For decades, those of us with misgivings about government bloat who work in the policy world have faced a difficult choice every time a friend has told us, with shining eyes, that he’s landed a new federal job and is deciding whether to take it.
Should I be honest, and tell him I’m not sure why his position in the Defense Intelligence Agency — working on the same portfolio as an at least equally qualified analyst at the CIA — needs to exist?
Should I suggest that anchoring his family’s livelihood on a salary drawn from the discretionary-budget sliver of a government with six times as much debt as revenue might not be a wise long-term choice?
Or should I be a friend and just say “congratulations”?
I confess that, having grown complacent with Washington’s seemingly fireproof employment boom, I’ve almost always chosen the easier option.