George Will has an excellent article about the feds demanding that local school districts send 65 percent of their money to the classroom and the federal bureaucracy’s subversion of this policy. My question is why only 65? Shouldn’t it be more like 85 to 95 percent. If you think that is unreasonable, please reread Parkinson’s Law.
“The scientific observations which contributed to the law’s [Parkinson’s] development included noting that as Britain’s overseas empire declined in importance, the number of employees at the Colonial Office increased.
According to Parkinson, this is motivated by two forces: (1) “An
official wants to multiply subordinates, not rivals” and (2) “Officials
make work for each other.” He also noted that the total of those
employed inside a bureaucracy rose by 5-7% per year “irrespective of any variation in the amount of work (if any) to be done”.”
