The Two Ways Governments Fail

Whenever the topic of "boring government is actually really good" is what's hooked itself into hanks brain it always reminds me of my dad and what he said about the EU and Brexit back in 2016, he was in supermarket logistics. He talked about how much easier the EU made trading with the rest of Europe and he told us incessantly that if Brexit happened the price of food would inevitably skyrocket because of really boring stuff like the stamp for a pallet of beef or whatever would no longer confirm that it's up to health standards even though both countries would still have the same food safety standards another safety check would have to made. It definitely put me down the path of understanding that bureacracy is deeply boring but if it wasn't it wouldn't be useful to us

As someone who used to work at NPR, on the media was one of my favorites. When I stopped driving and listening to radio stuff my listenership fell off. Thanks for reminding me that it's worth checking out.

I was a civil engineer performing dam inspections for the bureau of reclamation until late last year. It was becoming too difficult to get anything done and writing an email every week justifying my job was a bummer to say the least.

I worked in a government financial regulator and almost everyone I worked with was smart and ethical and trying their hardest. Most had taken HUGE salary haircuts to work for the public good, they could have been in the private sector earning double/triple what the government paid them but chose to work to protect people. My dad worked for the government for 30 years, got an offer from British Aerospace to work for them for 6 times his government pay but elected to stay with the government because he couldn't stand to think that his department would lose his 30 years of expertise in purchasing. People outside the public sector also have VERY little idea how much pushing uphill is involved fighting political stupidity and private sector corporate conniving, many public servants are doing their jobs hog-tied with only one pinkie toe freed.

People Want less government until there’s a pothole in the road they drive over then they want that pothole fixed immediately.

6:28 reminds me of how the fukushima nuclear plant was built beyond the old tsunami stones warning people not to build beyond this point.

I work for a state government agency in a red state. You're exactly right, it's all about truly believing that your work and mission is to serve the public. Honestly, all my coworkers and myself would go insane weekly if we didn't believe in the mission so strongly.

Hey, thanks for this recommendation. I’m a fed and it truly is demoralizing to hear ppl talk about my colleagues (they insist they never mean me…) as if we’re all stealing everyone’s taxes out of their pockets. But then they also say private companies don’t deserve any oversight even though many of them get government contracts? I just wish people understood this better!

If I had a nickel for every time Hank posted a video to the wrong channel this week I'd have two nickels, which isn't a lot but it's strange it happened twice

I literally want to cry listening to this. I was literally the emergency and disaster person doing the emergency contracts. --- I didn't sleep for days, with no overtime or acknowledgement. I loved my job because I knew that I had logistics talents and I could really help people I would never meet.

As someone who relies on public GIS data to prepare environmental reports, I can say that I am in fact grateful that the flood plain was mapped correctly.

"Why is there antagonism against FEMA"

Looks inside: FEMA is an agency that costs money and is vital for vulnerable people who can't buy their way out of disaster.

Oh that's why

50 minutes? Connections today must’ve been real tough

25:52 I call this “the IT problem”. When everything works: “wadda we payya for?” When anything breaks:”WHAT DO WE PAY YOU FOR ‽ ‽”

My late husband was an attorney for HUD, and spent his life doing the boring work. I can walk around my home city and see the hospitals, nursing homes, elderly housing, and shopping venues that were built with HUD funds or insured by HUD, and that he worked on. The built environment of my home town speaks to me of him every day.

This is good. Government can look like a conspiracy to someone who has no idea how anything works.

"When you do things right, people won't be sure you've done anything at all."

I used to work as a Statistician for the USDA before I got hit by DOGE. People have no idea the scar that DOGE’s actions will leave on our public infrastructure. I am grateful you are using your platform to speak about this.

This reminds me of the 2001 paper: "Nobody Ever Gets Credit for Fixing Problems That Never Happened"

"When it's working correctly it's invisible" as an IT professional I felt that deep within my soul.