sort of blithering idiocy are never going to have to serve in their schemes?

There's a reason for that. Michael Kinsley's article in that series you linked is on target; Stengel is out to lunch and his math is flaky -- both on the costs and on the numbers of people.

We produce more people than we need for public service, all forms, so how do you determine who serves where and who doesn't serve at all...