Die Hard
Bureaucracies don't reform themselves.
The Washington Midair Collision and the 30 Years War
Canada has much better air traffic control than the US, precisely because they took it out of government’s hands.
‘Meanwhile, along with helping to finance the first internet, one of Mr. Gore’s claims to substantial accomplishment was to put on the nation’s agenda, via his 1993 Reinventing Government commission, a much-needed overhaul of the nation’s air traffic control system to permit better management and install modern technology.
‘He succeeded—in Canada, the U.K., and other countries that have handed over management of their ATC systems to independent bodies not run by pork-barreling legislators.’
Cutting Costs Alone Won’t Make Government More Efficient
Have any of these rules been followed to date?
‘The first rule for efficient spending is that we should routinely evaluate programs to see if they continue to meet their stated goals. Too often, we fund programs without monitoring their results or continue to fund programs that worked only once. This must change.
‘The second rule for efficient spending is even more straightforward: we should spend money only on programs that get results and course correct when they don’t. The third rule is the most innovative of the three: we should develop financial mechanisms that extend the impact of every taxpayer dollar we spend. ‘
How to dismantle the UK’s regulatory Tower of Babel
Bureaucracy doesn’t make itself more efficient.
‘Late last year, Sir Keir Starmer’s government began to implore regulators to prioritise growth. But as long as these bodies have statutory mandates whose primary concern is risk, not growth, this is cheap talk. At the end of last year, regulators were asked for voluntary sacrifices from their rule books. Incredibly, turkeys did not welcome news of Christmas. An underwhelming sequence of “Dear Santa” letters followed, with negligible likely effects on growth. Chastened, the government has recently pivoted to Soprano-style tactics with the drive-by ousting of the head of the Competition and Markets Authority.’
How effective was pandemic aid?
Oh.
‘Through December 2022, we estimate that the federal government allocated $603,000 for each state or local government job-year preserved. Our baseline confidence interval allows us to rule out estimates smaller than $220,400. ‘
Will the Other Two Branches Dare to Push Back Against Trump?
When President Biden defied the court (repeatedly) on student loan forgiveness, going so far as to brag about doing so, was that a good idea?
Testing and defining the borders between the branches is probably a good thing to do from time to time.
‘Democrats now charge that, in justifying his tariffs, the president has stretched those trade laws beyond what they actually allow. More broadly, Elizabeth Goitein, senior director of the liberty and national security program at the Brennan Center for Justice, argues that, regardless of how Trump’s power grabs turn out, clear legal boundaries are in place: “Congress and the courts have said what the limits are, and Trump has defied them.” She wonders whether Elon Musk, in particular, will abide by court decisions.
‘Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna says the president is engaged in “gross overreach” that will eventually produce a popular backlash and prompt his Republican colleagues in Congress to be more assertive about their own powers. In the meantime, he says, “maybe I should just get a copy of the Federalist Papers and give it to all my Republican friends.”’
DOGE attack on bureaucracy raises economic security concerns
People have been concerned about the quality of US economic data for years. Look at the quality of the employment data post-pandemic, for example.
‘That’s raising concern around not only the availability of data, but also its integrity. Economists and statisticians say they’re worried about political influence creeping into agencies that produce numbers that the public — as well as policymakers and investors — rely on to make decisions around the world.’
Big Brother Is Watching You, Mate
Gross.
‘The trouble began in 2021, when Australia’s Online Safety Act empowered the commissioner to order the removal of “cyber abuse material targeted at an Australian adult.” The law defines this “abuse material” as harassment, threats, and any online content that seems “offensive” and “likely . . . intended” to cause, at minimum, “serious distress” to any specific “Australian adult.”
‘This vague statute is made much more dangerous by its failure to specify that the censored platform or user has to be Australian—only the offended party does. Given U.S. social media companies’ market share, most of eSafety’s notices targeting “adult cyber abuse” probably go to American companies. How often the agency aims to have U.S. users’ online speech taken down is hard to say. In emailed comments, eSafety said it doesn’t note where a user is when he makes a post. The only way for the rest of us to know is if the user himself makes a fuss.’
The speed is necessary because of the litigious nature of the opposition.
‘Such nonsense isn’t just easily mocked, it’s self-defeating for the Left; it fails to understand the true purpose behind Musk’s methods. The cruelty isn’t the point of these sudden and (purportedly) indiscriminate cuts, the speed is. Musk and his team are no strangers to the world of litigation; they know as well as anyone else that these firings and defundings and restructurings are going to be litigated fiercely in court for years to come, and that to delay this process now — in a hopeless attempt to make every cut politically palatable — is to give up on it altogether by slow-rolling it to death. It is this urgency which shocks so many progressives and media types, but it is an urgency born of years of experience reforming sclerotic systems. We have long accustomed ourselves to the idea that the entire edifice of federal government, with its deep entanglement in left-wing causes and funding, has simply gotten too immense and overgrown to ever prune back in any substantive way.’
Let’s assume that Musk is intelligent.
Isn’t it reasonable to believe that he gamed out the legal stuff in advance and managed the risk?
‘The American legal system has a good track record for sorting out such disputes, which is one reason not to panic every time Mr. Musk sneezes in the direction of another agency. If he and Mr. Trump want their economizing to stick, their actions must be legally defensible. If not, the two men will achieve much less than their frenetic energy suggests’
DOGE Aides Search Medicare Agency Payment Systems for Fraud
What’s the old joke? Why do you rob banks? Because that’s where the money is.
We may be stunned by the level of fraud in the system.
‘CMS in particular is a highly politically and economically sensitive agency. It is the nerve center of much of the nation’s complex healthcare economy, with outlays of about $1.5 trillion in fiscal 2024, or about 22% of the federal total. With around 6,710 employees, it oversees Medicare, the health coverage program for older and disabled Americans and Medicaid, for lower-income enrollees, among other areas. Many veteran CMS staffers have worked there for decades.’
It would be a shame if something happened to your unlicensed hair salon, Mary Sue. Maybe you should consider joining the guild.
‘Ms. Allensworth conducted exhaustive research for “The Licensing Racket,” spending hundreds of hours attending board meetings—often as the only nonboard member present. At the Tennessee board of alarm-system contractors, most of the complaints come from consumers who report the sort of issues that licensing is meant to prevent: poor installation, code violations, high-pressure sales tactics and exploitation of the elderly. But the board dismisses most of these complaints against its own members, and is far more aggressive in disciplining unlicensed handymen who occasionally install alarm systems. As Ms. Allensworth notes, “the board was ten times more likely to take action in a case alleging unlicensed practice than one complaining about service quality or safety.”’
Trump Has Launched a Necessary Fight Over the President’s Spending Discretion
Bring on the legal challenges under the Impoundment Act. Trump aims to rebalance the relationship between the executive and legislative branches.
‘Many have compared Trump to Nixon, especially in their running battles against government bureaucracy, the political establishment, and the media. But in this case, Trump would do well to disregard the Nixon example. Instead of claiming a broad right to reduce all federal spending, he can target appropriations on grounds of unconstitutionality or inefficiency. Rather than accept the congressional intrusions of the Budget Act, enabled by Nixon’s political weakness during Watergate, Trump can drive an impoundment case to the Supreme Court while still occupying the political heights. Future presidents, both Republican and Democrat, will thank him if he can begin to break the bonds of Watergate and restore the presidency to its original energetic design.’
Brilliant.
‘In the Czech Republic, beavers built a dam in two days, which local authorities had planned for 7 years.
‘The rodents have saved the administration $1.2 million.’