Apologia

Heroes are the exception, not the rule.

Bureaucracy Versus the Apocalypse

The author of this review of Michael Lewis’ apologia for the federal civil service reveals his bias when he describes layoffs as “transgressions” by this “unprecedented shit show” of an Administration.

There are good people and there are bad people. There are effective bureaucrats and there are clock-watchers.

Read this book if you want to hear about some people who go above and beyond.

I like to read medal citations, but I’m under no illusion that everyone in the military is a hero. The descriptions of the heroism are remarkable precisely because they are extraordinary.

Fill your boots.

‘In the intro to the book, Lewis attributes reader interest in inspiring stories about civil service to the existential threat hanging over the institutions we’ve long taken for granted. “My vague sense,” he writes, “is that most readers of these stories have come away with feelings both of hope (these civic-minded people are still among us) and dread (we’re letting something precious slip away).” There is another feeling I suspect many have felt reading this book: powerlessness. Certainly, that is how I felt reading this compilation of essays, and over the past few months generally: powerless as I watch the evisceration of a civil service that has struggled to execute its vision.’

A new report shows how the government handles inefficiency better than Elon Musk

In poker, the experts tell you not to be outcome-based, that you should focus on process. This helps you navigate the vicissitudes of the deck and the other players.

Here, MSNBC tells us that Musk is a “fool” because he didn’t obtain trillions of dollars in savings overnight and, in fact, government was doing just fine on the efficiency front before he came along and sidelined those heroes of oversight, the Inspector Generals.

Allrighty then.

‘As Musk reduces his involvement in the Trump administration, the report’s numbers help hammer home just how poorly and foolishly he has pursued “efficiency.” He rode into Washington with his DOGE cowboys, confident that their rogue outsider status gave them a unique ability to drain “the swamp” of excess spending. But they not only failed to come anywhere close to hitting their goals — they may have underperformed compared with the personnel who were already in the government to help them achieve their purported goal.’

What Is Max Weber’s Theory of Rationalization?

Weber highlighted the intellectual approach to the world in which one schema of the world replaced another: the religious conception of life and society.

The rejection of this superimposed expert approach comes with the incipient rise (albeit from low levels) of religion in the developed world.

This is not a coincidence.

‘Max Weber’s theory of rationalization describes the transformation of pre-modern societies – steeped in traditional, mystical, and religious authority – into modern, bureaucratically organized nation-states. At the heart of his thesis is the idea that increasing rationalization and the rise of powerful bureaucracies lead to the “disenchantment” of the world, as religious life is replaced by the hard currency of science, logic, and efficiency. Today, the rise of religious fundamentalism presents a curious twist to Weber’s predictions of an increasingly rationalized world. Rather than being displaced, religious movements – from Iran and Turkey to India and Israel – have adapted, to use rational structures to assert political influence in the modern world.’

Rent Seeking for Four Generations

The economic distortions bureaucracy imposes creates more distortions like a cancer spreading throughout the body.

The fourth generation of a family living in a rent-controlled New York City apartment feels entitled to keep it, even when they don’t live their full time, because reasons.

The landlord is fighting this. They can’t raise the rent on any putative replacement tenant unless that person is getting rental assistance from the city.

The landlord wants to kick out the rich (or at least middle-class) person who thinks she has a God-given right to the apartment as if she owned it so that he can replace her with someone poor because the City will pay a multiple of what he can charge the fourth-generation.

Why is this monster standing in the way of letting a poor person obtain affordable housing? Because the policy meant to benefit poor people is being used by someone wealthy to prevent someone poor from obtaining the benefit.

Because she can.

‘Did you get that? The city’s rental subsidy programs (like Section 8 and CityFHEPS) will pay more than three times what the current tenant does — creating a surreal incentive where landlords prefer subsidized low-income tenants over potentially middle-class legacy-tenants. Note that whether Vines gets the apartment at the rent-controlled rate has nothing to do with her income. Vines could be middle-class or a multi-millionaire and still be entitled to inherit the apartment at the rent-controlled rate, assuming her claims of having lived in the apartment hold up.

‘New York has outdone itself with a rent control system so dysfunctional it manages to achieve the worst of all worlds. Not only does it suffer from the usual problems of reducing the supply of housing and dulling incentives for maintenance, but it has transformed over time from a safety net into a hereditary entitlement. Thanks to succession rights, what was meant to help the poor now functions as a kind of family heirloom — a subsidized apartment passed down like grandma’s china set.’

DOGE’s tech takeover threatens the safety and stability of our critical data

The USDS/18F crowd continue to crow about DOGE.

‘As DOGE bulldozes through technological systems, firewalls between government agencies are collapsing and the floodgates are open for data-sharing disasters that will affect everyone. For example, the decision to give Immigration and Customs Enforcement access to IRS data and to databases of unaccompanied minors creates immediate dangers for immigrants, regardless of their legal status. And it threatens everyone else, albeit perhaps less imminently, as every American’s Social Security number, tax returns, benefits, and health-care records are agglomerated into one massive, poorly secured data pool.

‘That’s not just speculation. We’ve already seen how data breaches at companies like Equifax can expose the sensitive information of hundreds of millions of people. Now imagine those same risks with all your government data, managed by a small crew of DOGE workers without a hint of institutional knowledge between them.’

The lessons of Operation Warp Speed

It’s good to see a balanced perspective on Operation Warp Speed.

The marginal benefit of corporate governance was dwarfed by the marginal cost of slow action during the Pandemic.

Let’s take a look at things with a similar sense of urgency.

Here’s one (with which most people would disagree): national shipbuilding.

‘The success of OWS shows that bypassing standard procedures can enable governments to scale innovations effectively during true emergencies. However, making such measures permanent risks eroding democratic accountability and program effectiveness. Striking the right balance – knowing when to invoke emergency powers and when to adhere to standard procedures – is essential for effective governance. While OWS’s structure and methods were tailored to emergency contexts, its lessons, particularly on AMCs and regulatory flexibility, offer valuable insights for accelerating innovation and addressing broader societal challenges.’

DOGE trend hits Texas, Jacksonville governments

We’re going to see huge differences in state government performance in a few years between those that implemented reform and those that did not.

‘It means Texas joins the likes of Iowa, New Hampshire and Oklahoma in creating state-level DOGEs, which have all promised to streamline state government, as well as reduce spending and regulations.

‘“This law will slash regulations, put stricter standards on new regulations that could be costly to businesses, and put a check on the growth of the administrative state,” Abbott said in a statement. “This will make government more efficient and less costly, ensuring that Texas operates at the speed of business.”’