Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?
This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.
Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Notes -
"vast majority of parasites" is a massive overstatement, even though I largely agree that many could probably be fired. Most are nice, pretty normal people who work in a social context that does not properly reward - often even punishes - hard work and efficiency, so they don't. And because that's how people are, they have some clearly (to me, at least) self-serving believes why their work can't be made significantly easier.
Primarily imo government work needs to be re-structured significantly, and while doing that you can fire many, which is part of the reason why they resist efforts to change (why do you want to take away my nice & safe job?). But if you just fire them without changing the culture, you get the problem Scott described in his latest essay.
On your question for wall street, I'm still an ordoliberalist at heart; So while I think that correct pricing is very valuable, the degree to which some capital companies are both central and arcane is enough to allow substantial abuse, especially if they introduce ever-more mystic instruments. There probably is some way to limit them without hurting the overall economy in practical terms and as you say redirect their tremendous human capital to better endeavours. But at least for the time being, I don't really trust any current western government to not fuck this up massively, and any practical consequences are impossible to predict without knowing the details of any such plan.
More options
Context Copy link