[datsci_est_2015]

Consultancies don’t appear to be subject to market forces either, judging by their complete dearth of talent and expertise.

In other words, “rent seeking”.

The only protection against pilfering of the public coffers appears to be strong cultural opposition to it, so exactly the opposite of what’s happening in the US, for example.

[convolvatron]

this is absolutely true. I can spin up a government consultancy and get inside the system so that I can low bid contracts, get extensions and not provide any meaningful service at all, that's a comfortable parasitic life. I worked in the US Dod and there was no meaningful quality difference between the 2x salary contractors with their additional 2x overhead than the lifers.

we can bemoan that the government isn't being efficient, but involving people with even less oversight whose only goal is to extract as much from the public coffer as possible is not a magic bullet that gets the public more for their money.

[Henchman21]

People in the US are told what to think by their phones. They're being told to view theft of public everything as a good.

It is insanity to watch.