Pitchfork Economics with Nick Hanauer A Government Built to Stall—and What That Means for Democracy (with Hannah Garden-Monheit)
Feb 3, 2026
Hannah Garden-Monheit, former Biden-Harris senior official and Roosevelt Institute/AEGP fellow, discusses why government often fails to deliver for working people. She explores procedural hurdles that delay action, how corporations weaponize process, and which visible enforcement fights and policy designs can rebuild public trust. The conversation examines rebuilding state capacity and practical steps to make government more effective.
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Government Built For Delay Not Delivery
- Government institutions are not built to deliver quick, visible outcomes for working people.
- Structural design choices over decades have drained state capacity and hindered public power.
Outsourcing Hollowed Government Expertise
- Outsourcing and underfunding hollowed out in-house government expertise and supervisory capacity.
- Agencies now pay expensive contractors they lack the skills to oversee, wasting money and weakening outcomes.
Procedural Sludge Slows Action
- Layered procedures optimized the system for delay and risk aversion rather than outcomes.
- Processes like the Paperwork Reduction Act and OIRA oversight create long preclearance and choke points that impede action.