Tag Archives: self interest

The Imaginary Incentive to Serve

Posted on by
Reply

How to Save the United States   PDF Version

This is a question I answered on a public forum where I am apparently still welcome and for now uncensored .How is Fantasy Free Economics different than mainstream economics and standard economics dogma?

Mainstream economists just like laymen believe in the imaginary incentive to serve. Nature only provides one universal incentive, self interest. Like the naive public, PhD Smith, PhD Jones and all of the others believe in the imaginary incentive to serve. The imaginary incentive to serve is not written into text books. It is just assumed to exist. In the minds of PhD Smith, PhD Jones, everyone in government is acting on their strong imaginary incentive to serve. If something goes wrong, it is because of a failure of the reasoning process and certainly not because the imaginary incentive to serve is missing. What motivates members of the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee? Why certainly, they are motivated by the imaginary incentive to serve. Except that they are in reality guided by self interest. Continue reading →

Views: 49

Human Nature

Posted on by
Reply

Is human nature good or evil? For the purpose of studying economics it doesn’t matter. All we need to do is observe behavior without putting a value on it in terms of good or bad. How can we expect people to behave in the economic arena? To find this out we have to observe them and what we see will be correct. Living things are self serving and this allows them to survive. Human beings are no exception.

Public policy ends up being based on the way we would like others to behave and ignores the fact that each person will be self serving no matter what. Another way to look at this is that each individual sees himself as special but expects those in the public eye to act selflessly. It doesn’t work that way. It never has and never will.  Why do so many laws work to the determent to the individual? Obama Care is a good example because the lobbyists who wrote the bill were self serving just as they should be expected to be.

Those who are grounded in religion should not be offended at this approach. Economics is the study of secular world behavior.  Profits, messiahs and avatars offer an alternative.

From Mark 12:17

“”Then Jesus said to them, “Give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.” And they were amazed at him.””

This statement is too often taken to serve as a justification for taxing citizens in a a country until they cannot see. What it really means is that the spiritual world is completely non-attached to the secular world. Economics studies behavior as it occurs in the secular world and within the laws of dominance and subservience.

Religion offers an escape form the system. Personally I have accepted the offer but that doesn’t change the nature of the secular world.

 

 

Views: 1

Why Does Government Grow?

Posted on by
Reply

Government grows every time a bill is passed. Bills get passed as a way of rewarding Americans with political power. Only a few have enough political power to get what they want out of government. Bills are passed as a way to extract wealth and income out of the general population.

People without political power are important to the political process only in their imaginations. Conservative echo chambers serve the elite because all of the time and energy of conservatives is absorbed with philosophical discourse. Being of extreme importance in their own minds they are lulled into believing they are making a huge contribution by teaching others how to think.

In a democracy based system it is the citizens responsibility to govern themselves. Governing involves work and since work is a second choice for the human species, messiahs are sought instead of delegates.

Politicians are assumed to run for office because they are good people who want to serve. In terms of goodness, politicians are neutral at best. Politicians run for office as a way of making personal use of rank and file citizens, as they bargain for power, influence and money.

Views: 10