Government in the Netherlands does not have a long list of successful projects to show for. Of course there are exceptions like......ehhh. Nope. Cannot find anything out of the ordinary. From C2000, the new digital mobile radio communication system for the Police to renovating Palace Huis ten Bosch. The result either does not work or costs are skyrocketing. Thus the Police are still wondering what is happening in the world around them. The king and queen would have been a lot cheaper off, building a new palace from scratch. Or should I say 'we'? Because it will be the taxpayer, unlike the Greece we still have them, that will have to pick up the bill. And it makes no difference who is overseeing the job, apparently.
Why am I not surprised? Well, I know that civil servants are mainly that. Civil and servants. Not particularly a blue print for a successful entrepreneur, I would say. But yet, it are civil servants who are in charge of public undertakings. Renovating a palace, building a tunnel under the streets of the Hague, providing the ministry of Defense with a state of the art ERP-system named 'Speer', or Javelin for my friends in Canada. It is all supervised by a civil servant. 'Speer' obviously did not hit 'bulls-eye'. One thing an ERP-system should be good at, I have been taught, is keeping track of goods on their way from sender to receiver. Speer does not, as the Dutch Army found out when they opened a container supposedly stuffed with military supplies send home from the Middle East. It weighed like a ton of bricks. Literally. Neatly packed as it was, with ..... Yep.
I think I have got the solution though. Put Queen Maxima in charge! For starters, of renovating her own palace. Although women are said to have a hole in their hand through which a Euro disappears faster than black figures on car-maker Spijker's balance sheet, I dare say that this is somewhat exaggerated. 
And there is more positive news. Maxima is very into micro financing. Meaning that she is accustomed to spending small amounts of money at the same time. Or paying for a very, very small house. Not very likely though, the latter. So, Maxima it is then. From then on every civil servant undertaking a big project should apply for their share of the pie. Overspending civil servants would not be given a Royal Pardon or get away easily. Nope. I suggest a reintroduction of public flogging. Gives the bourgeoisie something else to go to then the dreariness of IKEA. And they would be allowed to throw things at the culprit too. Like javelins and such. That would teach them civil servants to throw the taxpayer's money down the drain.
And there is more positive news. Maxima is very into micro financing. Meaning that she is accustomed to spending small amounts of money at the same time. Or paying for a very, very small house. Not very likely though, the latter. So, Maxima it is then. From then on every civil servant undertaking a big project should apply for their share of the pie. Overspending civil servants would not be given a Royal Pardon or get away easily. Nope. I suggest a reintroduction of public flogging. Gives the bourgeoisie something else to go to then the dreariness of IKEA. And they would be allowed to throw things at the culprit too. Like javelins and such. That would teach them civil servants to throw the taxpayer's money down the drain.
Would it not be better, I philosophized, when we should think twice before embarking on those megalomaniac projects. Not pushing civil servants to make ideas look very shiny and nice, as it is in their nature to be overly optimistic. Except when it concerns their own wage increase. I therefore propose to ask the opinion of a real businessman on any project proposal spat out by zealous civil servants. And pretend it was his money on the line. That would separate wheat from chaff, I guarantee.
So, why not ask a real undertaker...? 
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