[Superman]

Len, I've said before and I'll say again, this caricature of gubmint workers as somehow fantastically lazy is....sometimes inaccurate. (though sometimes accurate as well) The state government office I ran was packed with the gubmint equivalent of green berets. I'd square them off with any team in head-to-head competition. And if you're suggesting that incentives be used in that environment, I heartily agree. I'm a labor relations guy as you know, and I have a special love for organizational development, management, motivation, compensation analysis, that sort of thing. Unfortunately, it's not easy. You have to be very very careful what behaviors you encourage and discourage, and other considerations. It can backfire very badly. But yes, I would fully support looking into performance-based pay schemes, incentive programs above salary, non-monetary incentives and a host of other tools. In fact:

One thing that struck me like a sledge almost daily is the question of why we cannot get some managerial talent from industry, applied in the private sector. We've got leaders out there. Real leaders. Unfortunately, going to work making public policy, while terribly important and high-impact, is also low-payed and low-respect. I myself made decisions that impacted, no kidding, hundreds of thousands of employers, and millions of workers. Would it make sense to apply more than just bargain-basement resources to positions with that kind of impact. Or should we continue to offer bottom-of-the-spectrum pay and nothing but jeers and empty beer can tosses at gubmint? See, if that's all we're willing to do, then all you get will be crazy, demented, slow-minded dolts like me.