[anymouse]

In private industry, management mistakes affect the investor and employees, and yes the management. Most feel sorry for employees laid off because of bad management decisions, and more than a few people feel those bad corporate decisions when their mutual fund tanks, but few have any sympathy for managers that screw up.

In government programs, management mistakes affect the taxpayers and government dependents, but rarely does it affect those government decision makers that screwed up.

If you can't feel sorry for the taxpayer, I would at least think that you could feel sorry for those dependent on the government that are hurt by bad management that seems the norm rather than the exception in government.

The lesson is that private industry rewards success and punishes failure (not necessarily evenly), but the government nearly always rewards failure (by allocating more funds to fix the problem) and punishes success (project managers that don't use all of their allocated funds or finish their tasks within a fiscal year have their budgets for the next year reduced.)

[chimera]

The lesson is that private industry rewards success and punishes failure (not necessarily evenly),

I'm not sure of the intent of your parenthetical phrase, or how much weight to give it, but surely you can't mean this as a general statement. Private industry doesn't reward failure, but punishes it? What planet are you living on? Have you never heard of Carly Fiorina?

I have worked for any number of companies where incompetence is rewarded, primarily because of who the incompetent person is. The only people that seem to suffer are the ones who are productive and do the work. They usually get the boot if a project fails, even if it isn't their fault.