The Unemployment System Works Until Everyone Needs It at Once
State unemployment insurance runs on software and staffing calibrated to a low claim rate, which is exactly the condition that stops holding in a downturn.
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The County Cannot Find Anyone to Sign the Death Certificate
Death investigation runs on a small profession that is not replacing itself. Where the caseload outruns the capacity, autopsies get skipped and the cause of death becomes an estimate.
Running an Election Costs More Than It Did, and Nobody Budgeted for It
Election administration was built as an occasional expense handled by a small permanent staff. It has become a continuous operation with security requirements, and counties are paying for it out of general funds.
Millions Watch Traffic Stops Every Day. Few Know What They're Watching.
A veteran Chicago criminal defense attorney explains the constitutional rules unfolding beneath the conversation, and why knowing them beats arguing them.
The Bridge Is Fine Until the Truck Is Too Heavy
Thousands of rural bridges are being downrated rather than replaced, and a load limit reroutes freight, school buses and fire apparatus onto roads that were never meant to carry them.
The Volunteer Fire Department Runs Out of Volunteers
Roughly two-thirds of American firefighters are volunteers, and the model was built on a settlement pattern that no longer exists. What replaces it costs money nobody has budgeted.
The Ports Fixed Themselves. The Roads Behind Them Did Not
Billions went into berths, cranes and channel depth after the congestion of the early decade. The constraint moved twenty miles inland, to the road and rail that carry a container away from the water.
School Districts Are Budgeting for Students Who Never Arrived
Enrollment has fallen in most of the country while the buildings, the routes and the pension obligations stayed exactly where they were. Districts are discovering that the cost of educating a child is not the number that matters.
States Are Metering Groundwater They Once Gave Away
Water law across much of the country was written on the assumption that an aquifer was effectively bottomless and that a landowner's right to pump was a property right. Both assumptions are being retired, unevenly and expensively.
Agencies Cannot Hire Fast Enough to Spend What Congress Appropriated
Large programmes were funded on the assumption that the agencies administering them could staff up to run them. The hiring system they must use was built for a different era and has become the binding constraint.
The Gas Tax Stops Paying for the Roads
A per-gallon levy funds American highways while fuel consumption decouples from road use. The replacement everyone points to is a mileage fee, and almost nobody has been willing to build one.
States Discover That Permitting Is a Policy, Not a Formality
Governments across the country are rewriting approval processes after concluding that the gap between funded projects and finished ones is largely administrative.