All normal humans are the same. We act in our own self-interest.
Unless you have a physical or mental irregularity, if your hand inadvertently touches a hot surface, your hand will instantly pull away, with no conscious input required. We act in our own self-interest.
If you are walking in the woods, in the middle of nowhere, and see a $20 bill lying on the ground, you will pick it up, because it is in your self-interest to do so.
You work at the highest paying job you can find, all else being equal, because you act in your own self-interest.
That’s all well and good.
And if you see a car speed through the school zone, you think to yourself “they need to put speed bumps in front of schools to slow down the cars so some kid doesn’t get hurt.” The other parents agree, and you decide to run for town council to get it fixed.
The other parents help you put up signs, and you run, and you get elected, and you install speed bumps, and you are a hero.
But there are other schools that need other speed bumps, so you decide to run for Mayor.
But you need more than a few parents putting up signs to run for mayor. You need funding, and volunteers, and supplies, and a campaign office. You find some citizens who are willing to help out, and perhaps some local businesses that want to have speed bumps, and they contribute to your campaign and you win.
Why stop there? Your local supporters encourage you to run for MP, or MPP, or congress, or whatever. That costs a lot of money, but there are many people willing to host a fundraiser, and contribute funds, and off you go.
You win, and now you’ve got office space, and a driver, and staff, and an ever growing circle of people who are willing to contribute, but of course they want you to solve their “speed bump” problem. And you do.
You had no ethical problem with having your neigbours help you pound in lawn signs.
You had no ethical problem eating the free chicken dinner at the fundraiser.
And that’s where it begins.
If a supporter takes you out to dinner, what’s the big deal?
If they offer to let you stay at their cottage for the week, what’s the big deal? It was just sitting empty, so it didn’t cost them anything to have you stay there.
And if they fly you on their plane to their compound in the Caribbean, what’s the big deal?
And then you find yourself a member of the cabinet, or a senator, or even higher up, and you realize that you have the power to receive favours a lot larger than a free lunch. But the stakes are higher, so you need to spend more to get them.
I’ll build a super highway, or increase the military budget by $1 billion. That will generate lots of favours. But how do I pay for it?
I can’t increase taxes; that won’t win me any friends.
So the government borrows the money, or prints it, and everybody wins!
Everybody except the citizens, of course, because I have now created inflation, which robs the average guy of his purchasing power. But it’s slow, and not obvious that I caused it, so I don’t get blamed, and I keep getting re-elected.
That’s why incumbents normally win. That’s why the average age of a Senator in the USA is a 120 years old. (I didn’t fact check that number, but I assume I’m correct.)
Sadly, there is no obvious solution to this problem.
If you don’t have money you can’t challenge the incumbent, so they keep getting re-elected.
And they can keep getting re-elected, because they can print money. It’s as simple as that.
If they couldn’t print money, we wouldn’t have this problem.
What’s the solution?
I have no idea.
My guess is that the problem will end when we have a crash, like in ancient Rome. It’s inevitable, but not necessarily imminent.
So we wait.
(For now, gold and Bitcoin would be the obvious hedges).
All normal humans are the same
by JDH on July 5, 2024
All normal humans are the same. We act in our own self-interest.
Unless you have a physical or mental irregularity, if your hand inadvertently touches a hot surface, your hand will instantly pull away, with no conscious input required. We act in our own self-interest.
If you are walking in the woods, in the middle of nowhere, and see a $20 bill lying on the ground, you will pick it up, because it is in your self-interest to do so.
You work at the highest paying job you can find, all else being equal, because you act in your own self-interest.
That’s all well and good.
And if you see a car speed through the school zone, you think to yourself “they need to put speed bumps in front of schools to slow down the cars so some kid doesn’t get hurt.” The other parents agree, and you decide to run for town council to get it fixed.
The other parents help you put up signs, and you run, and you get elected, and you install speed bumps, and you are a hero.
But there are other schools that need other speed bumps, so you decide to run for Mayor.
But you need more than a few parents putting up signs to run for mayor. You need funding, and volunteers, and supplies, and a campaign office. You find some citizens who are willing to help out, and perhaps some local businesses that want to have speed bumps, and they contribute to your campaign and you win.
Why stop there? Your local supporters encourage you to run for MP, or MPP, or congress, or whatever. That costs a lot of money, but there are many people willing to host a fundraiser, and contribute funds, and off you go.
You win, and now you’ve got office space, and a driver, and staff, and an ever growing circle of people who are willing to contribute, but of course they want you to solve their “speed bump” problem. And you do.
You had no ethical problem with having your neigbours help you pound in lawn signs.
You had no ethical problem eating the free chicken dinner at the fundraiser.
And that’s where it begins.
If a supporter takes you out to dinner, what’s the big deal?
If they offer to let you stay at their cottage for the week, what’s the big deal? It was just sitting empty, so it didn’t cost them anything to have you stay there.
And if they fly you on their plane to their compound in the Caribbean, what’s the big deal?
And then you find yourself a member of the cabinet, or a senator, or even higher up, and you realize that you have the power to receive favours a lot larger than a free lunch. But the stakes are higher, so you need to spend more to get them.
I’ll build a super highway, or increase the military budget by $1 billion. That will generate lots of favours. But how do I pay for it?
I can’t increase taxes; that won’t win me any friends.
So the government borrows the money, or prints it, and everybody wins!
Everybody except the citizens, of course, because I have now created inflation, which robs the average guy of his purchasing power. But it’s slow, and not obvious that I caused it, so I don’t get blamed, and I keep getting re-elected.
That’s why incumbents normally win. That’s why the average age of a Senator in the USA is a 120 years old. (I didn’t fact check that number, but I assume I’m correct.)
Sadly, there is no obvious solution to this problem.
If you don’t have money you can’t challenge the incumbent, so they keep getting re-elected.
And they can keep getting re-elected, because they can print money. It’s as simple as that.
If they couldn’t print money, we wouldn’t have this problem.
What’s the solution?
I have no idea.
My guess is that the problem will end when we have a crash, like in ancient Rome. It’s inevitable, but not necessarily imminent.
So we wait.
(For now, gold and Bitcoin would be the obvious hedges).