Bridges

Why do we as a society build bridges that will last longer than any one alive today will live? I'm not sure I understand this from an economic point of view. It seems very irrational to me to deplete our current capital resources to benefit people that are not even alive yet and they will bear none of the expense.

Could it be that if we were to only address initiatives that benefited the current society, then society throughout time would be better off? Maybe if we didn't waste money building bridges that last 150 years, we could provide additional benefits to the current needy in today's society.

Rent seeking

I often use the term rent seeking. I realize that unless you were in an economics class recently, or listening to my boy Russ on EconTalk you might not realize what that actually means. Rent seeking is the extraction of uncompensated value from others without making any contribution to productivity. This is compared to profit seeking when two parties enter into a mutually beneficial transaction where both parties are better off after the transaction.

Rent seeking is often associated with monopolies that extract profit through their monopolistic position rather than providing value to the consuming party. I usually use the term to describe politicians that are seeking to provide government services to their constituents (uncompensated value) while making no contribution personally. Politicians love to take credit for the millions of jobs "they" created or or the great health care benefits they provided. These services and benefits to their constituents never come at any cost to them; however, the notoriety and goodwill they create are attributed to them regardless of any personal contribution. Be wary of rent seekers from all political parties as their incentive to act in this manner is great and thier inhibitions are scarce.

Plastic surgery tax???

This is exactly why you never start taxing individual activities or products. To single out one activity or product to add additional taxes opens the door for special interest and rent seeking congressmen. Time to tax that botox, because those people really have a higher social responsibility to pay for health care of the nation's poor. If anyone has a responsibility (i'm not getting into that right now), it should be split equitably and not burdened upon middle aged women receiving plastic surgery.

NY Times Article

Check out my food blog where I will not talk about economics or politics. It might make you hungry though.

http://mike-deglazed.blogspot.com/