We’re not revealing any major plot points by letting you know that at the end of the new Star Wars movie the audience sees a glimpse of the first Death Star under construction. Twenty or so years later, of course, Luke Skywalker destroys it just after it becomes operational. At the end of the movie, our questions weren’t about the dialogue or acting, but on something not covered in the major media reviews of the movie: how could it take twenty years to build the Death Star?

Independent Sources believes that only one little-f force could create a twenty year construction project: government. Did the Death Star fail its environmental impact review? Did pork-happy imperial senators treat it like a public works project and drag outs its completion? Did the low-bid contractor keep coming back to the Emperor with more and more cost overruns? Did Darth Vader keep changing the design, adding more unproven planet-exploding technology at the expense of living quarters for his high-turnover staff?

We’re anxiously waiting for Star Wars III-b, “The Revenge of the Bureaucracy,” or perhaps an episode of “The Imperial Experience” on PBS, for answers.

[Update: The site Marginal Revolution has a fun analysis of why the Jedi are the problem, not the solution, in a post titled “The public choice economics of Star Wars.” Hat tip: Instapundit]

This entry was posted on Friday, May 20th, 2005 at 10:07 am by A Senior Administration Official and is filed under Brilliant, but uncategorizable, Weekend Edition / Features. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.