[gaius]

Well you could never say it outright, could you? But consider that the last government increased the number of nurses by 10% yet doubled the number of managers. Other than shuffling paper back and forth amongst each other, what do they do?

It's a truism that a bureaucracy always seeks to expand itself. They could all be brilliant at it, but the problem is a) it takes time and b) isn't actually necessary oh and c) they are all paid a fortune to do it, including their gold-plated pensions.

[jbooth]

Well, it's not hard to convince me that large bureaucratic organizations turn into a mess.

But the same thing happens in private industry, too. Constantly. And nobody would ever label a private bureaucratic mess as "there to provide jobs first and turn a profit second". That was my bone of contention with your post, you're mistaking generic incompetence for something more perverse.

[gaius]

Mmm, but corporations frequently correct for that by downsizing. Governments do it very, very rarely.

The PCS union picketed Downing Street over proposals to reduce their redundancy package from 3 years salary to 2...