last night on late night

John Oliver Explains Special Districts As America’s ‘Ghost’ Government, Which Is Significantly Spookier and Less Fun Than an Actual Ghost Government

At least a real ghost government would feature a few Founding Fathers floating around, wailing and dripping with ectoplasm. (It would be like Hamilton, but with more dripping ectoplasm.) The translucent old-timey hats alone would make it less grim than special districts, the “ghost government,” which consists of living human beings and controls $100 billion of our nation’s dollars. On Sunday night, John Oliver put a spotlight on the 40,000 special districts in America, which operate largely unchecked and often without residents’ knowledge. If only we had special-district busters! Unlike actual ghostbusters, special-district busters would, mainly, walk into half-empty school auditoriums and yell, “What the hell are you guys doing in here?”

John Oliver Explains the ‘Ghost Government’