The Premise of Peter's Principle

Back in the early 70s, I guess 1971 when I was a sophomore at Queens College in New York, studying Political Science-History as my major, part of the requisites was to take other Social Science courses, like Anthropology, Psychology and Sociology. Now, anyone who has ever taken any of these courses can verify for others that these courses are taught by the most liberal, albeit the most socialist-leaning people around. Heck, they not only speak the words, but also look the part. It was like OWS people stepping into a time warp.

But, I digress.

The point that I am making here is that one of my sage, learned professors actually talked about a concept that has stayed with me to this day. It's funny that in my 35 years in Banking, (a commentary for another day, how that all turned out) I can tell you that I rarely saw the concept of Peter's Principle ever actually occur.

Until now.

Peter's Principle, simply put, is the result of someone reaching, being promoted to, or otherwise achieving his or her level of incompetence. That's right. The act of rewarding a screw-up actually has a theory named after it.

President Obama, this great constitutional lawyer and professor, has developed the knack of rewarding, appointing, even promoting people to their level of incompetence. It has been revealed that so many of his key people have screwed up big time and the result of the screw-up is a promotion to a more important post, rather than being fired or being asked to resign.

Oops, I forgot. Lois Lerner was asked to resign and she said no. Her reward? Paid administrative leave. Now that's a true reward for total incompetence! A paid vacation at $170k per year and medical benefits at our expense to boot, indefinitely.

There are certainly others. Susan Rice, Jay Carney, Jack Lew, Timothy Geithner, and the big enchilada, Eric Holder. I won't even mention good old Joe Biden, who went from the dumbest man in the Senate, to the dumbest man in the White House.

All these people are living examples of Peter's Principle hard at work. They all are or were in positions at the highest levels of our government. And the President chose each one willingly, with Eyes Wide Open.

So, to sum up.

A quasi-socialist professor taught me a concept about rewarding incompetence. And some would say, a quasi-socialist President has demonstrated how best to put it into practice. So, who is the incompetent? The appointed? Or the appointer?

Perhaps Peter's Principle is really about  the incompetence of the manager, rather than about the managed. I will research further. Unless, of course, one of those professors will come forward now and clarify for me who really is incompetent here.

No? I didn't think so.