

Greed's Saving Graces - physcab
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/15/AR2009051502201.html?hpid=opinionsbox1

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pj
The article says, _"Furthermore, everyone knows we are in our current economic
pickle because greed, which slept through the Clinton administration, was
awakened by the Bush administration's tax cuts and deregulation."_

However, many attribute the decline to the repeal of Glass-Steagall Act in
1999, during Clinton's reign:
<http://www.investopedia.com/articles/03/071603.asp>

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daeken
No discussion of greed is complete without a word from Milton Friedman:
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWsx1X8PV_A>

~~~
indiejade
_"Is it really true that political self-interest is somehow nobler than
economic self-interest?"_

Taking out the adjective, self-interest is self interest.

However, general observation gathers a lot of evidence that beings with
political self-interest are usually more aware of the effects of their "greed"
on an environment. Especially the global environment. Economic self-interest
is about _consume, consume, consume_ in order to _profit profit profit_. It
matters not who or what is being ravaged. Political self-interest at least
nudges people to stop, take a deep breath, and look at the effects of such a
cycle on an environment. Political self-interest is perhaps more noble in that
it requires one to view onesself in the larger context of his or her community
at large.

Negative externalities, one of my favorite econ topics, are rarely addressed
logically by beings who thrive on the _consume consume consume_ in order to
_profit profit profit_ cycle.

(<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negative_externalities>)

*edited ~ not enough sleep last night!

~~~
anamax
> Political self-interest at least nudges people to stop, take a deep breath,
> and look at the effects of such a cycle on an environment.

No, it doesn't.

> Negative externalities, one of my favorite econ topics, are rarely addressed
> logically

NE's in practice are just an excuse to power-grab.

Look at all of the measures that are supposedly motivated by NE. Notice the
dominant response is "let's tax" but the money isn't used to address the
externality.

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absconditus
Greed was alive and well during the Clinton administration. Has Mr. Will
forgotten the dot com bubble?

I dislike George W. Bush as much as anyone else, but blaming him for
everything is ignorant.

