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Culture War Roundup for the week of January 27, 2025

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surely it makes sense to do away with the ineffective government programmes first, not the coolest federal programme in history

This is extremely weak, because we can do away with both at the same time. If that guy can name some programs you think are less effective than PEPFAR, let him do it, and we will cancel those in addition to cancelling PEPFAR.

International coordination would itself be a coordination problem?

No. Coordination problem is when individual action is mostly ineffective, and it’s only when everyone agrees on something, you get a benefit. Here, half of spend gets you half of benefit, so you don’t need to get all the countries to agree and coordinate, just make the case for them, and whoever wants to pitch in will be able to.

The absence of other countries having an equivalent program isn't a strong argument that we shouldn't maintain the original.

If you think so, you are very far removed from how normal people think. Why do you think cafes make sure tip jars are made of transparent material, and make sure there is always some change inside?

The absence of other countries having an equivalent program isn't a strong argument that we shouldn't maintain the original.

If you think so, you are very far removed from how normal people think.

This is The Motte...