Glenn Reynolds and Russ Roberts Talk Politics, Technology, and Constitution
courtesty PJ MediaThis week's must-snag podcast is an easy pick:
The
latest EconTalk from Russ Roberts is a conversation with Glenn
Reynolds, the University of Tennessee law prof who is best known as
the web's own Instapundit.
They're talking about politics, technology, and the Constitution.
Click here to listen and go here to download the podcast.
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From the interview:
And there is a scene in [Blazing Saddles]--which I regard as one of the most powerful metaphors for our political situation every produced--and it's the one where Mel Brooks, playing Governor Le Petomane, has all his cronies around a big conference table and he says: Gentlemen, we've got to protect our phony-baloney jobs. And the problem with making the government smaller is it threatens a lot of people's phony-baloney jobs. I think it's a mistake that a lot of economists make--not just economists but a lot of other critics of government--to think that the only question is just sort of money. I think the other issue that people guard almost as vigorously, and maybe more vigorously, is the non-monetary economy of self-importance
Well said. Which is also why I'm very pessimistic of any real change taking place inside the system.
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Yep. No one wants to be "mean". People would lose "their" jobs. So the Indian Arts and Crafts Board will operate in perpetuity, because a job is a job, and there is no difference between a productive one and a bullshit government make work job.
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Or as my friend says, "We can't cut government spending, because I work for Lockheed-Martin!! Aaargh!!!"