The bills for all this shit (read: the service industries, the private sector, the West) are not paid by the people who play by the rules. They're paid by the fuckups.
Therefore almost everything you buy consists of a bet by the person you're paying that, at some point, you're going to become one of the fuckups.
Showing posts with label theory. Show all posts
Showing posts with label theory. Show all posts
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Self-serve politics
I make a lot of snap political judgments the same way investment bankers make stock picks.
The Andersen Principle: If a proposed political action -- rent control, offshore drilling -- has an obvious, powerful rationale, then it's a bad, overvalued idea and not worth investing in. If, on the other hand, a policy is complicated and hard to explain the benefits of -- cap-and-trade, the EITC -- it's undervalued and you should give it the benefit of the doubt.
First Corollary to the Andersen Principle (Also known as the Greater Wonk Theory): Policies that are hard to explain are also easy, once enacted, for highly motivated rich people to fuck with.
The Andersen Principle: If a proposed political action -- rent control, offshore drilling -- has an obvious, powerful rationale, then it's a bad, overvalued idea and not worth investing in. If, on the other hand, a policy is complicated and hard to explain the benefits of -- cap-and-trade, the EITC -- it's undervalued and you should give it the benefit of the doubt.
First Corollary to the Andersen Principle (Also known as the Greater Wonk Theory): Policies that are hard to explain are also easy, once enacted, for highly motivated rich people to fuck with.
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