From Today I Found Out.

We live in, shall we say, politically divisive times… which, contrary to some’s belief, is no different than really any other point since humans started humaning. From Ancient Rome to relatively more modern times in the likes of Thomas Jefferson secretly bankrolling Scottish scandalmonger James Callender to attack Jefferson’s presidential opponent and former best friend, John Adams. And things haven’t exactly improved since, though also contrary to seemingly popular sentiment, as anyone who studies history in any depth will tell you, while the world today is far from perfect and a lot to fix, the best time to be alive for pretty much everyone is quite literally right now for innumerable reasons all summing up to that the past was the worst.

But we’re not here to debate that can of worms with you today, but rather, talk a little bit about how the U.S. government actually functions from a practical, day to day, perspective.

Along the way we’ll be looking at the practical side of the election process; who actually runs everything; how the government pays for things and manages debt; what would happen if a city ran out of money, or if the U.S. federal government could no longer pay on its massive debt and at what point the U.S. national debt becomes unsustainable. We’ll also be looking at how government manages to transcend party politics to actually get things done, including covering the Aunt Sally Effect and why it’s so effective at helping at the level government likely affects you most, and we even look at how one gets a Ted Talk and what the process of doing one is like, which I promise makes sense in context.

And perhaps in all restore your faith in government a little bit along the way. Because while popular political news will likely have you thinking the world is doomed and leave you seriously considering alcohol as a phenomenal life strategy, it turns out, as shocking as this may come to some, governments the world over are run by people. Not a handful of shadowy individuals controlling everything, but in fact lots of people. Literally millions of them. It’s not just the people at the top in leaders of nations, but the people at a much less talked about level that are the ones generally actually doing the things in a much less heralded way to make sure society doesn’t collapse and otherwise runs as well as it can. While no system is perfect, this is a level which is typically far less polarized and, maybe unsurprisingly, is mostly filled with people trying to do the best job they can for the communities, states, and country they live and raise their families in. Because, hey, they live here too.

Now, to dive into all this, we’re going to do something a little different. Instead of me talking at you about it all, we decided to bring in an expert in the field, Eric Mason. Beyond giving a Ted Talk related to this, “If Not Here, Where?” in which he discusses the power of local government to make huge changes at not just the local, but national level. Eric is also the CFO of the City of Presidents- Quincy Massachusetts. When he’s not managing their around a half a billion dollar annual budget, helping to make sure the city he grew up in continues to thrive now and the foreseeable future, Eric also is an occasional keynote speaker on all things finance, government, and world economics, and on the side teaches Microeconomics at West Virginia University.

So, let’s look at how government actually works from a practical standpoint, and see if along the way you don’t have your faith in government restored, and maybe shift your focus a titch from the polarized, and generally highly sensationalized, national level, to where things actually typically are getting done, who is doing them, and how it all works.

0:00 Intro
4:57 Local Government
7:27 Elections
13:51 What Do Mayors Do?
23:14 Who Runs Everything?
27:44 How Does Government Actually Generate Revenue, Pay for Things, and Manage Finances?
36:28 What if a City Runs Out of Money?
41:07 What Happens if a City Has Extra Money?
44:10 How Do Government Bonds Work?
49:14 How Does the Federal Government Money Management Process Differ?
54:34 At What Point Does the U.S. National Debt Become Unsustainable?
58:34 What Happens if the U.S. Government Goes Bankrupt?
1:04:18 How Government Transcends Party Politics
1:13:32 How Do You Get a Ted Talk?
1:16:37 Faith in Government Restored
1:18:13 What is the Ted Talk Process Like?