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A comment on Steve Ballmer serves up a data trove about government spending in the US. Parent comment

Re:Steve Ballmer serves up a data trove about government spe... by movedx on Tuesday April 18, 2017 @06:29AM (#14137617)
> It should be possible to see exactly where the money was spent all the way down to an invoice

With that level of visibility ("down to an invoice"), it's easy for people to take up pitch forks and begin lambasting teachers, for example, for their spending on computer software, materials for class, and so on. Perhaps a doctor's medical decisions would start being questioned left, right, and centre, yet the people doing the questioning have no medical experience or understanding of the patient's needs.

Let me put this another way: do you like being micro managed at your job? Would you like every decision you make regarding public spending, as an individual teacher, to be disputed, criticised and thrown up on Twitter by someone who, for example, doesn't agree with your purchasing of materials to teach a religious class, or a class on evolution, or perhaps a subject you don't think should be taught, like film & television?

I think having the data that's "down to an invoice" available to the state is valuable, but accessible to the public? No. I couldn't get behind that.

EDIT: "if" -> "is"; "ZERO" -> "no"

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Re:Steve Ballmer serves up a data trove about government spe... by barking on Tuesday April 18, 2017 @07:06AM (#14137804)
I disagree. Let me give you an example. Some years ago,the irish police had a grievance, they were paid less pay for holidays than normal working days. This was because when on holiday they were just receiving their normal salary and weren't getting certain other expenses. In other words, these expenses weren't real expenses but a form of tax-free pay. They had been introduced as an under the table pay increase during some negotiation or other, probably as a way of hoodwinking the taxpayer/other workers or circumventing some pay-cap or other. As I understand it this type of thing is/was common in the public service. There have been moves towards openness. Already lists of government payments to private contracters are published in Irish newspapers. Also lists of tax defaulters and details of their settlements are published regularly. Public servants having their salaries and expenses published is just another step further down this road. The same should apply to welfare recipients.

Being able to see who spent what, where and how is probably the greatest way to ensure tax money isn't wasted.

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Re:Steve Ballmer serves up a data trove about government spe... by jnty on Tuesday April 18, 2017 @10:40AM (#14139166)
What's special about individuals who happen to be employed in the public sector or in receipt of welfare payments that makes it OK to intrude on their privacy in this way?
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Re:Steve Ballmer serves up a data trove about government spe... by barking on Tuesday April 18, 2017 @11:56AM (#14139879)
Like jumpcrisscross said. Ideally, where every euro of taxpayers' money goes should be a matter of public record.
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Re:Steve Ballmer serves up a data trove about government spe... by jnty on Tuesday April 18, 2017 @12:37PM (#14140272)
I doubt that that's what you actually think. For example, I doubt you want me to be able to ask the government how much money was spent on impotence medication for you. There's a trade-off to be made regarding personal privacy. Why do you think that trade-off should be made against certain groups of people?
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Re:Steve Ballmer serves up a data trove about government spe... by Forbo on Tuesday April 18, 2017 @03:33PM (#14142115)
You can have transparency and privacy, they are not mutually exclusive in this case. Government spent X amount of money on Y number of prescriptions for medication Z. You can determine if there needs to be further auditing if Y exceeds the projected number of prescriptions based on prevalence of conditions.
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Re:Steve Ballmer serves up a data trove about government spe... by JumpCrisscross on Tuesday April 18, 2017 @11:14AM (#14139491)
Precisely that they are paid by the taxpayers?
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Re:Steve Ballmer serves up a data trove about government spe... by optimuspaul on Tuesday April 18, 2017 @11:30AM (#14139656)
Why do you think taxpayers are a group capable of deciding whether tax money is being wasted?
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Re:Steve Ballmer serves up a data trove about government spe... by barking on Tuesday April 18, 2017 @11:52AM (#14139852)
Aren't you the best placed to decide if your money is wasted or well spent?
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Re:Steve Ballmer serves up a data trove about government spe... by eeZah7Ux on Tuesday April 18, 2017 @07:04AM (#14137798)
> it's easy [...] lambasting teachers, for example, for their spending on computer software

And maybe it's a good thing.

> do you like being micro managed at your job?

You are conflating micromanagement with financial control.

In democratic societies, public work is done under public scrutiny. Taxpayers have constitutional rights to review budgets and complain to elected politicians.

Private citizens and companies have privacy, instead, as the "public" and "private" word suggest.

In dictatorships it's the other way around.

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Re:Steve Ballmer serves up a data trove about government spe... by sunir on Tuesday April 18, 2017 @09:19AM (#14138554)
Constitutional rights? Doubt it.
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Re:Steve Ballmer serves up a data trove about government spe... by mingodad on Tuesday April 18, 2017 @07:34AM (#14137967)
Sorry but if the public fund it they should be able to see it, what's the point to pay blindly ?
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Re:Steve Ballmer serves up a data trove about government spe... by mrb on Tuesday April 18, 2017 @10:53AM (#14139276)
"With that level of visibility ("down to an invoice"), it's easy for people to take up pitch forks"

I find this reasoning downright despicable. "Not publishing the data because someone might complain"? Seriously? That is the very reason it should be published, to enable constructive criticism.

I agree people might start nitpicking on minor stuff. But it seems the positive outcomes of being 100% transparent would far outweighs the negative ones.

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Re:Steve Ballmer serves up a data trove about government spe... by CyberDildonics on Tuesday April 18, 2017 @12:38PM (#14140296)
This is a ridiculous extrapolation. The idea that public spending should not be public on the off chance that someone might be publicly critical of minor expenses seems like a pretty shallow reason to not give public spending more transparency.
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