It's often said that, it's a bad idea to mix politics and business, but what isn't stressed enough, is that it doesn't just apply to the private sector; business owners "going woke" for instance, losing the non woke market share as a result. It's also true for the public sector; politicians getting kickbacks for serving the interests of lobbying corporations, in an way or another. It's either business or politics. You mix both you get the situation we have now. From my point of view, you don't become a public sector employee to become a millionaire, it should be a given that your pay won't be extraordinary if you decide to go for a public sector job. That there should be downsides, limitations, such as you can't become general and then go work for boeing or raytheon, or even receive payments from any entity connected one way or the other to the said firms. Same deal for the director of the NIAID for instance. As a matter of fact, as a public servant, you should be barred from exercising any financial or commercial activity potentially involving a conflict of interest at one point or another. I know it's horrible. Now of course you're free to pick a shovel and go work on a construction site to make a living, nobody forces you to become a public servant Hm Fuckers