What you say makes sense. :)
Specially this "In other words, the motivation of managers and functionaries that run the former USSR and the US are pretty much the same - to suck up as much of OPM they manage as possible and get away with it."
So, moving on, is there any evidence of public sector efficiency measurements in former soviet bloc countries?. Public sector "reform" (for enfficiency, not shutdown/privatization).
FC