For some weird and unexplainable reason, people normally expect better services from private companies than from their own governments. This is not the case for our citizens in Estonia. https://qz.com/1535549/living-on-the-blockchain-is-a-game-changer-for-estonian-citizens/
Trade unions - because they won't tolerate salaries based on how much the person is demanded on the market (as it works in corporations) and "too large" in comparison with other positions in the Ministry.
Media and citizens - because they won't tolerate public officers "earning too much".
As result, you have Ministry lawyers earning like $1000 negotiating with Gazprom lawyers earning like $10'000, with a predictable outcome.
@yogthos No, it's not exact the same thing as most private companies *do* deliver successful services and goods, otherwise they wouldn't make it on the market.
Public sector in each country usually has a long list of absolutely monumental and very expensive projects that never delivered anything.
@kravietz that's the theory, the practice is that companies typically gain market dominance not through merit but rather using underhanded tactics.
See Microsoft and Amazon as prime examples of this. Both bled money and used anti competitive tactics to destroy their competition.
Once the competition is gone, it's the same problem as a public service except you can't even vote to improve it.
@kravietz exact same thing happens in private sector where companies regularly cheating the customers and their employees for the benefit of the owners. Look at the banking crisis as a prime example of where that goes.