Politicians doing a good job

This article (via DW) reports how San Diego councilmembers asked hard questions about the performance goals that employees of the city water agency were meeting. It turns out that these employees were setting their own targets, based on incorrect or old "competitive" criteria. When they met those targets, they were paid bonuses.

The trouble is that they didn't earn those bonuses by doing a particularly good job.

It's like students giving each other grades. If the teacher isn't careful, everyone gets an A -- and learns nothing.

Bottom Line: Incentives are important, but they can be abused.