{"id":63956,"date":"2025-02-17T09:41:20","date_gmt":"2025-02-17T14:41:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/?p=63956"},"modified":"2025-02-17T09:41:20","modified_gmt":"2025-02-17T14:41:20","slug":"sign-up-for-jensens-keynote-google-and-others-look-really-good-how-many-fed-employees-did-bill-clinton-fire-what-happened-to-the-federal-budget","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/?p=63956","title":{"rendered":"Sign up for Jensen’s keynote. Google and others look really good. How many Fed employees did Bill Clinton fire? What happened to the Federal Budget?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sign up to watch Jensen do his usual magic<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

It’s free to watch online. Register here.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Watching it online is free. Attending in person costs. I’ve never been. This year I’m tempted.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I can still remember futuristic bits and pieces from Jensen’s last year’s presentation.<\/p>\n

We’re driving along. We ask our car’s software for the name of the building on the left. “It’s the Opera House.” What’s it playing tonight?\u00a0 “Aida.” Can you get me two tickets for tonight in the orchestra? “Yes. they’ll be waiting for you at the box office tonight.”<\/p>\n

I remember I was so <\/strong>impressed last year. But, today…? Hardly a blip. A minor use of AI.<\/p>\n

Do I think NVDA is going higher? Yes.<\/p>\n

But I also like GOOGL, GRAL, META and HOOD.<\/p>\n

Trends:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

+ Green is dead. Trump and Germany are retreating. Plan on buying a retreat in the country where the air (at least for now) is still clean.<\/p>\n

+ Credit cards push different benefits. Here’s a list.<\/strong>\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

+ Steer clear of companies that make things, need factories and may attract onerous tariffs.<\/p>\n

+ Gold is booming because of uncertainty. Can’t predict Trump’s next mayhem.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Opportunities everywhere<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Susan is getting a new knee this morning. On the way to the cafeteria, look what I found:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

This is the greatest invention since sliced bread<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

There’s no stain it won’t out.<\/p>\n

World’s most expensive alarm clock<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Your iPhone charging on its side:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

iPhone’s dubious feature<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

This iPhone feature is great if you don’t want to hear from all your new friends and\u00a0 your new suppliers.<\/p>\n

How many federal employees did Bill Clinton fire?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

I asked Perplexity.ai. Here’s her answer:<\/p>\n

During Bill Clinton’s presidency, approximately 377,000 federal positions were eliminated3<\/span><\/span><\/a>5<\/span><\/span><\/a>.<\/span>\u00a0This reduction occurred as part of Clinton’s National Partnership for Reinventing Government initiative, originally called the National Performance Review (NPR)3<\/span><\/span><\/a>.<\/span>\u00a0The program aimed to make the federal government more efficient and cost-effective.<\/p>\n

However, it’s important to note that these job cuts were not primarily achieved through direct firings. Instead, the Clinton administration used several methods:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. \n

    Buyouts: In 1994, Congress passed the Federal Workforce Restructuring Act, which allowed for buyouts of up to $25,000 for federal employees4<\/span><\/span><\/a>5<\/span><\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  2. \n

    Attrition: Many positions were eliminated through natural attrition as employees retired or left for other reasons.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  3. \n

    Targeted reductions: The initiative focused on reducing management layers and higher-grade positions3<\/span><\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    The actual number of federal jobs eliminated during Clinton’s tenure may have been even higher. According to testimony from Elaine Kamarck, who directed Clinton’s initiative, a total of 426,200 federal jobs were cut between January 1993 and September 20003<\/span><\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

    It’s worth noting that this reduction was implemented gradually over several years, with bipartisan congressional support, and after a comprehensive review of government operations4<\/span><\/span><\/a>5<\/span><\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

    This approach differs significantly from more recent proposals for rapid, large-scale reductions in the federal workforce<\/p>\n

    I then asked Perplexity “How did Bill Clinton’s job cuts impact the federal budget?”<\/em><\/p>\n

    Her answer:<\/p>\n

    Bill Clinton’s job cuts in the federal workforce had a significant positive impact on the federal budget, contributing to the transformation of budget deficits into surpluses during his presidency. Here’s how the job cuts affected the budget:<\/p>\n

    Cost savings: The elimination of approximately 377,000 federal positions resulted in substantial savings. With the average government worker costing more than $44,000 per year in fiscal year 1996, the workforce reduction saved well over $10 billion annually3.<\/p>\n

    Deficit reduction: The job cuts were part of a broader initiative called the National Partnership for Reinventing Government, which aimed to make the federal government more efficient and cost-effective. This initiative, combined with other factors, led to four consecutive years of deficit reduction, totaling $476 billion3.<\/p>\n

    Budget surplus: By the end of Clinton’s presidency, the budget deficit had been eliminated, and the government was running surpluses. In fiscal year 1999, there was a surplus of $1.9 billion, which increased to $86.4 billion in fiscal year 2000, even when excluding Social Security funds5.<\/p>\n

    Long-term impact: The workforce reductions, along with other economic policies and a booming economy, contributed to a dramatic turnaround in the federal budget outlook. A projected $310 billion deficit in 1993 was transformed into a $100 billion surplus by the end of Clinton’s tenure, with expectations of the surplus quadrupling in the following decade78.<\/p>\n

    Efficient cuts: The Clinton administration used various methods to reduce the workforce, including buyouts, attrition, and targeted reductions in management layers. This approach minimized layoffs and associated costs, making the process more cost-effective3.<\/p>\n

    The job cuts were part of a broader economic strategy that included tax increases on higher-income individuals, defense spending reductions, and welfare reform. These combined efforts, along with the strong economic growth of the 1990s, played a crucial role in achieving budget surpluses and significantly improving the federal government’s fiscal position45.<\/p>\n

    By the way, Clinton was a Democrat<\/p>\n

    That’s it for today. See you soon — Harry Newton<\/em><\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Sign up to watch Jensen do his usual magic It’s free to watch online. Register here. Watching it online is free. Attending in person costs. I’ve never been. This year I’m tempted. I can still remember futuristic bits and pieces from Jensen’s last year’s presentation. We’re driving along. We ask our car’s software for the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-63956","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63956","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=63956"}],"version-history":[{"count":24,"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63956\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":63990,"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63956\/revisions\/63990"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=63956"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=63956"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=63956"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}