I heard an interview this morning with the author John Tamny and he was discussing his new book: Popular Economics.  While it sounds like an interesting read, I do take exception to his claim that people working in government as regulators are there because they could not make it in the private sector.  I will request the book through the library so I can read it entirely but based on reviews on line, he takes a hard stand against government regulation and I worry his antagonism is coming from his fear of incompetence.

I do agree there are too many incompetent employees in government today and my villian in this piece is the public employee unions.  As a former manager of many state employees, I can testify too many folks have been hired and promoted into positions they are not qualified for.  But either demoting or terminating them is so incredibly difficult and time-consuming that many supervisors and managers just accept the reality of the situation and organizations end up with F Troop like units with dead wood staff.

But this does not mean all people in public service or lazy or incompetent or non-competitive.  I myself ended up working for the State of California more by happenstance than anything else.

After 8 years on active duty, I resigned my commission in the US Air Force in 1980 and found myself in Sacramento California.  I was 30 years old and since my skills as a navigator were not in much demand, I applied for a job with the State since I knew how bureaucracy worked and was comfortable in that type of system.  I ended up with the DMV by luck and the rest is history.  I feel I was a fair and competent regulator – particularly when I worked for the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control – and I was not alone.  There are many capable, dedicated and professional people working for government and a balanced regulatory environment makes us all healthier and safer.