Just because you don’t see the value doesn’t mean there is none.

Granted bad deals get made from time to time.

No, those bad deals are likely at least 50%, maybe even 80%.

I've seen way too many PMs and middle managers twiddling their thumbs and just inventing tasks and reports just so they are busy and are not fired.

How do I know? We had some of them go to a conference once; they were all gone for two weeks.

Work was going faster and smoother.

And that's not a single anecdote, it's supported by many other programmers.

Truth is, nepotism and "we've been buddies at the uni" is happening much more than you are willing to admit.

Yes, the correct observation is that no economic system operates at optimum across every vector.

> Just because you don’t see the value doesn’t mean there is none.

Sometimes it is absolutely true, which is most often seen in nepotism but also in categorically stupid people (re: Bonhoeffer).