Tag Archives: politics

The Economics Of The Truth

How often and when do you hear the truth? For an economist, that is an easy question to answer provided the economist’s mind is not trying to avoid the answer.

You hear the truth when honesty has utility to the person who is communicating with you. More often than not the truth is rejected by the person who is hearing it. Politicians lose votes by telling the truth, so you are likely to hear something else. Commercial enterprises which advertise must lie because consumers will only respond to embellishments and outright fantasies.

I will say it again. When a lie is told there are normally two guilty parties. There is the liar of course and also the one for whom the truth isn’t good enough.
Does Curbside Jimmy get a grant from the government to ride the rails?

The K.C. Moan A find traditional tune from the 1920’s

Instinctive Biases In The Republican Presidentual Debates

In the Republican presidential debates, I see more evidence of instinctive biases in dealing with government. When Wolfe Blitzer of CNN was questioning Ron Paul about who pays for health care, the assumption was packed in that society has a responsibility to provide health care to citizens who can’t or won’t pay. This kind of reasoning is based in instinct. Belief that this kind of thing is a group obligation is automatic.
Again, on an evolutionary time, freedom is a new development. We all know the benefits of freedom but human beings are not yet genetically ready for it. The move to empower government is genetic in nature. Where freedom is present, people must do things for themselves rather than ask government to take care of them. Reason, can override instinct but this is not happening in the political scene today. At the very least, people need to be aware they are basing their votes on ancient instinctive voices rather than objective reasoning.

Student Loan Moan

I can’t stand it. I mean when college students can’t get jobs because their degrees have no market value. Watch this video. You’ll love it.