Musk and Milei belong to the same cult of disruption

THE cult of “disruption” is quickly spreading from the private sector to the public. Javier Milei, the president of Argentina, has axed ten ministries, reduced public spending by a third in real terms, and slashed red tape. Donald Trump, the incoming US president, has tapped the world’s best known business disruptor, Elon Musk, to head a new department of government efficiency (Doge).

Even the British Labour government has leapt on the trend. Prime Minister Keir Starmer has accused “too many civil servants” of “being comfortable in the tepid bath of managed decline”. Cabinet secretary Pat McFadden (whom many regard as the real deputy prime minister) has called for a new age of “startups” and “disruptors” in the public sector. Airbnb, WhatsApp and Spotify have all emerged from nowhere to disrupt their respective industries; why can’t we apply the same derring-do spirit to the public sector?

It is easy to see why this sentiment is so popular. Public-sector productivity lags far behind private-sector productivity, in part because it is so hard to sack duds or reward superstars. Public-sector managers are addicted to adding layers of “supervisors”: The ratio of managers to enlisted personnel in the US military has doubled over the past two decades. They are also experts in resisting change.