I work for the federal government. And I agree that there is a lot of waste. But there are also a lot of young people here who are driven to make a difference, and I really love being part of that atmosphere. We’re clearly not here for the money, we’re here because it’s what we want to be doing.

I MUST disagree vehemently with the idea that private companies are inherently more corrupt than the public sector.

I worked for the State and for a City government and there is no greater ingredient for sloth and laziness than a guaranteed paycheck and nearly guaranteed job. Especially when a union is involved.

Not to mention the idea that if we didn’t spend it, we’d lose it. Meaning we had to spend our entire budget for the year – even if we didn’t NEED to – in order to guarantee the same or increased budget for the next year. I bought a lot of unneeded pens and paper in order to spend our supply budget.

I now work for a large private company in what you might consider a more corrupt sector – finance. Our hedge funds aren’t any more corrupt than any other sector – and neither are any other parts of our business.

The idea that not for profits don’t attract unethical people is ridiculous. I am sure if I took the time I could research and find dozens upon dozens (if not hundreds) of examples where people took advantage of their Non-profit status. I know at least one person in MY family (very extended mind you) who skimmed $ off the books at her non profit job.

I really hate the idea of Corporate = Bad and Gov’t = Good. Government isn’t exactly non-profit either. The amount of waste and legalized theft (in the form of taxes to pay for things that gov’t has no business paying for) is much more insulting to me than a private company making widgets for profit.