patrick.net

One of the 7 federal agencies shuttered by DOGE on Friday is the most DOGE-able agency of all time. FMCS (before the pandemic!) had a 9-story K Street tower for 60 employees. Its halls were lined with oil paintings of those employees, and other art purchased from the boss's wife

It used its office tower as a luxury lounge for employees, with an in-house gym, smoking lounge, and in-office showers. It listed its top employee as being on a six-year-long business trip to DC, so he'd have his rent & all meals paid for, just for showing up to work.

It steered $1,500-a-day contracts to friends, and jobs to relatives. Its employees "unblocked" abuse protections on their purchase cards, and used them to spend $18,000 at a jewelry store, their wife's cell phone, and cable at their vacation home.

FMCS existed as a slush fund for employees to live luxury lives. There was no expense they wouldn't bill to the government. One charged the feds for his personal storage unit, used to store photo albums of his dog Buster, even after he retired.

The Federal Mediation & Conciliation Service exists to offer voluntary mediation between unions & management. But many arbitrators do this; its real purpose was simply to pay employees, who constantly billed for travel to luxury destinations to "raise awareness" of its existence.

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