4 ms·

This is where free will comes in for me. I have never seen economics or wealth as a goal in and of itself. Economics is a view of past performance and only rea

This is where free will comes in for me. I have never seen economics or wealth as a goal in and of itself. Economics is a view of past performance and only really interesting to compare against other periods in the past or other countries/economies. In my opinion people should do exactly the job they want to do and the economics of that will shake out however they shake out. People should be enjoying what they do, but more importantly they should be making whatever decision is best for them at the time. This may just circle back to the question of central planning - I don't think we are ever better off in the long rum trying to plan the entire system rather than trusting every individual to do what's best for them (and trusting that decision to often include what is best for their community).

fragmede 1y ago
Why whould a private equity investor who just wants a return care about what's best for a community a thousand miles away full of people they've never met? Looking at problems caused by bad private equity deals made public, sans regulation, that doesn't seem to have worked out well for the average American. Housing is too expensive and food prices have gone way up. Never mind the cost of healthcare, the level of service is no good.
- _heimdall 1y ago
  I'm not sure that I follow you here. I wasn't talking about what private equity should do at all, they can gamble money however they want. I was responding to the idea that we intentionally want to put drivers out of work because we want them in higher complexity roles.
  - fragmede 1y ago
    I was responding to > trusting every individual to do what's best for them (and trusting that decision to often include what is best for their community) which hasn't, in my view, panned out, because of the reasons I outlined in my comment. Between trusting individuals to be altruistic and centralized planning of everything, it seems there's a lot of room for some central authority to decide we need more eg housing and to provide incentives for that, without becoming eg Soviet Russia.
    - _heimdall 1y ago
      Oh I wasn't actually trying to say we should expect people to be altruistic, expect them to be selfish. Selfishness just bleeds over into community at a small scale, I'll help a neighbor not because I'm supposed to but because I appreciate their company and like knowing that others in the area may be similarly willing to help me if I need it later. Central planning for housing hasn't worked well, at least in the US. We either over develop poor quality housing or over regulate and drive prices up. Occasionally we try to make affordable housing to help those in need, but the combination of where we build those projects and the bar we try to define for who can use it leads to bad results more often than not.

fragmede 1y ago

Why whould a private equity investor who just wants a return care about what's best for a community a thousand miles away full of people they've never met? Looking at problems caused by bad private equity deals made public, sans regulation, that doesn't seem to have worked out well for the average American. Housing is too expensive and food prices have gone way up. Never mind the cost of healthcare, the level of service is no good.

_heimdall 1y ago
I'm not sure that I follow you here. I wasn't talking about what private equity should do at all, they can gamble money however they want. I was responding to the idea that we intentionally want to put drivers out of work because we want them in higher complexity roles.
- fragmede 1y ago
  I was responding to > trusting every individual to do what's best for them (and trusting that decision to often include what is best for their community) which hasn't, in my view, panned out, because of the reasons I outlined in my comment. Between trusting individuals to be altruistic and centralized planning of everything, it seems there's a lot of room for some central authority to decide we need more eg housing and to provide incentives for that, without becoming eg Soviet Russia.
  - _heimdall 1y ago
    Oh I wasn't actually trying to say we should expect people to be altruistic, expect them to be selfish. Selfishness just bleeds over into community at a small scale, I'll help a neighbor not because I'm supposed to but because I appreciate their company and like knowing that others in the area may be similarly willing to help me if I need it later. Central planning for housing hasn't worked well, at least in the US. We either over develop poor quality housing or over regulate and drive prices up. Occasionally we try to make affordable housing to help those in need, but the combination of where we build those projects and the bar we try to define for who can use it leads to bad results more often than not.