So I need some thoughtful feedback on this topic that is especially on my mind right now.
So I work for a small I.T consultant business in NYC. This firm as I viewed it's list takes only Govt contracts. As I chatted with one of the more senior employees when I first started ( like 5 weeks ago) he stated that the president of this firm was "burned" like 2-4 times taking on private contracts.
What we and I basically do is I.T related stuff along with some warehousing related work. To give you a rundown of what its like replacing hardware in a Govt building, we go by office cubicle rows searching for specific desktops with a yellow replacement sheet tagged in the front. Sometimes when I would view the sheet to read the name of who sits there (the occupier of the cubicle is irrelevent to the job, just a habit of mines) sometimes the name reads "Vacant". Of course because I'm almost certain before hand that has any clue of Govt graft and even the existence of Austrian Economics, I fully understand that this "Vacant" is just there to be replaced and used by well... no one... at tax payers expense.
Of course in principle I would not have applied for such an I.T job had I known where the main source of income actually comes from. But I am there for a temp position so.....
My questions are, do such firms actually last long? are they actually bankrupt and depend on a Govt pipeline funding? How does this lucrative form of contracting actually work? Am I correct in my thinking that such firms simply disappear when we eventually and collectively fall of the "fiscal cliff"?
Yes: The Rand Corporation comes to mind as does the US Federal Reserve. How about a defense contractor, they have been there longer than I have been alive.
Maybe: Certainly, every Federal Reserve Bank and with low mortgage rates, probably most other comercial banks are insolvent. But, many large and small businesses supporting the government have significant public business as well. IBM and Microsoft are examples.
I do not know, nor does anyone else because there is no clear definition of "fiscal cliff".