No job is safer than a government job, right? Well, not anymore. At least not in the US.

I’m paying special attention to the fight over government jobs (or, as the administration might put it, “bloat and inefficiency”) because it’s part of a more comprehensive narrative project—one that shapes how we think and talk about work, and therefore think and talk about who we are and how we fit into society. Questioning the narrative that government workers are lazy or that bureaucracy is bloated and unnecessary is one way to question the narratives we perpetuate in our own work lives. And that's what today's episode is all about.

Footnotes:

• Read the essay version of this episode at whatworks.fyi
• Justice Jackson's dissent in Trump v American Federation of Government Workers (7.11.25)
• Michael Lewis on Cautionary Tales and his new book, Who Is Government?
• The Partnership for Public Service
• "Breaking the Validation Spiral" by Tara McMullin
• "All Parasites Have Value" by Tara McMullin
• Astra Taylor's book The Age of Insecurity and her interview on the Current Affairs podcast
• Mythocracy by Yves Citton