State Capacitance

How Process Charts Kept the Lights On

A guest writer applies 1940s management to his day job

Jul 21 • 

Kevin Hawickhorst

 and 

F. Ichiro Gifford

15

June 2025

How the Feds Invented Lean Manufacturing

Before Toyota, there was the Social Security Administration.

Jun 23 • 

Kevin Hawickhorst

16

3

May 2025

The Solicitors Against the Circuit

By Jameson Payne: How the DC Circuit built up the bureaucracy, and how the state Solicitors General pared it back.

May 23 • 

Kevin Hawickhorst

 and 

Jameson Payne

4

1

New: Accounting for State Capacity

Have I painted my 6,500 word masterpiece?

May 20 • 

Kevin Hawickhorst

6

5

Uncle Sam's Problem Children

The five most problematic types of government programs according to Herbert Emmerich. A new series on efficient executive branch reorganization.

May 16 • 

Kevin Hawickhorst

14

5

April 2025

Truman's Bureaucrats

Paperwork reduction before the Paperwork Reduction Act.

Apr 16 • 

Kevin Hawickhorst

18

March 2025

The DOGE of the 1880s

When Congress made the government efficient

Mar 3 • 

Kevin Hawickhorst

5

February 2025

Donations in WWII: the Treasury's Records

Uncle Sam wants you, but would settle for fifteen thousand pigeons.

Feb 10 • 

Kevin Hawickhorst

3

USDA Reorganization: Regulatory Capture by Design

The Jekyll Island of the Department of Agriculture.

Feb 3 • 

Kevin Hawickhorst

14

January 2025

Notes on Personnel Positions

There's more than one way to pay a bureaucrat

Jan 27 • 

Kevin Hawickhorst

7

TWI versus Gulick: From implementation to "policy planning"

What I want to know is: Where did the process charts go?

Jan 20 • 

Kevin Hawickhorst

7

IRS Reform: The People Respond

Vox Populi, Vox Dei

Jan 16 • 

Kevin Hawickhorst

5