What has happened to the customer/citizen being #1?

This quote by the acting general manager of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power:

"Our obligation must first and foremost be the fiscal health and stability of this agency," said Raman Raj, the DWP's acting general manager.

sums up why we are in such a financial/environmental/social mess in the world. I really want to believe that statement makers like the above are intelligent enough to indirectly map these beliefs back to customers and citizens, but I think I have finally gotten the wake up call that that is believing far too much in the parties that we customers/citizens are putting in charge. Part of this painful wakeup for me is watching the group in the executive branch that I did not vote for deliver the only positive actions I can see for we customers/citizens. Kudos to Obama and his team! He does seem to be one of the few that consistently replaces the above statement with ones along the line of:

our obligation must first and foremost be the well being of the citizens......