Ascensor da Glória

The financial oversight committees are so slow that 10 million euros of EU funds are turned into German Ferraris before anyone even notices.

I mean, even on a purely mechanical level, CM reports today that the Elevador da Glória, the famous Lisbon funicular, it was widely known to be unreliable before its recent accident.

What you're describing is an environment of systemic unreliability.

The unwritten social contract sort of assumes that the large complex systems operating in the background of our lives are functioning correctly.