Why is a Budget that's different from a Budget Request considered short-fall?
The programs are fine, for the most part they live within their budgets (except NIF).
Overhead, in particular the support functions, will need to be adjusted. End of story.
All the hubris reminds me of chicken little.
25 comments:
My understanding is only ~ 29 or so of the 450 people who signed up for the SSVSP were NIF so I'm guessing there's a lot of unhappy people outside NIF. Must be money isssues and lack of quality work I'd say, or maybe they're just tired of the bull sheeet. Shortfall = not enough money to support the people you have on the payroll. Worker bees have to go,employee more management to correct the situation and as they say, it's like a money having intercourse with a football. Just can't get it to stand still to get a jab.
I am assuming you are referring to the President's FY14 submission to Congress? That budget is just a proposal, Congress will decide the fate of NNSA/DOE funding.
Add to the fact that the sequestion will probably continue on into FY14 (the Senate and House are so far apart [in a way like NIF and ignition], that there will be no compromise). And of course let us not forget that all the labs are paying a `tax' for the pension liability.
Finally, expect NIF to take a huge funding hit going forward and it gets ugly, very ugly in FY14. forward.
I am assuming you are referring to the President's FY14 submission to Congress? That budget is just a proposal, Congress will decide the fate of NNSA/DOE funding.
Let's hope congress looks at the $17T debt and says no more funding to any national lab or projects that cannot immediately give results that ease foreign oil dependency, generate electric, secure all points of entry and assure all communications are monitored 100% .
The shortfall is just NIFs budget returning to normal funding levels.
NIF had received a temporary $100 million boost for a couple years to fast track ignition.
Let NIF learn how to manage their program and its budget. All budgets vary from year to year, its an important lesson to learn.
The rest of the lab's programs have already given NIF an $85 million gift.
The rest of the lab's programs have already given NIF an $85 million gift.
May 27, 2013 at 3:59 PM
That's only the tip of the iceberg!
It is the rational decision for NIF to canibalize non-NIF programs considering the double down strategy being taken. I don't think it's a reversible course. NIF already got a "re-mission." If NIF fails, NNSA will not pump back money into those hollow husks remaining from the other gutted programs. After all, it would be in catchup mode behind the other labs. It would have to find another mission (or collection of missions) for the lab. LLNL is beginning to pay for their neglect of developing viable stockpile stewardship capabilities. But all of that is moot because NIF will be given a slow death and ample opportunities to keep chugging away and to try to redeem itself (assuming ignition can't be reached on NIF in the short time scale.). If the lab is going under, NIF will be the last part if the lab to take on water. I'm not al all surprised that the majority of ssvsp takers were non-NIF.
It's a good thing that NIF is bring used to support stockpile stewardship, through experiments to measure equations of state and materials strength. Without these other missions, it would be too much risk for too little benefit.
May 28, 2013 at 3:51 AM
There is no need for it now and there is no need for any further studies on EoS. We know it work, build them and keep them up to date, refurbished and that's all the nation needs.
Yeah Z should be shut down too. They aren't seriously pursuing ignition anyways. Any magnetic compression ICF concept should be tried on Russian machines anyways.
Add DAHRT to that list too. Not that NIF should get any funding increase to go with cuts. CMRR should be scaled down significantly as well.
To May 26, 2013 at 5:25 AM,
Your asinine assumption that people VSP'ing are unhappy shows your level of intelligence. Many are VSP'ing simply because they want to retire and are getting a bonus to do so. I know at least a dozen who are VSP'ing and are extremely competent people who love working at the Lab. But, I suppose that doesn't fit the agenda of this website and especially the sour and pathetic people here who constantly post negatively about the Lab and hope it fails. I for one truly feel sorry for you lot.
You do have a point because while NIF is a large program, the majority of lab employees are in non-NIF organizations. That plus variations in demographics between NIF vs non-NIF employees could account for the numbers the way they came out.
On the other hand, the NIF-to-non-NIF ratio is pretty large. Just the poor prospects for job stability in non-NIF programs might be enough to push some over the edge. Can't say it they are happy or not. If they are jumping ship onto the google cruise liner, then they are laughing all the way to the bank.
Nazi, I'm pretty sure you're the only real angry poster here. We just love rattling your cage. I love when you blew up at someone for doing a daily countdown for the NIF milestone failure.
Alice: Be are extremely competent people who love working at the Lab has nothing to do with being happy and not wanting to be someone lacky. I can honestly say since the days LLNS took over LLNL been going down the poop chute. It all started with a very basic issue. Take people out of the UCRP. If they'd have left that alone I think the lab would have been an entirely different place. Now it's no better than McDonalds, Burge King and damn sure not as good as In N Out Burger. People are looking for benefits and defined pension plans not as slave labor at will work force and being treated like cattle or in some cases sheep. It's all your, so enjoy the new world order work for life slave labor work force the young are allowing. Most of these people will die on the job and never draw SS or the funds from their none stable 401k.
Alice is right
that not all the VSP people are unhappy.
This is NOT a good deal- Last time around, Los Alamos got twice the cash we were offered.
But that was the best we could expect, and it was clear that working conditions were getting worse every day. Each new announcement had another Take Away, from closing the cafeterias, to closing HR and Finance during the lunch hours, the only time likely many had to see them.
Q. Just curious, is there much more that they can take away?
Sure hope the verdicts from the lawsuits for those people fired due to age discrimination sticks, and changes LLNS behavior. They actually might not have been discriminating based on age, but rather competency, (They knew too much :-( ) or salary.
They can take away your health and well being. When I left two years ago to go to the private sector, my blood pressure went down quite a bit and I was no longer perpetually hypertensive. The stress of having to work around mediocre scumbag lying managers was just horrible. Parts of PLS is just pure toxic. Friends who remain say the same about other parts of the lab. Cronyism, mediocrity, managing upwards. If you face that kind of toxic environment at the lab and you value your health, you are better off leaving. The irony is that I hear that management in NIF is much more "sane" than in the matrix orgs. That might help explain the low number of takers of the ssvsp from NIF. PLS is still horrible, I hear. Not just dead weight managers but also dead weight employees who just want to do "research untethered by applications, accountability, deliverables or deadlines."
How many times does it have to be said? If you think you can get a better deal elsewhere, it's stupid to stay!
If you think you can get a better deal elsewhere, it's stupid to stay!
May 30, 2013 at 4:55 PM
Not quite. If you CAN get a better deal elsewhere, yes. If you merely THINK so, with no research or evidence to support your "thought," not so much.
yeah even Tomas got another job. With no real accomplishments under his belt too.
Tomas who? One of your bosom buddies?
The greatest Spaniard the lab has ever seen.
The greatest Spaniard the lab has ever seen.
May 31, 2013 at 8:30 PM
I dunno, my own spaniel is pretty great. Chases rabbits out of my garden. And, I can call him by his first name (he really doesn't have a second name) without anyone wondering whether I have a man-crush on him.
If you met him, you would have a man crush on him too. He oozes... something.. I can't put my finger on it. Maybe attendees of SC can tell us what it is.
I could put my finger on it, but why would I want to?
Eeeeewwwwwwww
If you met him, you would have a man crush on him too. He oozes...
May 31, 2013 at 10:28 PM
Yeah, that's the point - oozing. Yuck. Man crush? Nah - that's not how I roll. Try to stay away from his cologne.
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