(no subject)
Apr. 12th, 2019 11:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
timeletsPolitics in a democracy is a combination of zero-sum and cooperative games (per Yglesias via rsokolov);
-- elections is a zero-sum game (win-lose);
-- policy is a cooperative game (win-win).
Currently, zero-sum games dominate American politics despite the times of economic prosperity. Why?
- in the absence of wars, politicians learned to frame basic socioeconomic issues as zero-sum games, e.g.
-- immigrants vs citizens ("НАШИ бедные. их именно мигранты опускают уже ниже некуда.");
-- trade disputes;
-- green energy vs fossil fuels ("wind turbines cause cancer.");
-- single-payer "socialist" vs employer-sponsored "capitalist" healthcare;
-- "elites vs the people";
-- urban vs rural.
Reality TV and social media stimulate zero-sum game framing:
-- always winners and losers;
-- trolling and ego maintenance;
-- direct appeal to emotions, e.g. measure engagement and likes;
-- no need to get anything done.
Major critical issues ignored by zero-sum framing:
-- the death of industrial employment;
-- budget deficits;
-- infrastructure deficiencies;
-- urban density and housing costs;
-- asset inequality;
-- aging (Medicare/Social Security);
-- military overspending.
-- elections is a zero-sum game (win-lose);
-- policy is a cooperative game (win-win).
Currently, zero-sum games dominate American politics despite the times of economic prosperity. Why?
- in the absence of wars, politicians learned to frame basic socioeconomic issues as zero-sum games, e.g.
-- immigrants vs citizens ("НАШИ бедные. их именно мигранты опускают уже ниже некуда.");
-- trade disputes;
-- green energy vs fossil fuels ("wind turbines cause cancer.");
-- single-payer "socialist" vs employer-sponsored "capitalist" healthcare;
-- "elites vs the people";
-- urban vs rural.
Reality TV and social media stimulate zero-sum game framing:
-- always winners and losers;
-- trolling and ego maintenance;
-- direct appeal to emotions, e.g. measure engagement and likes;
-- no need to get anything done.
Major critical issues ignored by zero-sum framing:
-- the death of industrial employment;
-- budget deficits;
-- infrastructure deficiencies;
-- urban density and housing costs;
-- asset inequality;
-- aging (Medicare/Social Security);
-- military overspending.
no subject
Date: 2019-04-17 01:01 am (UTC)Substitute "engineers" for economists and their allies the bankers, and very few changes need be made.