Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : A US National Health Care System? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: TimF who wrote (13771)	3/2/2010 4:57:29 PM
From: TimF	1 Recommendation Respond to of 42652

Foreign Aid as a Rent-Seeking Society Distilled by William Easterly. How important are public choice issues and rent-seeking? Policy advocacy based on the assumption that there is a group of moral and intellectual elites that can rise above their own interests AND solve the intractable knowledge problems that come with central planning reminds me of a cartoon you've probably seen: two scientists are standing at a chalkboard filled with math. "AND THEN A MIRACLE OCCURS" is written in the middle of the board. I think that's roughly what we're doing when we're talking about policy without taking rent-seeking and public choice issues seriously. Along these lines, here's James Otteson at Forbes.com on Adam Smith and the great mind fallacy. Here's his paper "Adam Smith and the Great Mind Fallacy" in Social Philosophy and Policy. Posted by Art Carden at 09:29 AM in Economics divisionoflabour.com

To: TimF who wrote (13771)	3/3/2010 10:31:21 AM
From: Road Walker	2 Recommendations Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 42652

lots of rules is what has made this country great ---- That's just crazy. First Tim, it's really intellectually dishonest to partially edit my sentence to change it's meaning. Frankly I expect more from you. This is what I said: Listen, you are so invested in your anti-government, anti-regulation ideology that you can't even see that the playing by rules, lots of rules is what has made this country great. Not "lots of rules made this country great" but that "playing by ... rules is what made this country great". When rules, laws, and legal and regulatory interpretations get as extensive as ours are, compliance becomes difficult, and effective enforcement of all the rules becomes impossible. Instead you get selective enforcement, empowering the enforcers, or you get no enforcement, or you begin to get whole areas of activity effectively shut down. So THAT's why we're NOT the richest country in the world! Buttt waiiit, we are the richest country in the world! How do you explain that Tim? Listen our government has been (slipping now) very good at providing the infrastructure and regulatory regime and enforcement so that the private sector can concentrate on what they do best... innovating and making good products. Without constantly having to deal with logistics issues and looking over their shoulder to see if the other guy is cheating. That doesn't happen in poor, weak government countries. Again... move to Haiti or Somalia. No worry on taxes for infrastructure. Few if any regulation. Blissful freedom. Or stay in the over-regulated, over-taxed, over-infrastructured US and suffer the dire consequences of your horrific lack of freedom.