dagblog - Comments for "Central Planning Envy"

Silicon Valley may have other

EmmaZahn — Thu, 22 May 2014 13:12:54 +0000

Silicon Valley may have other plans than the businessification of American politics. Some of them do not think they need America at all.

Rise of the Bond villains

Why does reading this cause

MrSmith1 — Thu, 22 May 2014 00:26:36 +0000

In reply to Central Planning Envy

Why does reading this cause my mind's database to access the name of Robert Moses?

Moses was the 'master-builder" who destroyed whole communities in order to give us Worlds Fairs and highways only where he wanted them. He also was instrumental in sending the Dodgers to Los Angeles because he insisted the Brooklyn team could only build a new stadium in Flushing Queens rather than in Brooklyn. Seems to me that Robert Moses was a good example of the concept of less democracy at the top ... with a personal vision that falls far short of populism even as it pretends to be 'for the people.'

One has to take into

Elusive Trope — Wed, 21 May 2014 17:20:38 +0000

In reply to Central Planning Envy

One has to take into consideration, too, the whole filibuster fiasco that has taken over Congress. We can't even get to a vote on something when one party has a majority because it doesn't have a super majority. On a local level, special interests, some of whom are truly worthy of respect, make doing anything nearly impossible.

Here is a great article on San Francisco's housing problem: How Burrowing Owls Lead to Vomiting Anarchists (or SF's Housing Crisis Explained) that I posted on one of your other blogs. It really highlights the problem in a place like the bay area.

Yeah, this speaks to the

Michael Maiello — Wed, 21 May 2014 15:50:31 +0000

In reply to Brooks, Friedman, et al share

Yeah, this speaks to the misuse of the term "populism." Some dudes at Princeton did a pretty good job figuring out why popular ideas don't become law. What's weird is that Brooks took an elite failure for his model and his editor said nothing to him. If I could be editorial page editor of the NY Times I'd actually have my novel finished by now.

That's a darned good idea...

Michael Maiello — Wed, 21 May 2014 15:44:26 +0000

In reply to So wait, you think the

That's a darned good idea... "Sure, he's a Sith and shoots lightning out of his fingers, but he turned the Jedi Academy into a charter school!"

Brooks, Friedman, et al share

Michael Wolraich — Wed, 21 May 2014 15:44:08 +0000

In reply to So wait, you think the

Brooks, Friedman, et al share the conceit that their opinions are endorsed by the masses, the "square people" as Friedman has taken to calling them.

Why, then, has our popularly-elected government failed to implement the "populist" ideas promoted by such august thinkers? Obviously because our democracy has been hijacked by special interests. If the square people massed in Washington, they would cry Simpson-Bowles! Simpson-Bowles! Simpson-Bowles!

So wait, you think the

Michael Wolraich — Wed, 21 May 2014 15:34:00 +0000

In reply to Central Planning Envy

So wait, you think the Galactic Senate made a mistake by granting emergency powers to Palpatine?

My favorite line from the Brooks column is his recommendation "to use elite Simpson-Bowles-type commissions to push populist reforms." Brooks wouldn't know a populist reform if it stuck a lightsaber up his ass.

PS Am I correct in sensing a new Maiello-mash, David Brooks on Galactic politics?