There is a little bit of truth to both sides of the argument.
The talented and honest folks work hard and many serve, like at the VA, because they honestly want to help vets. it is a mission for them, just like some who teach or serve in the military etc.
However I have also seen too many examples of what is considered stereotypical government employee traits at all levels, from wage grade all the way to executive levels. I have also seen how impossible it is to fire some one.
It is a different world, but there are more than a few government employees who really do earn their pay.
Here’s the reason why the upper management people in the government are not getting paid in the high six or seven figures: Those jobs are already filled. They’re not going to hire Mr. Fedemployee to run the new division at Intel. They’ve already got somebody. So he can’t get the top paying job and he starts to look at lower paying tiers. It turns out that he actually does rather well for himself, if he’s careful and a bit shrewd. He won’t live in Trump Tower, but he will not want for very much. He also has the opportunity to use his knowledge from his government job to go into some private employer field. The ability to navigate bureaucracy can be worth a lot of money to the right companies.