I don't know if it's wise or helpful to lay this at the feet of government and big companies. They are big beasts that do well with defined budgets and defined directives, but they rely on their constituents and shareholders heavily for both of those two things. While that may not seem ideal, it's practical and what we have always seen in reality.

I think many in government knew this was going on, and becoming an increasing issue/epidemic in recent years, but until the public becomes outraged and is willing to support a big shift in policy and budget, what they can do is limited. It might be some of the people in government that we should feel most sorry for - they've been witnessing it for years and voicing concern, but few in the public will listen or do anything about it.

Perhaps I'm being too generous, but I see government and big institutions as behaving very much like computers, with much less intelligence and autonomy than the general public might think.