martinimade

“She’d come to her job inside the little box marked ‘Rural Development’ without any particular ambition to be there. The sums of money at her disposal were incredible: the little box gave our or guaranteed $30 billion in loans or grants a year. But people who should have known about it hadn’t the first clue what it was up to. ‘I had this conversation with elected and state officials almost everywhere in the South,’ said Salerno. ‘Them: We hate the government and you suck. Me: My mission alone put $1 billion into your economy this year, so are you sure about that? Me thinking: We are the only reason your shitty state is standing.’"

-- The Fifth Risk by Michael Lewis. Highly recommend.