Let me start with a caveat: Some federal employees are very smart, very hard-working, very dedicated. Some of those good federal employees are Freepers. I'm not talking about them. What I am saying -- most of the federal employees I have met have been nearly borderline retarded. Federal employment is very much a welfare program for people who are unemployable in the private sector.
Example: I work with an executive assistant for a high level DoD guy. The admin's principle job is to schedule meetings in MS Outlook for his boss. That's it. That's his job. He schedules meetings. Guess what? He needs help. Two years on the job, and he hasn't quite figured out how Outlook works. I've pegged his IQ at about 80-85. Maybe.
Big corporations have become the same way. I worked for Boeing and Fedex when I was younger and 20% of us did most of the work. Nearly impossible to fire anyone and absolutely impossible to fire a minority.
I was working recently with a contractor at a very big corporation who also messed up meetings. Luckily, we didn’t renew her contract, but she was shocked at that. Last we talked, she was looking at government jobs. She will get somewhere permanent and never-ever leave. And yes, she was a protected class.