Fifth Risk by Michael Lewis (W.W. Norton, October 2018, 221 pg., $26.95, $10.58) shows in example after example how willfully ignorant Trump employees in Federal agencies were and are, as well as how much hard work and knowledgeability are required to do a good job within the federal bureaucracy. Lewis introduces the reader to a cast of dedicated professionals who provide necessary information and services to keep America running chosen from three million governments employs and with whom President Donald J. Trump has been at war since his inauguration.
Lewis is a story-teller who takes on interesting topics, spinning stories around them as his highly readable, informative narrative style draws the reader in, eventually capturing completely. He begins by showing us how unprepared and incurious the Trump minions were before introducing us to John MacWilliams, the first risk assessment officer of the Department of Energy. MacWilliams had prepared notebooks full of explanatory data and information about the job of DOE and the risks it oversaw, only to spend a few minutes with, of all people, the clueless Rick Perry, the former governor of Texas, who inhabits the position.
Throughout the vast and dedicated bureaucracy, government civil service employees, upon learning that Donald J. Trump had somehow been elected President, swung into action. They prepared voluminous briefing books to prepare members of the new administration to understand and continue doing the jobs that provided crucial information and services to the American people. They expected to be swarmed with these appointees the day after the election….And no one came! When a few new agency heads showed up, they demonstrated a remarkable lack of curiosity about what their jobs entailed. Eighty-nine year old Wilbur Ross thought the Department of Commerce was devoted to business and could never grasp the breadth of services and information it provided. Curiosity and skill were absent. And so information essential to meeting the needs of every day Americans, particulalarly in the rural areas that won the election for Mr. Trump, were hollowed out...neutered and made totally ineffective by a President not interested in governing.
The advantage of Lewis’ style of story-telling lies in his ability to take a general principle of which we’re all aware, in this case the two facts that Trump is sending unqualified hacks to lead the major divisions of the government and that the agencies are being hollowed out, denied money and qualified staff becomes real in his hand. We see directly through the eyes of dedicated employees the importance of many functions we’re not aware exist protect and inform, as well as how cutting off the top and denying funding hollow out the agencies, denying the recipients of their services essential protections and advice that agencies provide. By focusing on the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Energy, Lewis shows the breadth of their portfolio and the importance of the high quality people working for them. Replacing what Trump has so successfully destroyed, with the canny help of one of America’s most underrated disablers, Mick Mulvaney, will take a generation or more to rebuild once we rid ourselves of their depredations.
The replacement of food scientist Dr. Cathie Wotecki with right wing political hack and talk show host Sam Clovis represents another example of removing expertise from important, but often quietly effective low-profile specialists with political people seeking to achieve political goals. The achievements of Wotecki during her time with FDA at the Department of Agriculture were monumental, and life
saving. Clovis job was to shut down programs and eliminate the words “climate change” from government lexicon.
The role of government in rural America hidden, by being administered through small banks, brings expertise and money into places where neither exists, while being hidden by local interests and their antipathy to what they see as “the government.” Lillian Salerno eventually ran for Congress as a Democrat as she became increasingly aware of the Trump strategy of replacing professionals with political appointees who had no expertise or interest in the areas where her specialization had helped strengthen rural areas. Simply a small example of the larger problem. She lost!
Instead of re-visiting the depredations committed daily on the American people, the Tweeting, whining, self-promoting course of the Trump train wreck, Lewis takes the time to burrow into the inner workings of the crucial agencies and programs operated by the lower level political appointees and civil servants who make the wheels turn. Often, the recipients of government services don’t even know these services are sponsored and paid for by the government. Lewis shows how commitment, expertise, hard work, and dedication have built a system that actually delivers necessary services, improves the national health, protects the environment, and places needed checks on the damage often perpetrated by big money and large corporate interests. The results are a hollowing out of the inner workings of the government, hidden by bluster and mis-direction from the top. There’s no little irony in Lewis’s ending the book with the story of a tornado chaser, who has learned to follow behind storms to avoid being killed by the object of his studies.
Michael Lewis is the author of a series of best-selling books mostly having, at least superficially, to do with sports and/or business (Liar’s Poker, Moneyball, Blindside, The Big Short) which have all been best sellers as illuminating changing aspects of our culture through his wonderful storytelling. Originally from New Orleans, and educated at Princeton and The London School of Economics, Lewis’ is 58 years old, and with Fifth Risk at the top of his game.
In the beginning of Fith Risk by Michael Lewis (W.W. Norton, October 2018, 221 pg., $26.95, $10.58), Lewis chats at length with John Macwilliams, who has identified the five risks facing the government as the Trump administration sets and achieves its chaotic agenda. MacWilliams has identified four risks for Lewis, who finally asks him what the fifth risk is, to which MacWilliams responds, perhaps in a toneless, hopeless voice, “Project management.” This book is highly entertaining as well as “Must Reading!”
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Popular Highlights in this book
There is another way to think of John MacWilliams’s fifth risk: the risk a society runs when it falls into the habit of responding to long-term risks with short-term solutions.Highlighted by 4,754 Kindle readers- There was a rift in American life that was now coursing through American government. It wasn’t between Democrats and Republicans. It was between the people who were in it for the mission, and the people who were in it for the money.Highlighted by 4,538 Kindle readers
- The only thing any of us can do completely on our own is to have the start of a good idea.Highlighted by 3,791 Kindle readers
- The fifth risk did not put him at risk of revealing classified information. “Project management,” was all he said.Highlighted by 3,649 Kindle readers
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~~Transition Team/Departments not at full staff/Management Problems~~
First of all, I am neither a Democrat or Republican. I have always voted for the person I felt was the most qualified. Politics was never discussed in our family that I can remember. High school for me was in the early 60's so the times were difficult then. Assassinations of President Kennedy (1963) and his brother Robert in 1968. And, Martin Luther King, Jr was also killed before Robert Kennedy.I did enlist in the USN and retired as a Chief Petty Officer in 1991. I took my oath of enlistment seriously and politics was not discussed during my time in the USN.So, here I am 27 years later...and wondering what in the world is going on in our country. I am trying to understand what has happened to the moral compass in the US and the pure hatred and venom that is being spoken on both the Republican and Democratic side. Rancor, a lack of civility and derisive descriptions are everywhere. Respect has gone out the window. I like to remember the days of President Reagan and Speaker of the House Tip O'Neill. In 1980, it was a divided government and Tip said 'We will cooperate'.As an individual, I decided that I could educate myself more and have started reading political books. Hopefully, this will give me a clearer understanding of both sides of the aisle. So, I read with objectivity and a desire to learn.In Michael Lewis's latest 'The Fifth Risk', I found it to be a most informative read with behind the scene looks in the Departments of Commerce, Agriculture, Energy and State to mention a few. The fact that 2 million people are employed by the government sets the tone. He also states that 4000 of those are political appointees and 70% are working in national security.The transition team was nearly non-existent and the shortage of funding and staff are the most compelling problems as noted in Agriculture and Commerce. Management problems within the departments are common. And, some employees at State don't have clearances!To paraphrase a statement from the blurb that caught my attention...appointees were shockingly uninformed about the functions of their new workplace. This doesn't seem unusual to me after being employed at the Department of Agriculture for both Rural Development and Farm Service Agency. When the election of the President is of a different Party, the State Director for the USDA also changes. A political appointee which requires that individual to get up to speed in a minimum amount of time. As one might expect, some Directors were more difficult to work for than others.Definitely an eye opener for me which covered a lot of territory including climate change, weather forecasting, data removal and the electric grid. There was one statement concerning NOAA that didn't resonate with me. To paraphrase, NOAA used to have a link for weather forecasts. I still use that link every day to get my weather so that part must have changed.Will read more books to see if I can expand my horizons.Highly recommended.Note: Never was able to get this downloaded on my Kindle. Gave up and read it on the Amazon Cloud. (Second Picture)
Top reviews from other countries
Karan
Difficult to put down
Reviewed in India on February 21, 2020
Karan
Reviewed in India on February 21, 2020
Don't really need to put to words on the quality of the book. Michael Lewis has yet again delivered top quality. Eye opening information. You feel like finishing it in 1 sitting
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