[droopyEyelids]

It's tempting to consider "the administration" or "the government" as a single entity that you can reason about like it was an individual.

More likely, there is a bit of focused lobbying being done to suborn the few decisionmakers involved with this, so that a company that contracts firefighting services to the government can grow their contract.

I don't know exactly how it works in California. I know there is a "California Conservation Camp" program that pays inmates $2.90 to $5.12 per day while in the camps, and $1.4 per hour fighting fires, but I don't know if they work with only state prisons or if private prisons get in on that too.

Maybe the cost savings there are enough to drive this dynamic.

[incahoots]

People just want simple answers to complex problems, or in this case, purposely obtuse government workings. Not saying we don't have members in congress with good intentions, but they aren't in the positions of weighted power, often times they find themselves snuffed out or forced to fall in line.

The recent railroad strike fiasco was a perfect example of how things are really ran.