DoD is a good example of an extremely expensive government project, and I’ll definitely agree it’s less efficient than it could be. Wasting 200M every year seem

DoD is a good example of an extremely expensive government project, and I’ll definitely agree it’s less efficient than it could be. Wasting 200M every year seems like the kind of thing which should get attention, either by not hiring until clearances are approved or speeding up the clearance process somehow. One of the broader points is that government waste and private sector waste look different. We would like organizations to provide services at cost (or as close to at cost as possible) to consumers. That’s zero waste. Profits are waste (arguably a necessary evil, but a waste from the consumer’s perspective). Paying people to do nothing is waste. One of the promises of the private sector is they can keep costs low by innovating on the product, figuring out ways to make it faster and cheaper. But very often that’s hard, or not possible, or not convenient. So they “innovate” on price or market position instead. Tacit collusion, enshittification, monopolization, cartel behavior, acquahires, shrinkflation, etc. are all symptoms of private sector waste. Not innovation.