幣

(Cont'd)

“Literally you are correct, but, like every economic decision and human activity, the consequence is usually unexpected and often going to the opposite direction,” the seasoned soldier said grimly, “To begin with, if every soldier would surely become a colonel in five years, no one would have the incentive to outshine the others. In fact, the optimal strategy for their military career is to do the bare minimum and wait for the days to pass. After all, no soldier would be dismissed from the army because they do nothing – and, in contrast, they do have a small risk of being fired if they try to have some achievement, and when what they do gets seriously wrong.”

The Cabinet Secretary was speechless; he merely made a grunt.

The General went on, “The next consequence is, none of our soldiers would have the interest of joining the military school. Why should one take up a more difficult post – and a lower pay – when they could become a colonel via a painless way?”

“But, I’m sure in our army, we still have a lot of young soldiers who are energetic and have a good quality!” The Secretary protested.

“That may be true, but they won’t stay long.”

“Why?”

“If our system does not differentiate crème de la crème and scum, the capable ones would leave the system because they are able to find a job elsewhere with a better prospect, while the less competent people would stay – because they have nowhere to go. The end result is, as you should appreciate by your university degree on economics, a classical example of the Gresham's Law: bad money drives out good ones (劣幣驅逐良幣)!”