(I’m a fast typist, don’t take how long this is wrong):
OK, all I am saying is my logical brain (which quality I’ve come to value over the years) says that a claim “MOST influential” etc. — and I’m no fan of Maximus, or of multiplying contractors like it —
I’m on your team in many regards, but I also have standards and minimus for who I”m going to put the effort into keep working with (in the sense of contributing to threads here, with links, media, etc.) on the topic.
Another thing — if Maximus is that big now, and truly is the meanest kid on the block (the block being, the planet, basically) — let’s see its trail of acquisitions. As I recall (maybe a half-month or a month ago) I found its 10-K, but my time to read all 10-Ks, Audited FS, Forms
#IRSForms990 (and respond to others, and continue investigative blogging on my main areas) is finite.
There has to be a shorter and more compact way to state the basis of your claim, not just keep repeating it with more illustrations.
And when I (week after week) see virtually almost no reference to any of the others — or to a source which references how that comparison was made (the point here: Would others who looked come to the same conclusion IF they looked at the same sources?).
That’s “playing fair.” Otherwise it reads more like an advertising campaign, which lacks the credibility EVEN if the claims are valid.
Is a quantitative (if measured in money) and qualitative (in terms of scope of operations) — and if putting them both together, that’s the conclusion — then fine. Without supporting evidence, or the basis for it, and especially without acknowledgement that other corporations of similar area (supporting major federal government operations, and other governments’ too) market niche — and it’s a huge market niche — there is no perspective, or acknowledgement if the decision to focus on Maximus was in light of that knowledge.
Your gridmaps are no more use to me than mine are to anyone others, except to represent that much work was done (which I’ve not been questioning).
If this were an Executive Summary of some business plan to say, for example, “Dismantle Maximus” (or sue it) — part of that would, besides stating the scope of the problem and why this work hasn’t been already addressed would include a section of sources, footnotes, timelines, or such. X isn’t set up for that, but I aim to THINK like that (and in combination with my blogging) such that if I had to, I could summarize and face “to the contrary” debate should it come up, to my points. Truth is truth, and there is support for it, AND it has a context.
I’m not the one saying “biggest, worst” etc. I’m just trying to call in some moderation — or qualification — when those words start flying around. And that’s a fair request in such a media-drenched world with crisis after crisis, wars, and of course, competing interests politically and — for example, when it comes to those family courts Maximus has contracts with — as to “reform” efforts.
In that competition for our time and priorities (people who care about justice and have motivation to work for it) — it should be possible to separate “Probable & Possible” and whittle that down to “True” (and as companies buy & sell each other, or divest parts of themselves, IF that truth is describing a company, it has a timeline too).
Take it as a positive that I’ve thought this worthwhile saying. It’d be easy to just stop following the topic or engaging. I don’t engage deeply for things just really not worth it. And I am always looking for people who know how to research and are showing that they have done so and will continue to — and for people who, in talking about the results of that research, will use language that is sound and doesn’t leave openings to be discredited. I also would like to know. It’s a matter of language: “Big, outrageous, behaving badly, and too much power in private hands” is not the same as “The Biggest, THE worst.”
Thnx