tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8429570072441023296.post1086256447790802065..comments2023-09-07T06:36:59.520-04:00Comments on The Virtual Philosophy Club: Outrageous Texting Charges and "A Beautiful Mind"Ira Glicksteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10800080810596424897noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8429570072441023296.post-57994348700717493302009-06-30T23:29:21.300-04:002009-06-30T23:29:21.300-04:00Our influence on government comes every few years ...Our influence on government comes every few years when we vote. We never get to vote on the army of faceless civil servants who actually administer and provide government services. <br /><br />We influence profit-making businesses every day of our lives when we vote with our dollars to eat at our choice of dozens of restaurants -or- buy food at our choice of many markets -or- grow our own vegetables, etc. We do the same when we choose where to buy our clothes -or make them- and our cars and appliances and entertainment. We vote with our time and skills when we choose our jobs (I quit two jobs over a three-year period before I ended up at IBM for decades.)<br /><br />Yes Howard, big business and big labor and other special interests pervert our government. They use their influence to get subsidies and bailouts and loopholes.<br /><br />Limited government responsible only for essentials (national defense, domestic tranquillity, adherence to contracts, and welfare for the aged, ill and disabled) would offer less opportunity for perversion by the politically-connected. The government that governs least is the government that governs best.<br /><br />Businesses that cannot keep good employees happy and/or fail to satisfy their customers go out of business. (That is, unless they are politically-connected and get a bailout.) <br /><br />Government agencies hardly ever go out of business, no matter how poorly they perform.<br /><br />Employees at private firms get fired if their performance falls below a norm. Civil servants have a job for life. <br /><br />Ira Glickstein<br /><br />Q: How many people work for the government?<br /><br />A: About half of them!Ira Glicksteinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10800080810596424897noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8429570072441023296.post-33545109180316771032009-06-30T20:53:59.863-04:002009-06-30T20:53:59.863-04:00In a democracy by our votes individuals have some ...In a democracy by our votes individuals have some influence over how the government uses our money, although big business lobbying largely perverts this influence. We have little influence over how profit-making businesses use our money except by laws enacted by government. There is some optimum governmental control between communism and anarchy that prevents the excesses of both extremes. I do not agree with your simplistic view is that government is bad and business is good at spending our money. Currently most voters feel the same. <br /><br />HowardHoward Patteehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12181204289094297715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8429570072441023296.post-88930219137132984162009-06-30T10:35:38.904-04:002009-06-30T10:35:38.904-04:00I agree emotion plays a greater role than most peo...I agree emotion plays a greater role than most people realize as demonstrated by Dan Areily in the link you provided (and discussed here at <a href="http://tvpclub.blogspot.com/2009/06/ted-irrational-decision-making.html" rel="nofollow">TED-Irrational Decision Making</a>).<br /><br /><b>Was it a mistake to award John Nash the 1994 Nobel in Economics for his work that assumes competitors will behave rationally?</b><br /><br />According Nash's "equilibrium" theory, if competitors "cheat" and produce more than the "Nash Bargain" their profits go down and they may go out of business. Such creative destruction is a necessary component of free markets. It serves, on average, to reward rational behaviors despite our human tendencies to the contrary. <br /><br />If, as you claim Howard <i>"Frauds, fallacies, fads, credulous consumers, deceptive advertisers, and greed rule the market"</i> what is the solution? More regulation by the Congress administered by civil servants? Is there any evidence they are any more rational spending other people's money than individuals and profit-dependent companies spending their own money? <br /><br />Ira GlicksteinIra Glicksteinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10800080810596424897noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8429570072441023296.post-37042750656361468222009-06-30T09:10:58.183-04:002009-06-30T09:10:58.183-04:00The problem is that the basic assumption of ration...The problem is that the basic assumption of rational markets is demonstrably false. As our current financial situation demonstrates, people are not rational and therefore the market is not rational. Frauds, fallacies, fads, credulous consumers, deceptive advertisers, and greed rule the market. Many psychological studies <a href="http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_ariely_asks_are_we_in_control_of_our_own_decisions.html" rel="nofollow"><b>(one example)</b></a>show human bondage is emotional.Howard Patteehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12181204289094297715noreply@blogger.com