[EDITORIALS]Useless bureaucrats

What do the economic bureaucrats of this country do? Even though the citizens’ anger over the failure in economic policies was revealed in the results of the local elections of May 31, the bureaucrats have not shown any sign of reflection or apology. Rather, they are in high spirits because there will be no change in current economic policy.
Since the president is in the lead in saying he will go along his merry way, the ministers are busy following. But they are public servants, not just mere followers of the president. Serving the citizens comes first, not being the bugler of the government. But whatever the problem is, it is a pity that the officials of this country are clinging to policies that people detest and that make the citizens suffer. The economic failure of this government started with choosing the wrong priority when making policies. It wasted time talking about growth and distribution when the economy was crawling along the bottom, and even pursued the distraction of moving the capital in the name of balanced development. Then without concern for other policies, it put all its effort into real estate policies to hold down Gangnam real estate prices. It did not succeed in stimulating corporate investment or boosting the consumer economy. Nor did it create more jobs.
The president has the final responsibility, but that does not mean that economic officials are exempt from any responsibility. They still have the responsibility to present the correct policies and try to guide the president away from wrong-headed ones.
Especially in cases where economic policies require special expertise, the economic officials, the experts, bear responsibility. Can the economic officials of this administration really say they have done all their work correctly?
Their remarks about their inability to refuse to go along with the president or about how the Blue House made the bad polices that they were forced to carry out are not acceptable. They cannot say that they have no power whatsoever ― that’s just not persuasive.
Economic managers must set the right order of priorities. Most of all, trying to manage real estate prices in one district of one city should not be the central government’s priority. Managers should work on policies like strengthening growth to create new jobs. If they keep being dragged around by the half-baked logic of the Blue House, and fail to persuade the president to change his policies, there is no need to keep paying their salaries.