tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20067416.post743852755578473635..comments2023-12-21T06:35:36.624-05:00Comments on Recursivity: If I Were King...Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20067416.post-72743801708222305942012-08-30T12:00:04.901-04:002012-08-30T12:00:04.901-04:00"... gas taxes would be double or triple wha..."... gas taxes would be double or triple what they are now. The harmful externalities associated with driving cars should be borne by the people who use them. Yes to the carbon tax!"<br /><br />What about rural Canada?Farmer Joenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20067416.post-8518337625604691192012-08-29T00:29:26.017-04:002012-08-29T00:29:26.017-04:00If I were king, there would be a 2% stamp duty on ...If I were king, there would be a 2% stamp duty on sales of securities (stocks, etc).<br />Paul Mhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11278400600014926435noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20067416.post-27028176603748037712012-08-28T23:55:43.902-04:002012-08-28T23:55:43.902-04:00Corporations committing felonies would be put into...Corporations committing felonies would be put into receivership or nationalised. No second chances for felonies. No slap-on-the-writs fines.<br /><br />Directors of those corporations would face substantial bans (up to a lifetime) from holding other directorships. Including directorships of family trusts.Paul Mhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11278400600014926435noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20067416.post-4251532858450729962012-08-27T12:25:22.309-04:002012-08-27T12:25:22.309-04:00Valhar, random kooks would sometimes get a go at g...Valhar, random kooks would sometimes get a go at government, but then at present non-random kooks do and it's not clear that that's better.<br /><br />(Maybe random legislator selection would have a higher probability of producing crazily unrepresentative results, but existing voting systems do that pretty effectively already.)ghttp://www.mccaughan.org.uk/g/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20067416.post-25852017486101475542012-08-27T11:05:06.171-04:002012-08-27T11:05:06.171-04:00If legislators are selected randomly, what's t...If legislators are selected randomly, what's to stop random kooks, racists, misogynists, theocrats, etc. from getting a go at government?Valhar2000https://www.blogger.com/profile/05467019327257867276noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20067416.post-47659931322845833012012-08-27T09:38:07.754-04:002012-08-27T09:38:07.754-04:00Paul:
"Can we simply ban politics completel...Paul: <br /><br />"Can we simply ban politics completely, or wouldn't that work?"<br />That could be called anarchy, but one wonders (given the current state of affairs in many democracies) whether it would work... We do not have enough data.<br /><br />"Tax the churches?"<br />Well, of course! Don't they pay taxes in the US? In Greece, for sure they don't.Takis Konstantopouloshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14675216467783238403noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20067416.post-84813193315700577602012-08-27T09:22:22.361-04:002012-08-27T09:22:22.361-04:00I would ban factory farming, impose heavy tax on m...I would ban factory farming, impose heavy tax on meat, ban all the advertisements by meat and fast food companies and encourage campaigns to eliminate or reduce meat consumption. I believe this is necessary both for better treatment of animals and for tackling climate change.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20067416.post-69737256972203488792012-08-27T03:23:14.665-04:002012-08-27T03:23:14.665-04:00The US Supreme Court threw out most of Roosevelt&#...The US Supreme Court threw out most of Roosevelt's New Deal legislation. Even three strikes would have removed most of the Democrats from Congress.Gerrynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20067416.post-18930008518492703252012-08-26T20:45:58.778-04:002012-08-26T20:45:58.778-04:00Can we simply ban politics completely, or wouldn&#...Can we simply ban politics completely, or wouldn't that work?<br /><br />What would you do regarding state-run lotteries?<br /><br />Are corporations people? That is, do they pay taxes and make political donations, or not?<br /><br />Tax the churches?<br /><br />~~ Paul<br />Paul C. Anagnostopoulosnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20067416.post-27473208034978692102012-08-26T08:57:52.105-04:002012-08-26T08:57:52.105-04:00... that would be pretty confusing
http://en.wik...... that would be pretty confusing <br /><br />http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shalit_%28surname%29Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20067416.post-88815112582884411832012-08-25T09:58:28.103-04:002012-08-25T09:58:28.103-04:00In that kind of situation, would you really want a...<i>In that kind of situation, would you really want all one party's legislators to lose their seats?</i><br /><br />It's a valid argument. One solution would be to allow the Supreme Court to advise on legislation <i>before</i> it is enacted, as is <a href="http://www.law.ualberta.ca/centres/ccs/issues/Reference_Procedure.php" rel="nofollow">done in Canada</a>.<br /><br />Another solution would be "three-strikes" approach. After voting in favor three times for unconstitutional legislation, you're out.<br /><br />Or if the ruling is 8-1 or 9-0, you're out, but not if it is closer -- the rationale being if it is that obvious, you shouldn't have voted for it.Jeffrey Shallithttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12763971505497961430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20067416.post-60249912298992285112012-08-25T09:47:28.819-04:002012-08-25T09:47:28.819-04:00As far as random legislators, this is just handing...<i>As far as random legislators, this is just handing special interests the keys.</i><br /><br />I don't think so, because with random representation there is no incentive to listen to one lobbyist over another. Currently, legislators listen to lobbyists because they get money for re-election efforts.Jeffrey Shallithttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12763971505497961430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20067416.post-46520543580599139232012-08-24T19:26:15.485-04:002012-08-24T19:26:15.485-04:00Academic research would be decoupled from low-leve...Academic research would be decoupled from low-level undergraduate education.<br /><br />People could register their license plate and phone number in a special database and predatory tow companies would be required to phone such people and give them five minutes to come move their car before being allowed to tow them.<br /><br />All academic research with the slightest hint of government funding (whether it be a grant or just the researcher working at a public university) would be required to be published open access.<br /><br />Gender equality issues would be applied fairly: for example, either women have to register for selective service draft, or that requirement is dropped for men.<br /><br />Supermarkets are absolutely prohibited from issuing "discount cards".<br /><br />Gift cards are outlawed. Unsolicited junk mail is outlawed.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20067416.post-22621937998549463192012-08-24T17:57:59.987-04:002012-08-24T17:57:59.987-04:00"players of professional sports would get to ..."players of professional sports would get to vote each year on who are the worst referees (or umpires) in their sport; the referees receiving the most votes would be demoted or fired"<br /><br />Indeed, this should apply to politicians and other public persons. It is called <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ostracism" rel="nofollow">ostracism</a> and was, once upon a time, a basic function of Democracy. Would it not be nice to have politicians fear of ostracism? In Greece, for instance, MPs, knowing that, once elected, nothing could happen to them, abused the law so much, stole a large portion of the money coming from the EU (3 billion Euro <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akis_Tsochatzopoulos" rel="nofollow">in one case</a>), and led the country in crisis. Ostracism, indeed, would have been a good thing...Takis Konstantopouloshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14675216467783238403noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20067416.post-45285449992112575542012-08-24T13:13:15.780-04:002012-08-24T13:13:15.780-04:00As far as random legislators, this is just handing...As far as random legislators, this is just handing special interests the keys. Legislators will depend more and more on lobbyist input, not because of campaign donations, but because they honestly don't know about the topic.<br /><br />What if a legislator intorduced a Bill that declared corporations non-persons. An out of left center decision like Citizen's United could cost them their seat.KeithBnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20067416.post-62420640593015748552012-08-24T12:58:13.812-04:002012-08-24T12:58:13.812-04:00Barack Obama's healthcare reform came perilous...Barack Obama's healthcare reform came perilously close to being declared unconstitutional by the (shamefully politicized) US Supreme Court. In that kind of situation, would you really want all one party's legislators to lose their seats?<br /><br />I like the idea of getting rid of drug rules in professional sports, but here's the counterargument. Suppose there's some harmful drug that boosts performance; then many competitors will take that drug, and accept the performance cost; then everyone else will have to do so or resign themselves to a career of failure. So then everyone takes the drug, the overall rankings are much the same as if no one did, performance in absolute terms is a bit better than otherwise, and everyone gets the adverse health consequences. That doesn't seem like it's obviously a good tradeoff. So I think I'd say that any drugs that can be reliably and cheaply tested for, and that have adverse consequences, should be prohibited, and the prohibition vigorously enforced.ghttp://www.mccaughan.org.uk/g/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20067416.post-29262550837098310842012-08-24T10:18:14.675-04:002012-08-24T10:18:14.675-04:00I should really do the work to find this out mysel...I should really do the work to find this out myself but:<br /><br />What is the total revenue from gas and diesel taxes? (Say, in Ontario)<br />What is the total annual expenditure, at all levels, on road construction and maintenance, including plowing?<br /><br />Because the latter should be funded entirely, and specifically, from the former. Want a new expressway in the GTA? Add a levy to all gas sold in the area to pay for it.<br /><br />Also add a surtax earmarked for public transit and intercity rail.Eamon Knighthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04262012749524758120noreply@blogger.com