New Rule: The Real Deep State | Real Time with Bill Maher (HBO)

There really is such a thing as the “deep state.” But it’s not the one MAGA Nation is freaked out about.

[generalnawaki]

Bill still hasn't gotten the permit for his solar shed?

[roberthawksley]

Bill will never forget the solar shed fiasco 😂

[michaelfazzari]

“You will never understand bureaucracies until you understand that for bureaucrats procedure is everything and outcomes are nothing.”– Thomas Sowell

[stephenhelmeci]

As a former bureaucrat in DC… this is all sadly true. We tried to add a checkbox to a form. That required a 90-page report, months of public comments, months of editing and approval by multiple agencies… the “project” — to add a *checkbox* — started a year and a half ago and I don’t think it’s done yet.

[profjohnston]

Thank you for toning down the applause and getting rid of the absurd whoopers. Now it sounds like the audience have actually heard Bill and are responding to what he said - thank you for reading our feedback over the past few weeks

[dparky]

"The bureaucracy is expanding, to meet the needs of the expanding bureaucracy."

[mattkess]

As someone who majored in Environmental Science and took plenty for Env Law/Urban Planning/ GIS / etc., one my best professors always said your biggest problem, more often than not, is someone who holds everything up to make themselves seem necessary (head of the department said this). & like Bill said, it makes the regulations defeat their own purpose.

My Env Law Prof., an Env lawyer himself, once said that an environmentalist is someone who’s already bought their house lol.

[jaymorf]

Bill, it's not just the Left. Cali is horrible in it's bloated, bumbling bureaucracy, but in my conservative county the reason it takes more than a year to get a building permit issued is that they slashed the personnel in the permitting department so they could put the fees to other uses (like incentives to golf courses). Naturally, the process became far slower - then they trumpeted how government didn't work.

[milton]

‘Cost estimation’ costs for a free toilet… tells you all you need to know

[lanceo]

I work in an architectural office and I have been saying that Permit reviewers issue corrections to justify their existence for decades. The majority of our time is not spent designing beautiful buildings, protecting life safety or even making sure out projects are accessible. Our time is spent making sure our FAR calculations are rounded to two decimal points and we have shown our work. Don't get me started all the documents we have to have signed, notarized and recorded. It is insane.

[brianlandrum]

Ever go to the DMV? With few exceptions they seem to take pride in saying no. We. Moved from one state to another and my 17 year old wanted to change his license to the new state (which is the legal thing to do) and the woman at the DMV insisted his license from the old state wasn't a license and wanted us to start all over with a permit and pay 500 for drivers Ed which he had already done an completed in the previous state.

What should have been a routine change of license was a denial and the clerk insulting us for questioning her.

In the end after a call to the state office at the Capitol, we were able to go into another DMV and get it done in less than 10 minutes.

Imagine the parents that don't question it. The time and money they spend on something that they didn't need to do.

[toast_busters]

I work for a school district full of consultants. They get paid well over six figures to sit in a nice office with way better hours and basically sign paperwork I think? They rarely come up with good ideas, they never visit our classrooms, and a lot of them are former administrators who failed upward. I swear to God, if I have to sit and waste another day of training where I'm asked to use a completely different educational platform than the one I used last year and the one I use the year before that just because the district spent tens of thousands of dollars on it, but my consultant doesn't even know how to turn it on or login... Just let me do my damn job, and maybe give me some of that money you make. Besides those useless trainings that I get a couple times a year, the only other thing they seem to do for me is not order stuff I need for my classroom because of all the red tape required in having them fill out my purchase orders, going to the proper vendor who charges 3x what the item is actually worth, and then running all that paperwork to some other consultant to get signed so I can have the thing I needed 3 months after I needed it. It's why so many of us just go to Amazon and spend our own money. Completely pointless completely useless. They have no reason to exist

[scottellefson]

It's not just the bureaucratic red tape. It's also the legal challenges brought by people/groups/companies trying to block those projects.

[MiracleAttraction]

The New Rule already had more truth per square inch than anywhere else in TV, but this one strikes hard. Ten years ago I acquired a condemned old school building— boarded up and in tatters and conformed 1/3 of it into what is now a 5-star hotel. Our biggest single expense has not been construction, architecture, or any productive thing, but rather legal fees fighting off the City's red tape and shackles. On one hand they have me backed into a corner and preventing any future progress in the building. On the other hand they've used me as a poster boy for what can be done with old city buildings. Bill flush this swamp.

[davidparker]

I'm an architect, and I could not agree more!

[Kentavious]

I worked HVAC all over LA for 40 years and the bureaucracy involved just became insane, but if you worked on any state or the city job it was beyond belief! They pretty much pay 3 to 4 times as much as the private sector and everyone milks the jobs for twice as long before completion. Prevailing wages are great for the workers but the tax payers are getting screwed.

[Anaximander]

After spending my life as a bureaucrat in Washington, DC I finally realized that there are three different welfare communities in our nation. First is traditional welfare, food stamps, etc. Second is corporate welfare, also known as crony capitalism, now running on steroids feeding in the "green" energy trough. But the third welfare program is one most people don't immediately recognize as welfare, government bureaucracy, which might be best described as middle class welfare. These welfare clients infest our local, state and most importantly, federal government. Worst of all, they claim to be servants of the public when the only thing they serve is themselves and the bureaucracy.

[kennethjames]

I worked in a research industry that started being regulated in 1967. When regulations were published, it took 43 pages. Today, that same publication is over 300 pages. It expanded not only in regulations, but in scope. In 1967 it regulated 10 "things", today it regulates over 30. No congressional approval after initial inception. The bureacracy made the rules and continues to make them. It's almost like perpetual motion. It never stops.

[williamrawleigh]

I had a friend who was a construction site supervisor for years then he took a job at a federal building. Then after this kind of insanity he left. At this building they needed a fence as a site supervisor he knew people could get it done ASAP and at really nice price. He was told no. That’s not how it’s done here. There’s already a committee working on approving it for several thousands of dollars above what his source could do it for. That’s just one example he told me about.

[pjhimself]

I’m not a Maher fan but this commentary is spot on. It makes me wonder how the politicians keep their jobs in CA.