“Every successful system accumulates parasites.” That statement, quoted in Kevin Kelly’s Out of Control, was proposed as a law of nature by evolutionary biologist Thomas Ray back in the 1980s.
This is how we know that America is a very successful system indeed. But every system has a limit to how heavy a parasite load it can carry, and I think we’ve reached ours.
One often sees graphics like this:
[chart in post]
They’re shocking, and yet not really because everyone knows it’s true, and you see it everywhere. For example:
[chart in post]
No one believes that all these administrators create value commensurate with their numbers. Mostly they’re a drain on productivity.
These administrative jobs exist not because they add value, but because of politics (political machines need supporters on the government payroll, because those supporters’ jobs give them an incentive to vote even in low-turnout elections), because of regulatory pressure (often designed to increase administrative payrolls) and because of bureaucratic empire-building. Whether in government or corporate bureaucracy, having more people report to you makes you more important, and often more influential.
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