| Edition |
First edition. |
| Description |
221 pages ; 25 cm |
| Contents |
Prologue: Lost in transition -- Tail risk -- People risk -- All the President's data. |
| Summary |
Presents a narrative account of the post-2016 election chaos that took over Washington to reveal how a small number of uninformed Trump appointees are triggering devastating world consequences. |
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What are the consequences if the people given control over our government have no idea how it works? |
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"The election happened," remembers Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall, then deputy secretary of the Department of Energy. "And then there was radio silence." Across all departments, similar stories were playing out: Trump appointees were few and far between; those that did show up were shockingly uninformed about the functions of their new workplace. Some even threw away the briefing books that had been prepared for them.Michael Lewis’s brilliant narrative takes us into the engine rooms of a government under attack by its own leaders. In Agriculture the funding of vital programs like food stamps and school lunches is being slashed. The Commerce Department may not have enough staff to conduct the 2020 Census properly. Over at Energy, where international nuclear risk is managed, it’s not clear there will be enough inspectors to track and locate black market uranium before terrorists do. Willful ignorance plays a role in these looming disasters. If your ambition is to maximize short-term gains without regard to the long-term cost, you are better off not knowing those costs. If you want to preserve your personal immunity to the hard problems, it’s better never to really understand those problems. There is upside to ignorance, and downside to knowledge. Knowledge makes life messier. It makes it a bit more difficult for a person who wishes to shrink the world to a worldview. If there are dangerous fools in this book, there are also heroes, unsung, of course. They are the linchpins of the system—those public servants whose knowledge, dedication, and proactivity keep the machinery running. Michael Lewis finds them, and he asks them what keeps them up at night. |
| Subject |
United States -- Politics and government -- 2017-2021
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Administrative agencies -- United States -- Management.
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Government executives -- United States.
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Public administration -- United States.
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Civil service -- United States.
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Administrative agencies -- Management.
(OCoLC)fst00796777
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Civil service. (OCoLC)fst00862730
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Government executives. (OCoLC)fst00945319
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Public administration. (OCoLC)fst01081976
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United States. (OCoLC)fst01204155
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BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Commercial Policy.
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POLITICAL SCIENCE / American Government / National.
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POLITICAL SCIENCE / Public Policy / Agriculture & Food Policy.
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POLITICAL SCIENCE / Public Policy / Energy Policy.
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| Chronological Term |
Since 2017
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| Added Title |
5th risk |
| ISBN |
9781324002642 (hardcover) |
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1324002646 (hardcover) |
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