For an example of what you're saying: a friend of mine has a father who use to work in my state (Victoria, Aus) Surveyor General's office. The surveyor general'

For an example of what you're saying: a friend of mine has a father who use to work in my state (Victoria, Aus) Surveyor General's office. The surveyor general's office knew what the land was like all over the state, what good farmland was, or what was best for other kinds of development... including what land was worth at market rates. Then a 'business friendly' government came along and abolished them, because "developers know better than these guys, who just provide red-tape obstacles". Fast-forward 20 years, and there's no pattern to developments, meaning things are built without concern to infrastructure or services, plus lots of prime farmland has been lost (so much for the 'economic forward-thinking' of that 'business-friendly' government). It turns out that the government actually needs that knowledge, because the state government is now hiring back whatever surveyors they can find again from the old days, and at grossly inflated private contractor rates. They lost the expertise, the professionalism, and their value for money, all for short-term business thinking. Not all government positions are filled with 'jobsworth' drones - there's a lot of vital stuff out there in ye olde bureaucracy.