The Conservative Theory of Moral Collapse

Welcome friends!

I was reading an article the other day by some conservative or other who was lamenting the ostensible moral collapse of American society.  Sorry, I didn’t think to keep the reference.  Maybe it was in the Atlantic magazine a few months ago?  As far as I can tell these conservative everything is going to hell narratives are a dime a dozen so I’m sure you can find something similar without too much difficulty.  Anyway, I found myself getting a little irritated, which is generally what happens whenever I read anything by a conservative, so I tried to sit down and analyze what was going on.  I decided there were really two issues that were bothering me: hypocrisy and ignorance.

Let’s take hypocrisy first... Sorry but only selected archived (previous year) posts are currently available full text on this website.  All posts including this one are available in my annual anthology ebook series available at the Amazon Kindle Bookstore for a nominal fee.  Hey, we all need to make a buck somehow, right?  If you find my timeless jewels of wisdom amusing or perhaps even amusingly irritating throw me a bone now and then.  Thank you my friends!

Redistribution and Economic Theory III: The Paycheck Fairness Act

Welcome friends!

I suppose it would probably make more sense if I were to talk a bit about health care this week since it’s been in the news a lot lately and is a rather interesting subject.  However, maybe I can hold off on that one for a little while.  (I’d hate to give anyone the false impression that this site is about breaking news.  It’s not.  It’s more about underlying issues that are certainly not going to disappear tomorrow, or next week, or even ten years from now; so there’s really no rush.)  Instead, I was thinking that maybe it’s been long enough now that I can go back to one of my core issues without seeming like too much of a raving monomaniac.  Yes, maybe it’s time for another go at economic theory and the distribution of resources!  What, already?  I know, I know.  It’s just that I came across a couple of interesting articles recently and we had all those news stories a couple of weeks ago about the union busting Republican governor of the state of Wisconsin (formerly one of our more progressive and labor-oriented midwestern states) so it’s crossed my mind a couple of times recently.

Just to recap, you may remember that I’ve already discussed a couple of times now how I believe the concept of utility used in neoclassical economic theory is inadequate to support a complete theory of social ethics ... Sorry but only selected archived (previous year) posts are currently available full text on this website.  All posts including this one are available in my annual anthology ebook series available at the Amazon Kindle Bookstore for a nominal fee.  Hey, we all need to make a buck somehow, right?  If you find my timeless jewels of wisdom amusing or perhaps even amusingly irritating throw me a bone now and then.  Thank you my friends!