> This is the macroscopic outcome that also play out in a company microcosm - people who _prevent_ disasters and fix problems _before_ they occur get no credit, and on the balance sheet it looks like they're just a waste of resources.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preparedness_paradox

> On the big scale, like in gov't, the disasters that did not happen […]

Michael Lewis (of The Big Short fame) has two books on the things that government(s) do that no one else (often) can, either because they're too big, too expensive/unprofitable, or a co-ordination problem where it effects many actors simultaneously:

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fifth_Risk

* https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/788713/who-is-govern...