I know some people that work for the post office. The last 2 mail carriers that had the route where our business is were alcoholics. I was told that if you admit you have a problem and go thru the treatment they recommend it is near impossible to fire them no matter what they do. This goes on for many years with some workers. I believe in second chances but this goes too far at times. It's government so I have no confidence this will ever change.

It is cheaper than housing them in prisons. The time off is time they are not doing harm. The problem is not the people, it is their information system. I do not mean their computers. I mean the structure of their work environment. Even if we agreed on the numbers, and could prove that more slackers work for the government than for corporations. and that more slackers work for corporations than con artists go into self-employed "businesses", we would not have a solution for the problem.

Here in Texas, the state has no civil service. You can be fired for any reason or no reason. Unions are illegal for public employees, including bus drivers for the city-owned buses. Texas governments run ike any other government. I have been at the DoD, NASA, Michigan Social Services, the Texas Department of Public Safety, and the Texas Military Department. You have go-getters and social loafers. The door to motivation opens from the inside. You have that at Apple and Microsoft, as well, just (arguably) less so because those organizations have other information systems in place.

I agree 100% that the Federal government lacks an incentive program. Most governments do. (Well... except for asset forfeiture.... Is that the kind of incentive you would prefer?) When I was at DFAS, we had these award ceremonies where people got money for good ideas. They were always surprised when they saw that Withholding Tax was deducted from their award. Sort of a disincentive, there.... I mean, you do have to pay the tax; but in the private sector, you just enter the income on your return as Miscellaneous. It's not so painful. That's just an example of the "information system" that burdens government.

Fix the problem; don't fix the blame.

Job opportunities for the unscrupulous.