
Obama names tech execs to transition team - ksvs
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10083566-38.html
======
shimon
I'm very, very optimistic about signs like this. Effective use of Internet-
based communication, organization, and collaboration tools appears to be
something that, generally speaking, comes naturally to younger generations and
doesn't come at all to older generations. Appointing a few key people who get
it to powerful positions in government could go a very long way toward
delivering, in government, some of the same productivity improvements and
transparency that we've come to appreciate in tech companies.

~~~
Darmani
I'm a little fearful of efficiency in government. I believe that, in most
areas, government can never be as efficient as a free market. Making the
government closer to a free-market efficiency just makes it harder to get to a
fully-free market and makes it a lot easier for the government to grow in
other areas.

Rothbard went into a little more detail on this in a lengthy criticism of
Friedman: <http://www.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/rothbard43.html>

~~~
chubbard
But, government isn't going anywhere. Wouldn't you rather have an efficient
government over a non-efficient government given that Free Markets don't
eliminate the need for government? As the latest crisis has taught us Free
Markets can't solve everything, and sometimes the only answer is government
intervention. Like it or not the free markets couldn't correct their mistakes.
They tried before requesting government intervention. The only answer is to
find the balance between free markets and government. Right now we're out of
whack.

~~~
corentin
The current crisis reminded us that it's still a bad idea for the government
to distort prices on a so massive scale (through fake interest rates), because
truth has to eventually emerge through the price system anyway, and
corrections have to happen.

Failure can happen _in_ the free market (that's how progress is made, through
trial and error). But when governments decide that failure should never happen
("too big to fail", etc.) they make the free market itself fail, which is much
bigger problem.

~~~
anewaccountname
Financial companies take calculated risks for themselves to make profits. But
they don't have to take into account the effect of any losses they may cause
in the economy as a whole (or more precisely, they only have to consider their
share of them). How do you propose to get out of this collective action
problem without some form of government regulation?

~~~
corentin
There is this moral hazard precisely because the government ends up bailing
out the irresponsible (following the "too big to fail" mantra).

Instead, just let the financial companies (in fact, all companies, including
GM) take full responsibility for what they do.

------
gamache
Just think, had McCain won, we might have ended up with Carly Fiorina...

~~~
biohacker42
Surely would have - _shudder_

------
brandonkm
I'm genuinely curious to see how the Obama administration will use the web. If
his campaign is any indication, the whitehouse tech game will no doubt be
cutting edge.

------
jim-greer
Cool that someone from Launchbox is involved. Seems like Google.org hasn't
done much yet given all the resources they have.

------
honeybee
change.gov is up, if not exactly pretty :-)

(and i'm curious to see what the Obama administration will do with
whitehouse.gov.)

~~~
vaksel
i doubt he had any say in that. They probably decided on a "site to help open
up the government" and then some IT guys were told to make it happen.

~~~
yellowbkpk
According to the meta-data in the source of change.gov, this is the guy that
wrote it:

<http://www.smartcard.gov/thurston_bio.cfm>

------
endlessvoid94
According to the source of the Change.gov page, it was generated using
Microsoft Word.

Granted, it's just a placeholder for the site, but still. I sure hope that
isn't a sign of things to come.

~~~
yellowbkpk
I think they're using it as a metaphor:

Current administration = Word-generated page

New administration = Web 2.0

------
jmtame
Getting rid of Ted Stevens for good is the first thing that should happen.

~~~
hugh
Ummm, how do you propose that the executive branch should "get rid of" a
senator?

~~~
nuclear_eclipse
Guantanamo seems a pretty popular option these days...

