Governmental Inefficiency - USCG

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by S/V Illusion

Didn't realize the concept of a supervisor was troubling. Someone should tell the world.

No need... we already know managements top heavy...

[David_Old_Jersey]

Originally Posted by S/V Illusion

Didn't realize the concept of a supervisor was troubling. Someone should tell the world.

Now we know the answer to that old question "but, who watches the watchman?"

Obvious now Another watchman

But I wonder who watches..............

[osirissail]

Originally Posted by donradcliffe

One of the reasons the USCG documentation center is behind is their ridiculous policy of sending out a new document every year. Even though they don't charge for the renewals, a new piece of paper every 5 years would be far more efficient.

Actually 20 years ago the USCG documentation was an actual thick card stock piece of paper that was good forever except you had to affix a new little sticker each year to the back.
- - For some reason or other they changed to the annual letter sized piece of paper. If I remember correctly, the reason given was that the Fed's now required "every" State to issue Titles to boats where some States like Mississippi never did. The new USCG documentation changed to resemble State titles and has the change of ownership information on the back just like automobiles.
- - It is a major pain in the butt to arrange to get the new USCG Doc's to you if you are offshore cruising. Renewals are sent with less than a month left on last year's document. International mail varies from 2 to 6 weeks depending upon where you are and you have to add in the time for your mail receiver in the US to get and forward the new doc's to you. Major pain.
- - If you renew earlier than a month they change the termination day/month to a month (or so) earlier. Another pain.

[kd3pc]

"Some states have a problem if the hailing port is out of state"...


makes it really hard for them to see if it needs to be "taxed" in their state...someone actually has to look up the information... as opposed to walking the dock, making a list and turning it in to the county/state tax folks...

Whilst paying my yearly tax burden, I see on the Commissioner's in box a handwritten sheet with XXXX Marina, XXXX, VA....and a list of boats by name and generic description (i.e. "big sailboat, little boat on deck, Roanoke, VA)...looks like a good summer job for some one...

As to the super visor, Don...since when do two people need a "supervisor"...they should simply do the job...

Homeland security is the biggest disorganization on the planet...with some of the most clueless "experts" around. Yes, I know, as I was one of those horrid contractors for several years. When they absorbed the CG...they forgot one minor detail...the CG had secure systems, and they did not...kind of froze things for a while till the "experts" got a grasp on things...odd thing was any Coastie could have told them that from the get go...but no one at DHS was willing to listen to ANY of the OEs that they now owned..

And then there is TWIC....need I say more...

[osirissail]

And then there is the FCC - try getting, changing or renewing a license there. It is all on the internet - but - the run-around and multiple accounts numbers, etc. is baffling beyond belief. Kind of makes you wish for the old days and smoke signals . . .
- - Governments by nature make no "hard product" to manufacture/sell and have no competition, so it is just the "nature of the beast" and not much we can do about it. I am sure each cruiser from all the countries of the world have similar (scaled) horror stories of dealing with their bureaucrats.

[GordMay]

Government is Good - An Unapologetic Defense of a Vital Institution
Here ➥ Government is Good - An Unapologetic Defense of a Vital Institution

[Auspicious]

Originally Posted by osirissail

And then there is the FCC - try getting, changing or renewing a license there. It is all on the internet - but - the run-around and multiple accounts numbers, etc. is baffling beyond belief. Kind of makes you wish for the old days and smoke signals . . .

I think the FCC does a great job. Everything ties to a single number, the FRN. I upgraded my ham license recently and it showed up in the database in ONE DAY. Nice. My first radio license in 1975(ish) took weeks.

[LakeSuperior]

Originally Posted by GordMay

Government is Good - An Unapologetic Defense of a Vital Institution
Here ➥ Government is Good - An Unapologetic Defense of a Vital Institution

Gord, you're killing me! These guys are kool-aid drinkers.

[hummingway]

Originally Posted by LakeSuperior

Gord, you're killing me! These guys are kool-aid drinkers.

Personally I think that anyone who believes less regulation allowing for unfettered activity by corporations is beneficial to the planet or most of her residents has been drinking the kool-aid and should be very concerned about the quality of water the kool-aid is made from but then if opinions were nickles we'd all be millionaires.

[Captain Bill]

Interesting that one proceedure can be so inefficient and another very efficient. I sent my renewal in Dec. 4 and had the new document back on Dec 9.

[senormechanico]

Originally Posted by GordMay

Government is Good - An Unapologetic Defense of a Vital Institution
Here ➥ Government is Good - An Unapologetic Defense of a Vital Institution

Shouldn't that be on the joke page?

[LakeSuperior]

Originally Posted by hummingway

Personally I think that anyone who believes less regulation allowing for unfettered activity by corporations is beneficial to the planet or most of her residents has been drinking the kool-aid and should be very concerned about the quality of water the kool-aid is made from but then if opinions were nickles we'd all be millionaires.

Ah...the topic in this thread is regulation of private citizens by government agencies, the evolving complexities of government agencies, and the inefficiencies of government agencies. Regulation of corporations is a whole different can of worms.

[GordMay]

Our “free markets” and “liberal democracies” have (more or less) succeeded in our countries, and retain wide spread public support, not in spite of government, but largely because of government. We should be advocating for better government, not (necessarily) less government.

Were the metaphorical allegory accurate (it’s not), then Douglas J. Amy < Government is Good - An Unapologetic Defense of a Vital Institution > would be mixing the cool-aid, not drinking it.

As Amy says:
“We need to better understand the indispensable roles that government plays in our society, and we need to come to the defense of this unfairly maligned institution....”
“Although conservatives portray government as incompetent, public sector programs have actually amassed an admirable record of success in a wide variety of policy areas...”
“The real problem with [American] government is that it is not as democratic as it should be. Affluent special interests have too much power in our political system and the public has too little...”
“Without a whole host of government rules, capitalism could not exist. Even regulations and social programs help sustain a market economy by fixing many of its serious social and economic problems...”

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by GordMay

Our “free markets” and “liberal democracies” have (more or less) succeeded in our countries, and retain wide spread public support, not in spite of government, but largely because of government. We should be advocating for better government, not (necessarily) less government.

Were the metaphorical allegory accurate (it’s not), then Douglas J. Amy < Government is Good - An Unapologetic Defense of a Vital Institution > would be mixing the cool-aid, not drinking it.

As Amy says:
“We need to better understand the indispensable roles that government plays in our society, and we need to come to the defense of this unfairly maligned institution....”
“Although conservatives portray government as incompetent, public sector programs have actually amassed an admirable record of success in a wide variety of policy areas...”
“The real problem with [American] government is that it is not as democratic as it should be. Affluent special interests have too much power in our political system and the public has too little...”
“Without a whole host of government rules, capitalism could not exist. Even regulations and social programs help sustain a market economy by fixing many of its serious social and economic problems...”

Indeed.... its not the System.... its the People 'Working It'

[LakeSuperior]

Jim Jones (and aids) mixed the kool-aid. Most of his followers willingly drank it. The rest were forced to.