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The role of US Government preferenced "Small Disadvantaged Businesses"

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Something has always irked me. I am a scientist and I have worked at national laboratories and NASA. What irks me is that a majority of the contracting agencies that provide people for these jobs are so-called "small disadvantaged businesses." Aka, SDBs. Let me explain: if you are not white OR not a male, then you can form a staffing company and GET INCREDIBLE PREFERENTIAL TREATMENT from the government. Almost every staffing company around the government brain centers are SDBs. One of the schemes male scientists/engineers would do once they got married was to have their wife start the company with her as president. This worked well until their was marital strife and the man was kicked to curb. In Houston, when I am currently, I am in the minority. Same thing when I was in Atlanta. Why in the hell am I still federally discriminated against for being a white male?

What do you think about such lucrative preferential treatment?
Looks like a death sandwich without the bread - Steve Deadman Morrell, BASE 174

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Pal, it ain't just the government. This is running rampant through LOTS of industries.

This is pretty much the only time in history it hasn't paid to be a white male. Yes, we're paying for the sins of our fathers, but I don't think there's a whole lot to be done about it.
quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

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Something has always irked me. I am a scientist and I have worked at national laboratories and NASA. What irks me is that a majority of the contracting agencies that provide people for these jobs are so-called "small disadvantaged businesses." Aka, SDBs. Let me explain: if you are not white OR not a male, then you can form a staffing company and GET INCREDIBLE PREFERENTIAL TREATMENT from the government. Almost every staffing company around the government brain centers are SDBs. One of the schemes male scientists/engineers would do once they got married was to have their wife start the company with her as president. This worked well until their was marital strife and the man was kicked to curb. In Houston, when I am currently, I am in the minority. Same thing when I was in Atlanta. Why in the hell am I still federally discriminated against for being a white male?

What do you think about such lucrative preferential treatment?

it is only discrimination if a hard working white male gets the job over anyone else. If anyone else gets the job it is affirmative action.

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I know, but it's much more rampant in the government sector from what I've observed over the last 20 years.



Perhaps that's because you're IN the government sector.

The company I do most of my business with (and used to work for) was predominately stereotypical whlte male dominated 20 years ago. Today, it's actually strange to find any white males at all in some departments. Of course, the CEO and people at the very highest levels still are stereotypical white males, but a LOT of employees have been replaced with other types who typically can be paid to work for less money. There are also tax incentives in place to hire them rather than stereotypical white males. All other things being equal, the non-white-males are a better "deal" for the companies.

And don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining that anybody has a gig. That ain't it at all. Everybody needs to make a buck. It's just that us middle-aged white guys have, in fact, been knocked down a few pegs for various reasons.

Another example of how weird things have become; watch a few TV commercials tonight and tell me how many you see where a "dumb-white-guy" can't figure out how to do something and "smarter-more-competent-woman" figures it out instantly with the help of whatever the product is. This also holds true for most of the TV programming as well. The white guy is depicted as some sort of dufus and his girl friend / wife is the "smart" one that makes it all better.

And again . . . I'm not holding it against anyone . . . TV knows its market, which is about 60% female.

Even with all the affirmative action and other whatnot going on, I still wouldn't trade places with any other demographic except to be a younger version of myself. All of these other people have their own crosses to bear.
quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

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Yes, we're paying for the sins of our fathers, but I don't think there's a whole lot to be done about it.



It's not happening because of the "sins of our fathers".

It's happening because of the attitude that "there's not a whole lot to be done about it".

You'll notice that people like Susan B. Anthony, Martin Luther King Jr, and Rosa Parks didn't throw up their hands and say "there's not a whole lot to be done about it". Nor did the white males--eg George Washington and Thomas Jefferson--in an earlier phase in our history.

White males today are weak because they act in weak ways. It's largely their own fault.
"It's hard to have fun at 4-way unless your whole team gets down to the ground safely to do it again!"--Northern California Skydiving League re USPA Safety Day, March 8, 2014

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White males today are weak because they act in weak ways. It's largely their own fault.



I disagree. Non-white-males, have, in fact, been historically repressed. White males are NOT being repressed; we are being marginalized and made fun of, but to equate the plight of the modern white male with anything blacks or women have gone through in the periods of Susan B. Anthony, Martin Luther King Jr, and Rosa Parks is simply ridiculous.

As bad as it is, it's not THAT bad.
quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

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What do you think about such lucrative preferential treatment?



I think that the men who are the victims of such discrimination are foolish to go along with the program by signing their rights away to their wives.

I'm a white man and I make good money. I'm single but I would certainly not give away my personal power to my wife if I were. Maybe that's why I'm not married--a lot of men today seem willing to go along with the program of giving their power away to their wives, but I've never been willing to do so. Sex must be more important to most men than it is to me, I guess.

I have great respect for women and that is why I would not presume to deal with them as anything but as equals.
"It's hard to have fun at 4-way unless your whole team gets down to the ground safely to do it again!"--Northern California Skydiving League re USPA Safety Day, March 8, 2014

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As bad as it is, it's not THAT bad.



Exactly. Their (the white males') handlers are smart enough to treat the men as poorly as it is possible to treat them without the men feeling justified in actually complaining and fighting back. Men should be calling them on that game. The bus driver at the time probably thought asking Rosa Parks to sit at the back of the bus was just a small indignity and she wouldn't fight back.
"It's hard to have fun at 4-way unless your whole team gets down to the ground safely to do it again!"--Northern California Skydiving League re USPA Safety Day, March 8, 2014

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The company I do most of my business with (and used to work for) was predominately stereotypical whlte male dominated 20 years ago.



My personal experience (your mileage apparently differs) is that the hi tech industry is actually significantly MORE male dominated than it was 20 years ago. 20 years ago it would be the guys and one or two token women. Today it's just the guys.

Now a lot of the guys are Asian but there are certainly more white guys than there are women--because there are no women at all.
"It's hard to have fun at 4-way unless your whole team gets down to the ground safely to do it again!"--Northern California Skydiving League re USPA Safety Day, March 8, 2014

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So, man leaves... Woman keeps business and must own more than %50 of it to qualify for the benefit. It's a twisted form of corporate affirmative action. I've dealt with affirmative action on an individual level but this whole SDB thing annoys the crap out me. It appears the way to rid ourselves of that system is to politicize it and have it reduced or removed. Or I could just marry a woman and start a business with her with a iron prenup.
Looks like a death sandwich without the bread - Steve Deadman Morrell, BASE 174

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So, man leaves... Woman keeps business and must own more than %50 of it to qualify for the benefit. It's a twisted form of corporate affirmative action. I've dealt with affirmative action on an individual level but this whole SDB thing annoys the crap out me. It appears the way to rid ourselves of that system is to politicize it and have it reduced or removed. Or I could just marry a woman and start a business with her with a iron prenup.



If it were me, and given that the rules would appear to give the female business (and marital) partner a huge advantage, I would only agree to be involved if I knew that there was some skill that I was bringing to the company that only I had and was indispensible to the company's success. I would need to bring something to the table that would give me personal power to balance the affirmative action power the woman had. Otherwise it would just be too easy to force me out.
"It's hard to have fun at 4-way unless your whole team gets down to the ground safely to do it again!"--Northern California Skydiving League re USPA Safety Day, March 8, 2014

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