Jon Stewart interviews Ezra Klein about his book Abundance and why progressive goals get stuck in procedure and regulation. They discuss how to streamline government and what could be built without bureaucratic obstacles.
Why Hacker News points people here: Cited as a source of examples such as California high-speed rail and rural broadband subsidies when HN discusses government dysfunction.
“Ezra Klien [1] recently highlighted two such examples: high speed rail in CA, and rural broadband subsidies.”HN comment, 2025
"investments into significant infra programs might be another, even with long time horizons." - yes, really long horizons. case in point - this video "it arguably did not take any actions that directly make life worse for the average person." - I don't think you've talked to an average person. They are quite upset. "you are rooting for people who are directly working against your own economic interest" - No actually. They have a plan and they have articulated it. It may not work in the end, but it is not a forgone conclusion. And they are most definitely striving to help the average person. link , link .
Cites itmaptApr 2025Full comment
California contracting in particular is built not of penurious individual corruption, but of systemic corruption. The lowest bid must win, and nobody has the political capital to establish a bidding system that works, so dramatic systematic underbidding + cost overruns is the rule, and is expected by all parties except the naive public. Couple that with the kind of "Build nothing if any single problem can be detacted", 'Cheems mindset' failures of liberalism, and high-pressure demands from a federal government whose legislators are eager to sabotage projects outside of purple states. linkthis video
Cites itsimpaticoderJun 2025
“Ezra Klien [1] recently highlighted two such examples: high speed rail in CA, and rural broadband subsidies.”
Klein on failed high speed rail and rural broadband subsidies
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The overall impression I get of such projects is that politicians celebrate the funding victory, and then forget about it. Then the project's funds get eaten up by administrative costs over time. Ezra Klien [1] recently highlighted two such examples: high speed rail in CA, and rural broadband subsidies. Personally, I haven't seen much, if anything, actually spent out of Biden's infrastructure bill. The money from these programs just seems to...vanish. Allowing this to happen undermines the idea that the USG is a trustworthy spender of our money. I would personally prefer it if political success wasn't just grabbing more budget, but actually overseeing successful execution of public projects. 1 - this video
CriticalcaseysoftwareAug 2025
“it was both comical and enraging to hear how much money and time was wasted”
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We got an overview of those "efforts" a few months back and it was both comical and enraging to hear how much money and time was wasted. And this was a law+process crafted by Democrats, signed by a Democrat President, and presided over by a Democrat Administration.. they had all the pieces in place to accomplish their goals. Ref: this video When you have tons of paperwork and ZERO deployments (not exaggerating), there's nothing to revert.. just a lot to be disappointed by.
