Some people are in positions of power, and when incentives go haywire, we are all human and it's easy to make mistakes. I am not saying everybody is Bernie Madoff.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
Bernie Madoff is probably more nuanced then I'm giving him credit for, but I just couldn't get under his skin.
When you rely on incentives, you undermine virtues. Then when you discover that you actually need people who want to do the right thing, those people don't exist because you've crushed anyone's desire to do the right thing with all these incentives.
Economists love to talk about incentives, but the bottom line is that people hate being controlled or manipulated, even when done through voluntary institutions. This is one of the most important tensions in capitalism.
People do not want politicians they know to be corrupt.
The way I see politics is, I don't think it's cynical to accept the fact politicians are human beings, that they're flawed, and they represent the best and the worst of us.
Whenever there are some who have more opportunities than others, this feeds corruption.
Too little attention is paid to the dark side of incentives. They are anything but a magic bullet. Psychologists have known this for years, but it seems largely hidden from the world of commerce.
The reality is that politicians, in terms of the amount of power they wield and the amount that they work, don't actually make that much money.
What people fail to appreciate is that the currency of corruption in elective office is, not money, but votes.
Well, the role of money in politics is pretty corrupting right now.
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