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Monday 11 April 2022

Maybe we should count the bureaucrats



As many may know, yesterday three caracal kittens were the subject of the Bing picture of the day. They are medium-sized wild cats and not knowing much about them I looked them up in an idle moment. Interesting animals, but what struck me was a tiny example of bureaucracy at work.

African caracal populations are listed under CITES Appendix II, while Asian populations come under CITES Appendix I.

The Central Asian caracal population is listed as Critically Endangered in Uzbekistan since 2009, and in Kazakhstan since 2010.

That's a good thing isn't it? Maybe, but it does raise yet again the question of how much bureaucracy is out there. Local, national, international, global. Environmental bureaucracy alone must be vast but we don't know how vast. Not endangered of course.

3 comments:

DiscoveredJoys said...

It will never happen but perhaps we could limit the bureaucracy by only offering a compressed salary range? Fresh recruits on minimum wage, first line managers on median wage, senior managers on double the median wage, and top managers no more than the Prime Minister.

There might not be so many people willing to 'make work' or take on the whims of the current government in such an organisation.

Sam Vega said...

They are mostly supported by national governments, who spend taxpayers' money so they can be seen to do something and care about things.

"Boris, what is your government doing about the plight of the caracal?"

"The Conservative government cares deeply about the caracal, and works closely with a number of agencies to ensure that the interests of these magnificent erm, (consults notes)...cats are protected."

A K Haart said...

DJ - security seems to be a major attraction too, plus a good pension. Fixed term contracts at the higher level could help I suppose.

Sam - yes, part of the problem seem to be governments becoming so extraordinarily wealthy via economic growth and taxation. It leads to vast networks of patronage which once established tend to be secure.