Episode #261005
The Government Always Gets It's Money
There is an old Yes, Minister observation that it can be more expensive to do things cheaply. Government seems unusually talented at proving the point. When voters demand that government spend less, eliminate a perk, lower a tax, or change a policy, the result doesn't always resemble what they thought they were buying. Take away California legislators' taxpayer-funded cars and another expense emerges. Promise property-tax relief and local governments can adjust the numbers elsewhere. Declare that the death penalty costs too much and an uncomfortable question remains: Why does it cost so much in the first place? That leads into a larger question about capital punishment. The issue isn't simply whether some crimes deserve death. It's what happens when the government assumes the irreversible power to impose it, then surrounds that power with decades of litigation, procedural safeguards, enormous expense, and an execution system that raises serious questions of its own. And because this is Plausibly Live , somehow all of this eventually arrives in North Korea. In 2017, North Korea detonated a nuclear device beneath Mt. Mantap with enough force to move the mountain roughly twelve feet sideways and nearly two feet downward. Scientists now say the resulting seismic activity didn't simply fade away. The blast appears to have awakened dormant faults, producing geological consequences that are still unfolding years later. Government can make your alternatives more expensive. It can make taxes more complicated. And, apparently, if sufficiently motivated, it can move mountains. Plus: why Dave doesn't read email, Washington's ferry troubles, and a movie called Digger that may be even harder to explain than government accounting. #PlausiblyLive #DaveBowman #GovernmentSpending #Taxes #DeathPenalty #NorthKorea #NuclearWeapons #Politics #CurrentEvents #CostEngineering
