[lbo-talk] Hundreds hit the streets in Olympia, Washington

[Gar Lipow]

On Wed, 23 Mar 2005 09:20:58 -0800, Jordan Hayes <jmhayes at j-o-r-d-a-n.com> wrote:
> Gar writes:
> 
> > We subsidize suburbs at the expense of cities, in a huge
> > number of areas - highways, water, schools, then express
> > disapproval of people who make what seems the rational
> > decision for them - given the incentives we are given.
> 
> I think you've conflated the two "we" groups in this; the first one is
> typically bad math plus corruption: the subdivision gets done cheaply
> without the proper attention to what services will cost in the new area
> because the PowerPoint presentation to the town council shows inflated
> tax revenues paying for all the under-funded services sometime in the
> future when they won't be town councilors anymore.  Plus the alderman's
> brother Joey is the developer, and maybe some of your friends can buy
> the models and flip them when this thing really gets going.
> 
> The second "we" -- those of us who disapprove after the fact, despite
> the apparent rationality -- are not the same group.
> 
> /jordan

Yup, you are right. Very sloppy phrasing. I'm just saying that a lot
of things that are socially irrational are individually rational, and
it is more productive to focus on social forces than the indivduals.
And I'm not saying individuals make the best choices of those
available. (Is there anyone on this list over 30  who cannot think
back to at least one past choice and say  "How could I have been so
stupid?"?) But most of us pick from the choices we are given most of
the time. Changing the framework is a  hell of a lot more productive
than trying to play an optimal game within rigged rules.