Review of The Fifth Risk
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Qualities
Review
Anecdotes about entitled, wasteful and irrelevant government bureaucracy may abound in modern America, but, according to best-selling non-fiction author Michael Lewis, the belief that government is only out to serve itself could not be further from the truth. During the 2016 election, Donald Trump presented himself as the ultimate outsider – a position which resonated with many in the heartland who felt left out of the American Dream. Those voters cheered Trump’s promises to cut governmental bloat. To the people who ran Washington’s various departments – including the Departments of Energy, Agriculture and Commerce – Trump’s election was ominous, however. How would “draining the swamp” affect their important work?
Lewis takes readers through the bizarre transition of government that followed the election of Donald Trump in 2016. One by one, senior officials who have devoted their lives to keeping Americans safe and healthy tell of the ignorance and indifference with which the new president’s people approached the task of governance. Though often poorly named, the US government’s various departments perform essential work – not easily duplicated – that makes Americans safer and more prosperous, Lewis argues. Indeed, in an organization that employs two million people, 70 percent work in the field of risk management. Lewis’s book underscores why every American should worry about the risks that the Trump administration poses to their country.
About the Author
Michael Lewis is a financial journalist and the best-selling non-fiction author of Liar’s Poker, Moneyball, The Blind Side, The Big Short, and The Undoing Project.