

America's Enduring Ideal - geargrinder
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111903703604576589090204327736.html

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sologoub
Well this was a scary read... I fully understand that it was written with the
sole intention of being scary, but seriously...

"He argues that financial incentives ought not to matter in a mindful society
and is confident that well-intentioned social engineers can suspend the laws
of economics."

Yup... people should work to better themselves without regard for reward, but
for the greater good of society. Marx would be proud, but unfortunately, human
greed and other vices always seem to win. Case in point - USSR and the ensuing
disaster of the 90s, replaced by autocratic oligarchical rule of the present
day. (First hand knowledge - I grew up there...)

"Mr. Sachs is honest enough to acknowledge that the "rich" are not nearly rich
enough to pay for his ever-expansive vision of government. We're told that
"each of us with an above-average income" (i.e., $50,000 per household) must
"understand that if we are prudent, we can make do with a little less take-
home pay." "

Anyone tried supporting a family in California on $50k income? I'm hoping my
family won't have to try this.

"Government must instead quantify "the greatest happiness of the greatest
number" and set policies and goals accordingly. There was a science to
satisfaction, Bentham claimed, and it was a puzzle that trained experts could
solve."

I seriously hope this was yanked out of context in the book, because otherwise
it's a call for complete lunacy. Soviets tried this in Russia and Mao tried
this in China... results were cataclysmic for the respective societies. If I
could transport the author of the book to Russia of the 90s, or better yet
Stalin's era, he might be signing a different tune.

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sologoub
One more thought... one place we could learn from, however, is Scandinavian
view on education - merit-based access to any level of it. In a nutshell, if
you are good enough, society should give you a chance to get all of the
education you need to realize your full potential and benefit the society, as
well as yourself.

But then again, a system like this has to be entirely merit-based. At the
scale of US (300+ million people), policing a system like that and ensuring
fairness will be a disaster and it will likely fail. Throw in special-
interests and affirmative action, and you have a mess no better and maybe
worse than what exists today.

