The Book About Government That Made Me Grateful for Bureaucracy
Michael Lewis is interested in the gap between what people think a thing does and what it actually does. The Fifth Risk is about what the federal government does: the weather forecasting, the nuclear weapons management, the food safety systems, the loan portfolios, all the machinery that runs without anyone paying attention. It is also about what happens when the people taking over do not want to understand any of it. I read it before the events it predicted and that did not help.
This book reads differently after watching the agencies it describes be dismantled.
"The fifth risk is project management. It is the risk of not knowing what you do not know.
"Michael Lewis
Reading The Fifth Risk
Impact
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Chapter
What I Learned From The Fifth Risk About Federal Government
The weather forecasts that protect lives come from government scientists not apps
The Department of Energy manages the nuclear stockpile, not the Defense Department
Student loan portfolios held by the government are larger than most people realize
Loan guarantee programs for small businesses are more consequential than they appear