © 2008 by Gary Bachlund

 

 

Addendum of the Public Sector:   "The two parties, which alternated in power in the decades since the end of military rule in 1974, 'increased the taxes to unhealthy levels and risked a recession to protect their clientele in the state apparatus,' Manos said. According to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, in some government agencies overstaffing was considered to be around 50 percent. Yet so bloated were the managerial ranks that one in five departments did not have any employees apart from the department head, and less than one in 10 had over 20 employees. Tenure ruled over performance as the factor determining pay. Wages in the public sector were on average almost one and half times higher than in the private sector." In "The Cost of Protecting Greece’s Public Sector," by John Sfakianakis, New York Times, 10 October 2012.

 

Addendum of the Proof of the Pudding:   "The number of workers employed by the government went up 324,000 between July and August while the number of workers in the private sector declined 278,000, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). In the employment numbers released today, the BLS shows there were 20,041,000 government workers in July 2013. In August, that number had climbed to 20,365,000 – an increase of 324,000 people on the government payroll. That’s government employment level, seasonally adjusted, for male and female workers ages 16 and over. At the same time, July to August 2013, the workforce in the private sector fell from 113,164,000 to 112,886,000 – a decline of 278,000." In "Number of Gov’t Workers Up 324,000 in One Month – Private Sector Down 278,000," by Michael W. Chapman, CNS, 6 September 2013.  See:  Fat, fat government .

 

Addendum of Outnumbering:   "As of June 2015, Illinois had only 574,000 factory workers, compared with nearly 750,000 state and local government workers. That means Illinois had only 3 manufacturing workers for every 4 state and local government workers." In "Government workers outnumber manufacturing workers in Illinois," by Michael Lucci / Illinois Review, 14 September 2015.

 

Addendum of an Example of the Bloat:    "Nearly one out of every three workers on the city of Chicago payroll made $100,000 or more last year — a far higher percentage of six-figure employees than in state or Cook County government. That’s according to a Chicago Sun-Times analysis that for the first time combines city workers’ salaries, overtime and other extra pay. Twenty-six city workers drew paychecks that eclipsed Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s pay of $216,210, the analysis found. They included a police detective, two fire department ambulance commanders and two water department operating engineers." In "THE WATCHDOGS: A third of Chicago city workers make $100k or more," by Chris Fusco and Tim Novak, Chicago Sun-Times, 7 November 2015.

 

Addendum of Another Example of the Bloat:    "Government employment grew from 22,216,000 in September to 22,235,000 in October, according to BLS, while manufacturing jobs dropped from 12,267,000 to 12,258,000. The 22,235,000 employed by government in the United States now outnumber the 12,258,000 employed in manufacturing by 9,977,000." In "Government Workers Now Outnumber Manufacturing Workers by 9,977,000," by Terence P. Jeffrey, Cybercast News, 7 November 2016.

 

Addendum of Growing Public Employee Greed:    "Records recently released by a nonprofit group Transparent California put names and job titles alongside the compensation packages. A chief port pilot, who operates tugboats that guide cargo ships into ports, received a total compensation package of $594,000. These port pilots average $434,000 a year in salary and bonuses, according to a 2016 Los Angeles Times article. They are skilled positions but in high demand. The newspaper revealed how the son of the top port pilot was hired for one of these 'rare opening(s)' but was later terminated after ensuing questions about his credentials. One San Jose police sergeant — yes, a sergeant, not a chief — received a package worth $552,000 last year. His $127,000 base pay was boosted by $69,000 in overtime, $219,000 in back pay, plus gobs of health and pension benefits. That’s beyond crazy. How many people in the private sector get these kinds of pay and benefit packages? These figures, by the way, only include the direct cost of these pay packages and not the unfunded portion of the pension liabilities—unfunded costs that ultimately will be borne by taxpayers, too. We have a senior deputy city manager earning a compensation package of $485,000 and myriad city managers, police officers and firefighters earning in that $400,000-plus a year range — and many of them are rank-and-file types who inflated their final pay with an overtime bonanza." In "The Old Course at St. Andrews never had it so good.," by Steven Greenhut, Spectator, 4 May 2017.

 

Addendum of Consumer Protection Agency's Luxury For Itself:   "Ballooning renovation costs for luxurious perks is only one of a number of high-profile controversies that beset the agency created under President Barack Obama. They include cases of widespread gender, racial and ethnic employment discrimination, massive data mining of 42 billion credit card transactions by consumers, and a history of bullying corporations into turning over millions in dubious settlement cases. The bureau butted heads with the Trump Administration the day after Thanksgiving 2017 when Richard Cordray, its first director, resigned to run for political office. Cordray invoked a clause in the CFPB founding documents that permitted the outgoing director to name his successor." In "EXCLUSIVE: A New CFPB Scandal – Cost Overruns for Its New Lux Headquarters," by Richard Pollock, Daily Caller, 7 January 2018.

 

Addendum of Academic Bloat:   "The number of administrators at Yale University has increased drastically faster than its undergraduate population, with the Ivy nearing an abysmal ratio of 1:1 before the pandemic due to its more than 5,000 administrators and managers and fewer than 6,000 undergraduates, according to financial reports from the 2002-2003 and 2020-2021 school years. Now the numbers are even worse, with more than one administrator per undergraduate student." In "Yale Now Has More Administrators Than Undergrads Thanks To A Mammoth Bureaucracy," by Spencer Lindquist. Federalist, 11 November 2021.