Monday Edition: Bureaucrats Under a Microscope

There’s a vibe shift in the air that has even liberal pundits like Ezra Klein scrutinizing the inefficiencies of government. (NYT)

The conversation: In the latest episode of his eponymous podcast, Klein declares “government should deliver fast, affordably, reliably,” and it shouldn’t be controversial for Democrats to say so.

The numbers: As Klein points out, over the past one hundred years, the government’s ability to build stuff quickly and efficiently has steadily declined.

• In 1900, a New York subway contract delivered 28 stations in 4 years.

• By contrast, high-speed rail funded by the 2009 Recovery Act still hasn’t materialized after 15 years.

• A 2021 Biden administration pledge to build 500,000 EV charging stations by 2030 has so far resulted in just eight.

Zoom in: In fiscal year 2022, the government spent $271 billion to employ 2.3 million federal workers.

• It cost another $694 billion to compensate federal contractors in FY 2022.

• According to Jennifer Pahkla, a senior fellow at the Niskanen Center, 90% of federal jobs rely on outdated hiring processes like resume keyword matching and self-assessment questionnaires, limiting merit-based hiring.

Pahlka:

Bubba’s Two Cents

We’ve expressed some skepticism about whether DOGE can deliver on its grand ambitions, especially if it doesn’t touch entitlements. But I think Klein is right that expecting government to run efficiently should be a bipartisan concern. I don’t see how you can look at government hiring processes (just to name one example), and not root for the spirit of what DOGE is trying to do.

There seems to be a pretty big morale shift taking place around the Ukraine issue. (Semafor)

A new Gallup poll: For the first time since the Ukraine-Russia conflict started, a majority of Ukrainians now say they want the war to end as quickly as possible.

Views toward the West: Ukrainians have grown less hopeful of joining NATO and they’ve soured on U.S. leadership (the survey was conducted before Donald Trump’s election win).

Context: Ukrainian demoralization has gone hand in gone with major Russian territorial gains over the past year.

Vibes in the U.S.: Per a Newsweek analysis of multiple polls in October, 45% of American voters believe defending Ukraine is vital to U.S. interests, while 15-20% consistently disagree.

• Roughly one-third of U.S. voters think we should maintain aid to Ukraine, while an equal share think we should reconsider our support.

• 16% favor stopping all U.S. support immediately.

In a new essay, Chicago policy expert Austin Berg catalogues how municipal mismanagement has thrown the Windy City into a series of crises. (Pirate Wires)

Voting with their feet: Chicago's population peaked at 3.6 million in the 1950s but has since declined by 1 million, returning to 1920s levels.

Schools: One-third of Chicago's schools are less than half full, with Frederick Douglass Academy High School serving just 35 students out of a capacity of 900.

Spending: Chicago spends nearly twice the national average per pupil, and spends $68,000 per student annually at Frederick Douglass Academy, despite two-thirds of its students being chronically absent.

Crime: The city experiences more annual homicides than Los Angeles and New York combined, with violent crimes in 2023 reaching a decade high.

Criminal justice: Only 10.8% of violent crimes in Chicago resulted in arrests in 2023, compared to nearly 20% in 2013.

Finances: Chicago's property taxes are heavily burdened by pensions, with 80% of the levy funding them and pensions consuming 40% of the city budget.

Corruption: Since the 1970s, 40+ aldermen (an elected member of the city council) have been imprisoned for corruption.

Political instability: Mayor Brandon Johnson won the 2023 election by the smallest margin in city history, fewer than 27,000 votes, and now has an approval rating of just 14%, the lowest for any Chicago mayor.

Zoom out: As we’ve noted in previous editions, frustration with how Democrats are running America’s great cities may have contributed to a major swing toward Trump among urban voters.