It is a general popular error to suppose the loudest complainers for the public to be the most anxious for its welfare.
— Edmund Burke, born around this date in 1729
“Power always thinks it has a great soul and vast views, beyond the comprehension of the weak.”
~John Adams, letter to Thomas Jefferson, February 2, 1816
The best of fact-checking tools
A Wall Street Journal writer compiles "the best nonpartisan tech tools I could find to empower us to keep politicians honest." See them here
“Populist parties are trying to make it clear that they are not racist in the traditional sense, not concerned about a person’s ethnic background but their cultural and social behavior,” says Eric Frey, managing editor of the Austrian daily newspaper Der Standard
HMRC criticised over handling of benefit sanctions contract
Whistleblower or misguided luddite? Centrelink rejects serious allegations
Whistleblower or misguided luddite? Centrelink rejects serious allegations
… as when it was it was written 24 years ago: Mediasaurus | WIRED.
This leads me to the final consequence of generalization: it caricatures our opponents, as well as the issues. There has been a great decline in civility in this country. We have lost the perception that reasonable persons of good will may hold opposing views. Simultaneously, we have lost the ability to address reasoned arguments – to forsake ad hominem characterization, and instead address a different person's arguments. Which is a tragedy, because debate is interesting. It's a form of exploration. But personal attack is merely unpleasant and intimidating. Paradoxically, this decline in civility and good humor, which the press appear to believe is necessary to "get the story," reduces the intensity of our national discourse. Watching British parliamentary debates, I notice that the tradition of saying "the right honorable gentleman" or "my distinguished friend" before hurling an insult does something interesting to the entire process. A civil tone permits more bluntness.
Potato merchant found guilty of £161000 VAT fraud
A few years ago I wrote this about Bolivia:
It is much debated in Bolivia whether corruption is going up or down. I believe it is going up, but partially for good reasons. For instance the construction sector is doing well, and construction tends to be corrupt in many countries, for reasons intrinsic to the activity itself (e.g., lots of big contracts, easy to claim invisible expenses, etc.). That means higher corruption but also a better corruption than the penny ante bribes of a shrinking economy.
I still think that is correct, and at the time it didn’t meet up with mass moral opprobrium, even though with some very very small chance I may have condemned the citizenry of Bolivia to corrupt, exploitative rule for ever and ever. I should add that such points are standard fare in the literature, see for instance the book on corruption by Susan Rose-Ackerman.
Now, these days, with more American status relationships on the line, everyone is up in arms because Peter Thiel had the following exchange with Maureen Dowd:
When I remark that President Obama had eight years without any ethical shadiness, Mr. Thiel flips it, noting: “But there’s a point where no corruption can be a bad thing. It can mean that things are too boring.”
As I interpret Peter, he is not saying it would have been good to have an exogenous increase in the corruption of Obama the individual. Rather, had some other conditions been different/better, the overall level of corruption in government would have been higher and that combination might very well have been a net plus. If you would like a “left wing example,” had the fiscal stimulus been twice as large, corruption in government probably would have been higher too (pointing out “the stimulus wasn’t very corrupt” is missing the point and in fact is a sign that you are a rampant mood affiliator, determined to restore the mood you feel is just, rather than tracing the analytic point at hand). In other words, Peter’s point is entirely defensible and probably correct. He’s not saying that “corruption is good.”
Now, to be sure, there is another dimension here. The incoming Trump administration is showing too many signs of being corrupt, and many people are condemning it on these grounds. Peter’s remark does not fit into that narrative and Peter has been a significant Trump supporter. But let’s think about this a little more. First, is there a role for some outsiders who eschew the dominant moral choruses of approbation and condemnation, in favor of making other, different points? I certainly hope so, because often I try to be one of them (though unlike Peter I have not supported Trump). Second, Peter is not an outsider in this process, rather he has taken on an important position on the Trump transition team. Given that reality, you can’t expect him to produce a quotation here condemning Trump. So he instead makes some other (valid) outsider-like point about corruption. Now, you might object to Peter’s role on the transition team, but that is old news at this point. You shouldn’t be holding any extra grudge against him for his corruption answer. And above all, keep in mind these are reporter-chosen excerpts from a four-hour dinner/interview, and so we don’t know the surrounding context and qualifications and possibly accompanying off the record statements.
People, you need to pick your targets. Get upset about the things worth getting upset about, such as the absence of a sustained foreign policy plan to head off imminent volatility in global relations.
BlackRock demands end to excessive executive pay FT
BlackRock demands end to excessive executive pay FT