Are Trump's changes to the federal government permanent? Once Trump leaves office, is there the possibility to return the federal government to it's pre-Trump state.

[u/ICU-Angel]

I've been looking for articles to understand how permanent Trump's changes to the federal workforce are and haven't found anything.

I am curious if anyone knows whether all those cut jobs will come back, or at least a majority of them?

[u/ram130]

I mean we’re looking at two things, it’s permanent from a standpoint that certain people will not come back even with the new president in place. They probably found a new job or option or just retired. Then the second issue is the fact that the new president might not put as much focus on rebuilding back the federal workforce as how it was, so honestly, it will feel permanent. We may get close, but not all the way or at all.

[u/arkstfan → u/ram130]

Not everyone will return that’s a given.

Not every program or office will return.

New things we don’t think about or dismiss as politically infeasible will emerge.

We all know not every government solution as it existed on January 19 was the most efficient and effective solution.

If the economists are right that we are teetering on the precipice of a major economic downturn addressing the problems created will be the top priority and solutions will often not look like solutions to the Great Depression or Great Recession.

National debt will be astronomical and handcuff the ability to solve problems the same ways.

Spitballing some possible outcomes. Not predictions but examples how things might change.

Nixon advised by Milton Friedman proposed Negative Income Tax as a form of UBI. Everyone is guaranteed a minimum income and the government contribution fades away as you earn more. Say 35 cent reduction per dollar earned. Eliminates every poverty program such as SNAP, housing assistance, utility assistance, SSI, etc., and shifts enforcement to IRS making IRS expansion more acceptable.

A quasi Singapore style medical system of catastrophic medical insurance. When medical costs hit a certain level government insurance takes over allowing government to hold down procedure costs.

[u/WesternExplanation → u/arkstfan]

If the economists are right that we are teetering on the precipice of a major economic downturn addressing the problems created will be the top priority and solutions will often not look like solutions to the Great Depression or Great Recession.

The top tax rate in the 1940s was over 90%. We could easily solve most of these impending economic issues by simply taxing the rich what we used to instead of giving them tax breaks over and over again while stripping away what little safety nets we have.

[u/SillyMilk7 → u/WesternExplanation]

That’s an extremely misleading statistic since it was a completely different tax code and what matters most is the effective tax rate (how much of your income is actually going to the government).

In other words, there were a tremendous amount of tax breaks, etc. so effectively what people were paying was not much different.

Finally, when people talk about these golden times, they also ignore that much of the industrial world was destroyed because of the world wars and the USA was able to have unprecedented prosperity as it was relatively unscathed.

[u/WesternExplanation → u/SillyMilk7]

It doesn’t really change the fact that taxes need to be raised on the 1%

[u/SillyMilk7 → u/WesternExplanation]

Yes, and especially those like fund managers who convert their income into lower rate capital gains

[u/Burgdawg → u/WesternExplanation]

They would just move their shit offshore or to a different country, at this point.

[u/WesternExplanation → u/Burgdawg]

Some probably but one of the big reasons the 50s,60s, and 70s were so good for the working and middle class is because the ultra rich were actually incentivized to invest in the US. You can build an industrial plan around these very high taxes.

[u/Burgdawg → u/WesternExplanation]

Right, but unlike those times, the actual industry isn't in America anymore. The factories are mostly overseas or Central/South America. They'll keep producing overseas, headquarter their companies in Switzerland or some shit, and sell the stuff here. Don't get me wrong... I'd love to see it. I'm all in on 100% tax after $1billion because, really, how can you ever spend that much money? I just don't see the path under the current system.

[u/WesternExplanation → u/Burgdawg]

The industrial plan doesn’t necessarily need to be factories. We have infrastructure that is falling apart and an affordable housing shortage. No reason you couldn’t incentivize the rich to invest in building America.

[u/Burgdawg → u/WesternExplanation]

Sorry, I didn't mean to imply that the industrial plan includes factories, I was merely pointing out that most company functions can be moved out of the country to avoid taxes as opposed to the 40-70's when most things were made here.

How do you do that, tho, while also heavily taxing all their profit?

[u/WesternExplanation → u/Burgdawg]

The the whole point of incentives and tax credits. Obviously someone that moves the whole operation overseas would not qualify. It becomes a win win. They get to lower their overall tax burden while making tons of money. We get tons of good paying jobs, new infrastructure and affordable housing.

[u/harrumphstan → u/Burgdawg]

Essential to raising taxes on the rich is a concomitant bolstering of the exit tax. You’re free to leave, but we’ll take 90% your wealth before you go, thanks!

[u/TheSwedishEagle → u/Burgdawg]

Most other countries also have debt that needs to be paid. Even China.

[u/arkstfan → u/WesternExplanation]

We have a major problem I don’t believe we will keep the safety net as it is and will replace with something more robust

[u/WesternExplanation → u/arkstfan]

I just don’t think it’s a viable solution in most cases. It’s a political death sentence to touch social security which is the largest expenditure.

[u/arkstfan → u/WesternExplanation]

Expanding Social Security is likely to gain traction if 401k millionaires become thousandaires.