The thing is, the modern economy is such a complex marvel that "incompetence" is the default state. I certainly couldn't put on welding gear and be a competent

The thing is, the modern economy is such a complex marvel that "incompetence" is the default state. I certainly couldn't put on welding gear and be a competent welder tomorrow, and there's an entire spectrum of competence and ability to fake competence between me and a master welder. It's extremely non-trivial for a large organization to push competency down to the lowest levels of the org tree, and that goes doubly for large organizations like governments with loose accountability feedback loops.