Well, howdy there, Internet people, it's Bell again.

So today, we're going to talk about Trump, buyouts, and loyalty.

The administration has reportedly sent emails out to federal employees, titled A Fork in the Road,

which incidentally is the same title for emails Elon Musk sent to Twitter employees.

The email presents an offer to most federal employees.

Go along with significant changes to employment or take the government up on deferred resignation,

which seems to allow people to cease work relatively soon but still get paid until September

30th. The changes to employment

include things like return to office, change of location, new standards of conduct, and accepting

the possibility of layoffs and restructuring. Remember, when we talked about how looking for

efficiency creates cuts in spending by default,

but looking for cuts to obtain a meme-worthy dollar amount generally just messes things up.

So, who do you think will be most likely to leave?

Those who know they can quickly get another job in the private sector. In other words, the most

qualified, the self-starters, those with big networks, people like that. In other words, the employees

you want. Those who remain see a different climate and generally try to avoid standing out,

which means productivity falls as people do just enough to avoid drawing attention to themselves. Sure, Trump will be able to force out

some people who aren't Trump loyalist, but most of those lost will be the employees who are confident

in their skills. This doesn't seem

like a move to make things more efficient. It seems like either a goal to cut costs by seeking

a reduction in personnel by numbers, as if the employees are interchangeable, or a political

purge. Neither are good things for the country.

...