5 thoughts on “The Governments Have Learned From Their Mistakes”

  1. Not your average light read. I think his optimism in human nature, however, is woefully uniformed:

    Sophisticated people focus more on how we acting together in a socially-responsible way can fix the problems that irresponsible private actors have inflicted upon all of us

    I think the main reason that some of the more troublesome financial vehicles are so complex is that they are working overtime to skirt an overabundance of government regulation. Instead of taking a common sense approach towards fixing regulations that aren’t as effective as intended advertised, our legislators bow to special interest money and simply add more layers to the existing regulations.

    As a result you wind up with something that only a small handful of people understand, and instead of trying to stay on top of what is going on the designated watchdogs end up surfing porn at work all day.

  2. Great article. I think the author got it about right with the responsibility angle. Since everyone has an excuse why THEY weren’t at fault, there isn’t any internalized consequence for doing the wrong thing. That kind of kills the natural negative feedback that normally regulates behavior. If you don’t feel the pain, you can’t learn the lesson. And we as a society have gotten very good at the excuse game.

  3. “The Governments Have Learned From Their Mistakes”

    Sure they have.

    Learned to sneakier and more opaque next time.

  4. “Sophisticated people focus more on how we acting together in a socially-responsible way can fix the problems that irresponsible private actors have inflicted upon all of us.”

    Sophisticated people should be too — well, sophisticated to have anything inflicted upon them (i.e. get suckered).

    This writer is an example of why we will always have a power elite, and a group of hucksters who will take them to the cleaners…

  5. Why our are institutions, private as well as public, apparently no longer capable of learning from experience?

    The answer is obvious. We have devalued the value of failure.

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