Oct 12 2006
Fake Degrees In Federal Bureaucracies
The liberal media is shooting at their own in this latest scandal regarding a bunch of career frauds in Federal Government. I can tell you MOST federal workers lean left. I am a lone conservative in a sea of liberals at NASA. And it is not very much different in most civilian positions. You have to understand what entices people to civil service careers. There is no risk, there is little competition on merit at most levels, you get socialistic benefits at taxpayer expenses, etc. I am a beltway bandit. I have my own company because I want more from the fruits of my efforts to come to me. We (LJStrata and I) are willing to shoulder the headaches of investigating and selecting our benefits so that we maximize what we get while minimizing what we pay for them. I have never held a job with one company more than 5 years (because most computer related projects and contracts don’t run for much more than five years – so you need to move onto the next job if you want to get paid).
My NASA brethren and I get along great because we respect the differing perspectives suit our personalities and drivers – they do not make either side better. But the tendency is for conservatives and republicans to go private sector and democrats to go civil service (and government employees also dominate the union population as well). So when you see news that civil servants have been caught with faked college degrees, those on the left laughing as if this was about Republicans (who control elected offices, not the career offices) is truly sad sight to behold. These liberals are laughing at what must be their kindred political brethren, and are just now aware of the make of the civil service community to know any better.
Fake degrees are a fraud to your employer, be it government or private sector. I left state employment because of the fraud perpetrated by politians who promoted not because of merit but because of the color of skin, gender, or nationality.
After ten years in the public sector and the last twenty in the private sector, I have no regrets and never looked back. The problem with remaining a civil servant is that lacking any kind of incentive (save the color of your skin, gender, or nationality), it is human nature to become, shall we say, lacking in motivation.
The system just works that way. Fraud? It works at many levels.
I don’t think this will be a problem…..all we have to do is drag out VA Rep.Ford’s claim that he is a lawyer….gee he never passed the BAR exam…….must have been like Sandy Berger’s ‘mental lapse’
sorry I meant TN…….gee…..musta faked my degree too.
I think all civil service bureaucrats (other than those in truly classified positions) from GS-14 through SES should be required to publicly post their degrees and majors. Who knows how many SES’s we have with degrees in gender studies? Is it any wonder FEMA couldn’t respond to Katrina? I think that if this information were available those of us in the private sector would be shocked.
Is an on-line degree, “earned” in 3 days valid for government jobs, or does it have to be a ‘genuine’ degree?
The problem with the Government is that those responsible for verifying things, such as degrees, don’t do their jobs, and their supervisors never check behind them. Even those responsible for security background checks do a half-assed job. It’s scary.
I worked for DoD for 12 years in Human Resources, so I know what goes on. Problem is, the unions are so strong, it is almost impossible to fire anyone. Supervisors don’t want to go through the hassle of the mountains of paperwork to fire, and defending against discrimination lawsuits.
And VA_CPA, even major corporations don’t require a specific degree except in positions such as Accounting, Engineering, etc. that requires a certain knowledge in a field. What degree should a FEMA director have? Logistics? Transportation? Contracting? Hard to say.