When the private sector buys your government, there are consequences.

Understaffed government pipeline regulator is shrinking its workforce 9 percent by mid-June (Click here ot read more)

Rss@dailykos.com (meteor Blades)
Tuesday, April 29, 2014, 9:07 pm
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At a time when more crude oil is being moved through aging pipelines and in outmoded railroad tanker cars, the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration is chopping 40 people off its staff, which many people already view as too small to do its task effectively.
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PHMSA is handling the cuts by means of buy-outs, typically used in the private sector to incentivize employees, especially higher-paid employees, to retire early, thus saving on payroll expenses whether or not those who are bought out are replaced.
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Elizabeth Douglass at Inside Climate News reports:
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    ... the job cuts come at a time when PHMSA is already under considerable duress. Politicians and the public have been pushing the agency to more rigorously regulate the nation's aging pipeline network as well as the many new pipelines tied to surging domestic oil and natural gas production. A spate of damaging pipeline spills and oil-by-rail accidents is adding to the workload, exposing PHMSA's shortcomings and intensifying scrutiny of the agency.
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    PHMSA, which is part of the Department of Transportation, regulates the 2.6 million miles of U.S. pipelines that carry hazardous liquids such as crude oil and fuels. [...]