Comments on: (phew)

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 01 Jun 2006 00:18:55 +0000

wait no. the principal-agent thing talked about this. the issue is about asymmetric information. as you move away from the local level, democratic process becomes increasingly asymmetric ... and it multiplies, because as you go higher, you also get into an asymmetric relationship with reporters, who are, in this drama, the agents hired by the public to gather information about the effectiveness of the agents hired to work for the public good. at the local level you literally step in the cracks caused by bad administration and you can go beat them up over it if you want to.

bloggers then are agents watching agents watching agents. complicated.

perhaps the test of a likely agency problem is whether your agent-watcher is more likely to go to dinner with your agent than with you.

Posted by hibiscus

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 01 Jun 2006 00:07:59 +0000

here's a neat thing - a few days ago i learned the principal-agent problem and moral hazard, economic concepts relating to contractual arrangements between owners and operators. maybe there's already a game model where the president and the vice president are paid differently, so as to dissuade them from trying to steal the whole government for themselves. i doubt it.

but from that i did think, what is the real difference between the "unitary executive" and outlandish CEO pay? "l'état, c'est moi" fits both, and both seem like symptoms of panic during a wildfire country drought instead of Excellence In Administration.

me thinking in this frame of mind, government flops on self-auditing because it has a monopoly on votes. you can vote for different candidates but you can't effectively choose a different government - unless you are willing to learn a new language.

Posted by hibiscus

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 26 May 2006 01:58:35 +0000

I actually watched American Idol this year.
(Yeah, yeah, I know... but I didn't vote!) The actual number of people who voted is probably much lower than that 64 million, since viewers can vote multiple times.

Posted by DearDarlingDidi

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 25 May 2006 17:09:04 +0000

i also have a surefire way to improve voter turnout. on every national election ballot, place a behavior requirement. SHALL...

...EVERY YOUNG ADULT be REQUIRED to attend parenting skills training?
...EVERY YOUNG ADULT be REQUIRED to participate in cooking and cleaning at community facilities (schools, senior homes, etc)?
...MINIMUM WAGE be pegged to CEO compensation?
...EVERY CITIZEN be REQUIRED to perform military service?
...EVERY CITIZEN be REQUIRED to vote? (heh heh)
...MOBILE PHONES be REQUIRED to automatically silence their rings in certain environments?

...

i had thought to do them as very silly things like people might bitch about while drunk or getting their hair cut (bathroom underwear, poor phone etiquette, inconsiderate birthday observance) but realized that probably what would work better would be to put things that actually stuck it to someone without a major crimp in anybody's life. abortion would seriously hit people but the kinds of stuff that old people complain about about self-reliance and such would be better because it would make both the crabby people and the idealistic people itchy.

Posted by hibiscus