There are only two things I've disagreed with so far:
1. I disagree with the pardons of the J6 who committed violence against the police and those who planned to cause trouble. The pardons of those who entered the capital following the crowd, to video what was going on, or were just in the wrong place at the wrong time I agree with.
2. The executive order making remote workers come back in the office. I'm a big proponent of as many people who can, work from home. The main thing is to have controls in place by the employer (be it government or private sector) to make sure the employees are doing a fulls days work at the expected level. I think the more people who remote work the better it is for everyone.
A. Less cars on the road means a lower demand for gas, which puts downward pressure on gas prices (for all of us).
B. Less cars on the road, in particular at rush hour, means less traffic and safer commutes for those of us who have to commute, including school buses. Less accidents could also mean lower car insurance prices.
C. With less traffic on the road it will mean the roads will last longer, which means better roads that don't have to be paved as often. This will result in long term taxpayer savings, especially to state and local governments. Even delaying paying a year or two could be a significant cost savings.
D. Employers (including the government) can reduce the amount of office space required. This would result in lower cleaning, utility, insurance, and maintenance cost for the employer. In this case, saving taxpayer dollars.
The arguments I've seen for bringing people back to work are that people are not actually working from home and that the government has buildings that are only half occupied with workers.
What I say to that is if someone isn't working from home then they are probably not going to work in the office either. Management needs to have the ability to monitor and check peoples work and get rid of slackers, be it people that work from home or in the office.
When I worked from home during Covid I found that I was actually more efficient. I didn't have to deal with people stopping by my office to chit-chat or people standing at the coffee maker for 20 minutes talking about college football.
If it is true that the government has buildings half empty then they need to consolidate employees in fewer buildings then sell unoccupied buildings.
Many businesses have found that getting rid of office buildings and having employees work from home has made them more profitable. Most will rent a small amount of office space for in person meetings and social gatherings but allow employees to do most work at home.
