Robert A. Wilson on "SNAFU"

Paraphrasing:

The problem with authoritarian systems (like our government, or the military, or corporations) is that information cannot properly move "uphill". More accurately, only information that suits your superior's view of reality will be accepted, and the penalty for reporting things that do not suit this point of view can result in negative action (pink slip/court marshal/reassignment). This effect is compounded the further up the hierarchy one looks, until, at the top, the leadership has very little idea of what is truly happening within the system.

(I'm listening to RAW on politics this morning. He's a pretty whacked guy, but does occasionally say some brilliant things, so I try to overlook the whacked stuff.)