What Happens When You Run Out of Talent?

Michelle Malkin has an excellent round up of the incompetencies at Homeland Security and the INS. She misses the bigger picture.

The problem is not that inexperienced people are being chosen for crucial jobs. The problem is that there are more positions to fill than willing, qualified people to fill them. As the government grows, the quality of people in leadership positions declines. Government employment places a cap on what you can earn. Private industry does not. There is a limited pool of people who are willing to forgo higher salaries in private industry in exchange for the relative safety of civil service. The more leaders you need, the deeper you have to pull out of that talent pool.

What you're seeing is that the pool is getting pretty shallow. Firing the incompetent people and replacing them will help, but there is no guarantee that their replacements will be much better. The government is larger than what the country can support in terms of personnel resources.