The Natural Order

[Guest]

... or when I get a tax rebate.

Is it really a rebate or just an advance on next year's return? I have seen conflicting information ....

JR

 

[Capt Worley PE]

Pretty sure it is a rebate. 95% sure.

 

[Guest]

^^^ I know it's being billed that way (no pun intended) but I have read on some of the financial blogs that it will turn out just to be an advance for next year's return.

At 95% assuredness .. you aren't instilling me with a lot of confidence here!! :suicide:

JR

 

[benbo]

May be sort of off topic, sorry. I've been a regulator for 5 years now. For the previous 20 years I was in private industry (although when in the aerospace industry we obviously were government contractors).

I have noticed one thing with the career regulators I work with now, who have never worked in the private sector. Although they are among the smartest and most dedicated people I have worked with, they have no idea about the real world.

At least where I work, there is almost no such thing as a deadline. They expect the "regulatees" to have everything in right on time, but we just lope along. I've been pushing, but it only helps a little.

And they cut the people we regulate very little slack. Our particular regulations leave room for a great deal of "wiggle room." But these folks I work with expect everyone to be perfect. Fortunately, we don't do a lot of fining. But geez. It's like, they'll find some tiny thing they were late on and go ballistic, losing the big picture. Like, "this company is horriblle, when I know all the things that go into what the company is doing and realize - everyone makes mistakes.

I have more specific examples, but you get the drift. And our program is sort of unique, so I don't want anyone to figure it out. But sometimes I wish my career regulator co workers could get out there and see what it actually takes to make something work and delvier a consistent product.

 

[benbo]

Is it really a rebate or just an advance on next year's return? I have seen conflicting information ....
JR

It is an advance on an additional credit for next year's return. It's a "paperwork" thing with the IRS. Bottom line - it's extra money. Next year, you'll get a credit based on your situation, but you collect it this year. I don't know if it will be complicated paperwork for the taxes, but I'm sure they'll build it into Turbotax.

Which, by the way, I really liked (Turbotax that is). Usually I just suffer through the normal forms and trying to figure out my own state and federal returns. But with TT it was easy. And it even imported all my tax information from someplace ont he web. The best thing was it automatically did my state taxes, and now that I have to amend a return (not the fault of Turbotax) it will do that automatically for me too.

 

[Capt Worley PE]

At 95% assuredness .. you aren't instilling me with a lot of confidence here!! :suicide:

Oh, I hear you. I just haven't looked at it in depth and there's a lot of lawyer wording.

My BIL is a bank VP...I'll have to ask him, but he even has troubles with the way the feds do tax laws. that's why he isn't a tax guy.

 

[Guest]

May be sort of off topic, sorry. I've been a regulator for 5 years now. For the previous 20 years I was in private industry (although when in the aerospace industry we obviously were government contractors).

You not off point at all and in fact are pulling the rest of back on point.

I have noticed one thing with the career regulators I work with now, who have never worked in the private sector. Although they are among the smartest and most dedicated people I have worked with, they have no idea about the real world.

I have seen the exact same scenario playing out in my office. In fact, in many cases I have encountered decisions made by 'feel' rather than the facts presented. IMHO, this is comes back to being able to EFFECTIVELY communicate the needs based on regulatory requirements rather than the 'I think' this or that when you may not fully understand or appreciate the big picture.

And they cut the people we regulate very little slack. Our particular regulations leave room for a great deal of "wiggle room." But these folks I work with expect everyone to be perfect.

Again, I have seen the exact some cycle playing out in my office.

I have been seen inside and outside of my agency as an agent of change (to borrow some current lingo). I have taken projects that were previously stalled out and have been able to bring most of them (more than 80%) to some finality in both a regulatory/legal sense (based on GPRA goals) as well as for the work necessitated by the regulated entity. I always paint these situations as win-win-win ... a win for the agency, a win for the regulated entity, and a win for the public for whom I serve and protect.

My record of accomplishment within my agency speaks for itself .. I just wish there weren't so many people that were convinced that 'any' government regulation is tantamount to 'bad' regulation. It leads to, at the very least, the perception of Dleg's hierarchy of competency.

JR

 

[benbo]

I agree with everything you said here JR. In the case of my work, I believe the regulation may actually help the power plants businesswise, and some have agreed. Actually, some consider our audits getting an extra set of eyes without the cost.

I think since our program is new, it is just a matter of time for my coworkers (and me) to see more faciilities and situations. That way we will be able to isolate the true problem faciilities from those that just have minor problems. And again, it is amazing to me just to see people put fuel in one end and have electricity come out the other end on a regular basis.

 

[Dleg]

May be sort of off topic, sorry. I've been a regulator for 5 years now. For the previous 20 years I was in private industry...

I'm with you benbo. It's tough to be placed into the position of regulator after being in private industry. Because, as you said, there are so many career regulators who have no real concept of how things work in the real world, and what is or is not practical. I see that a lot with the federal folks I interact with.

Where I work, though, the system is oddly turned on its head. The career regulators here are the folks who have been in "state" government service since graduating from high school (which was right about the time this place became a "state"), and though occasionally they are sticklers for the rules, they are most often just rubber stampers. In their mind, their job is simply to issue permits. So that's what they do. They are certainly not on time with the permits, but they also don't require anything of the applicant other than just simply submitting something resembling the items on the application checklist. Nevermind the quality of the documents; as long as they are submitted, the permit will be issued.

Enter me, an engineer with real world experience. I read the regulations, and start reviewing applications as an engineer, and based on what I had provided with my applications, I quickly become shocked at the total lack of compliance among most other applicants. Not to mention the overwhelming market share of rubber-stamp engineers, who will stamp anything. So, I start requiring that people actually turn in meaningful erosion control, stormwater, and wastewater system plans. Forget perfection, I just want to see something that doesn't require water to flow uphill to work properly.

And what does that get me? I am automatically labeled with the tag you describe in your post, simply because I am the first person who has ever required anything of applicants, because I know what applicants are capable of, having done it many times myself as a private sector engineer.

That is the root cause of my troubles with the Asshole that is the subject of my rant. He opened his environmental consulting business back in the day, when all he needed to do was turn in papers. Any papers. Along I come, and say "hey wait a minute" and require that he actually hire an engineer, and a host of other things he has been slacking on for years, and instead of complying, he (and a good half dozen other, lesser "consultants") begin a behind-the-scenes campaign to have me removed because I am blocking progress. While at the same time, the PEs running the reputable firms, and the handful of reputable enviro professionals, tell me how pleased they are that I am upholding the standards, because obviously that means more business for them. They even offer me jobs from time to time. But the reputable PEs and other professionals also behave as professionals, which means they don't go around playing politics, so all the politicians (including my boss) every hear are the unhappy guys who think that simply obtaining a business license with the word "environmental" or even just "consultant" automatically qualifies them to every permit they apply for, without any work!

Oops... ranting again. ldman:

I guess I just don't like the label, because I am convinced I am not like that. But plopped down into a regulatory system where nobody else is requiring ANYTHING, I guess that's how I look.

 

[Brody]

Dleg, where are you located? From your posts I know it's way on the other side of the world somewhere.

Guam maybe?

 

[Dleg]

Close. I'm in the Northern Mariana Islands, about 120 miles north of Guam (island of Saipan).

 

[Desert Engineer]

Dleg, this may be off topic, but how did you end up in saipan?

 

[Dleg]

^Followed my girlfriend at the time. She got a job as a teacher here. I think she was secertly trying to leave me behind, but I was so burnt out on my oilfield job, that I said "Saipan? Sure I'll go there."

She's long gone, but I stuck around. Most fun I've had in my life. For 12+ years now. The fun factor tends to make up for the cruddy job, the near daily power outages, the undrinkable water, the xenophobia, and everything else that is bad about island life.