Nudge Against the Fudge

WELL ITS THE FORTH OF JULY AND I'M GOING TO THE LAKE WITH MY FAMILY AND MY MARINE CORP BUDDIES WE ARE GOING TO PARTY !!! I'VE GOT MY TRUNKS AND THE SUN SCREEN FOR THE KIDS AND WE ARE ALL GOING TO WEAR OUR NEW OBAMA SLIPPERS ! (THEY ARE FORMERLY KNOWN AS FLIP FLOPS ) THATS WHAT WE ARE CALLING THEM! NOW OBAMA SLIPPERS ALL MY FREINDS SAY THAT IT FITS PERFECTLY... SO LOOK OUT AMERICA BECAUSE OBAMA SLIPPERS ARE COMMING TO A STORE NEAR YOU !!

INTERESTING. THERE IS NO DOUBT THAT THE ANSWERS ARE OUT THERE.

CYBERTERRORISM IS A REAL SERIOUS THREAT TO US. WE DEPEND ON TECHNOLOGY, INFACT OUR WHOLE SOCIETY DEPENDS ON COMPUTER SYSTEMS.

While many of eddiewhere's comments make sense, I must say a few words of my own.

Yes, we need oil, but we need to get rid of our oil addiction fast. If eddiwhere were to read the June 16 edition of Newsweek, he'd discover an article titled "A Bug to Save the Planet." featuring an interview with genome pioneer Craig Venter conducted by Fahreed Zakaria. Venter believes that we can produce a bactrium that lives off carbon dioxide and produces clean-burning fuel and that we could develop this withing 2 years. If he read the October 2007 edition of National Geographic, he'd discover that algae which can be produced from carbon emissions from coal burning coal plants is another possibility, since algae can be specially bred to produce whatever fuel we need. We desperately need a leadership that can see the multiple possibilities of green technology. Obama can do this; McCain, wedded to the past, cannot. Breaking free from oil will completely change our diplomatic bargaining ability. In addition, Obama appeals to the young, and most of Iran, the Middle East, as well as sub-Saharan Africa is very young - demographically speaking.

I agree with eddiewhere that certain countries, Russia, in particular, do pose a threat. But not as eddiwhere imagines. Russia is eager to develop its oil resources in Siberia. Russia has little or no regard for the environment. Siberia is one place where you do not pimp slap Mother Nature, which is what Russia is doing. The same truism also applies to China which seems to be engaged in a perverse contest with the Russia and the United States to see who can get the prize for environmental destruction. We are racing to an apocalypse, that neither the Chinese, the Russians nor the GOP understands. (that includes make believe mavericks like McCain.) That's another reason we need a regime change in America.

Apparently George F. Will did not bother to read Obama???s famous Father???s Day speech. Or perhaps, Will did not compare notes with his colleague Jonathan Alder. If he did, he would notice that in speeches Obama delivers to the African-American community, he constantly stresses the importance of self-reliance and responsibility. He urges African-American men to be responsible fathers, rather than hit-and-run baby daddies. He even attacks the homophobia and anti-Semitism of many African-American clergymen. (He once challenged African-American pastors to ???show me one example of a marriage which broke up as the consequence of the sight of two men holding hands.???)

The media and right wing 527"s as usual are spinning a series of lies and mythis about Obama- (The real reason Obama decided to turndown public financing. He needs the big buck warchest simply to set the record straight.) Obama is not exactly the super flaming liberal leftist CNN would have us believe. His approach to any problem, including withdrawing from Iraq, tends to be cautious and incremental, if not downright centrist. Of course, Obama advocates many spending programs dear to liberals??? hearts. But we need to rethink that idea as well. Spending money to fight global warming by developing a non-fossil fuel economy is far cheaper than the effects of global warming. It costs a lot less to send a boy from the ???hood to college than to incarcerate him. Spending money to restore the Mississippi delta would have blunted the destructive force and damage of a hurricane like Katrina. Universal, proactive, cost-effective medical care is far cheaper than our current system of for profit medical insurance. (We have the most expensive and most inefficient medical systems in the industrial world, and our infant mortality rate is an international disgrace.) I could make a longer list - but the bottom line is simple. McCain like all of the GOP is a borrow-and-squander conservative. Like the Boeing contract which McCain engineered, this is the worst kind of government spending. So-called ???liberals??? like Obama favor prudent, high quality public investments with public accountability. This approach actually saves money in the long run. When Obama stresses change we can believe in, one of the biggest changes is our political lexicon. Tax-and-invest liberals are really the only true fiscal conservatives.

We need to get out of Iraq and transfer responsibility and management of that country to the IRAQ's themselves. THEY SHOULD be backed by a multinational force led by Middle Eastern countries until they are able to fight extremist on their own.
Our unilateral approach in the MIDDLE EAST has to come to an end. ECONOMICALLY, IRAQ IS KILLING the average tax payer and making a few private contractors and oil firms rich.

We need Oil. WE NEED OIL. Therefore, getting rid of the Iranian regime is at the top of our agenda.
The majority in Iran want change but not under and American led invasion. It has to be done from within. We lost the support of moderate Arabs and Muslims over the last six years. Hopefully, PRESIDENT OBAMA can empower this group and encourage them to meet with their counterparts.

Inotherwords there should be an alliance between all moderates in the Middle East, JEWS, ARABs, MUSLIMS, ect... These forces must be self motivated by a common cause, Peace. IF this group can be strengthened they themselves will defeat or at least contain the force of extremism.
WE must strengthen the forces behind peace and weaken those against peace on both sides.

THE UNITED STATES CANNOT SOLVE THE CONFLICT IN THE MIDDLE EAST. WE CAN ONLY STRENGHTEN AND SUPPORT THE PEOPLE OF THE MIDDLE EAST TO SOLVE THEIR OWN PROBLEMS.

IN THE SHORT RUN WE NEED MIDDLE EASTERN OIL. THIS COMPLICATES OUR ROLE OVER THERE.
WE Should have had an ENERGY SUMMIT TEN YEARS AGO. WE NEED TO COME UP WITH A TWENTY YEAR PLAN to RID OURSELVES of OIL DEPENDENCY IN THE MIDDLE EAST. TWENTY YEARS WILL GO BY LIKE NOTHING. WE HAVE TO START NOW.

THE most dangerous threats are the ones you do not see coming. LIKE CHINA, RUSSIA, EASTERN EUROPEAN organized crime. Monitoring these entities will be our great challenge.
ARE WE READY FOR CYBER WAR. I DON't THINK SO.

Centuries ago, society developed a nudge which fostered the most likely
production of healthy, numerous, stable families...marriage. Obama wants to
greatly diminish that nudge and put us on the surest path to a shrinking
populace (greater access to abortion and other-than-one-man-one-woman
marriage). He will then have to greatly expand the number of immigrants to
keep our population base and economy growing to support the government
programs he wants to put in place, all of which will transform our culture
in many unexpected ways. If Obama had a clue about nudges, I don't think he
would do any of the above.

And does he have any understanding of the nudges required in Afghanistan,
Iraq, Colombia, North Korea, Iran, Kosovo, Venezuela, Rwanda, China, and on
and on? Words do not nudge nations, political, military, economic or NGO
presence nudges nations. President Bush, with the support of Sen McCain,
has secured our presence across the globe earning us greater nudge
capability, and Obama would undo much of that progress.

Centuries ago, society developed a nudge which fostered the most likely
production of healthy, numerous, stable families...marriage. Obama wants to
greatly diminish that nudge and put us on the surest path to a shrinking
populace (greater access to abortion and other-than-one-man-one-woman
marriage). He will then have to greatly expand the number of immigrants to
keep our population base and economy growing to support the government
programs he wants to put in place, all of which will transform our culture
in many unexpected ways. If Obama had a clue about nudges, I don't think he
would do any of the above.

And does he have any understanding of the nudges required in Afghanistan,
Iraq, Colombia, North Korea, Iran, Kosovo, Venezuela, Rwanda, China, and on
and on? Words do not nudge nations, political, military, economic or NGO
presence nudges nations. President Bush, with the support of Sen McCain,
has secured our presence across the globe earning us greater nudge
capability, and Obama would undo much of that progress.

I had expressed similar thoughts as those in this article in <a href="http://musefree.wordpress.com/2008/06/14/obamanomics-and-nudges/">this post.</a>

I'm sorry that some people, judging by their comments, didn't understand what you were advocating with 'nudges'.

There is a nudge in place already. The only question is whether to leave a bad nudge 'don't participate in the 401k', or a good nudge 'do participate in the 401k' in place.

Some commenters are in their mystical worlds tryign to make their points....ok, but come back to earth for a minute. There is already a default for every choice....what the author is trying to get you to do, is realize, many of these default choices are obviously bad default choices.

Back when you were a conservative, you would have immediately recognized that governments employ bureaucrats to plan their "incentives and nudges" and other bureaucrats to to interpret and execute their many incentive and nudging plans, making governments in the incentive and nudging business larger and less " modest".Perhaps if they were to properly discharge the duties they already have,we might profitably discuss further responsibilities for them.discuss

There is nothing new about employees' contributions to savings plans such as 401(k)s. By saying that the contribution will be automatic, but not mandatory, Obama is once again playing words game and fool the middle class. This man is such a con artist. Obama: "You can't have your cake and eat it, too."

Damrite, wstephenjackson, damrite.

George Will makes an excellent point, and one worthy of discussion. It has been repeatedly proven that when governments 'mandate' behavior, the result is never what is predicted and Ceteris Paribus, this will end up for the worse. I have always believed that that government governs best which governs least, but often this is a smoke screen for something else ... the leaner government is, the smarter it must be .. and government needs be passive insofar as possible. I have had it up t here with new laws and restrictions on our behavior, from the federal mandate of drinking ages and seat belt laws on down (yes, they say that is not a mandate, but of course on examination, it is exactly that, the other choice being too expensive to be realistic). As a computer programmer and applications designer, I am well aware of the important of setting the correct default, since I also know that most users (or citizens) will bother changing it. But we do have to give them the choice!

Stephen Jackson

I always liked George Will's complexity. Reminds me of William F. Buckleys columns years ago. Always at least one new word each article. Today's new word for me was "adumbrated". Looked it up. Now I own it, too. Thanks, George Will. One of Buckley's best new words for me about 35 years ago in the morning paper was "chutzpah". Couldn't find it in the dictionary. Had lunch that day with a friend who is Jewish. I asked him if he had ever seen it. He said, that it originated many years ago in the Yiddish community and more or less represented the attitude of a person before a court charged with murdering his parents who had asked the court for mercy because he was an orphan. Thanks, George. I owe you a new word, if I could ever find one that you don't already know.

I kind of like the idea that Obama is checking all of the options of how government should really work for the people as it was intended to do from the first. He should cherry pick from the best of all that we have and have had in the past for the benefit of the general public, and I don't doubt that he will. Sure beats the blatant and narrow focus of the past eight years to benefit fewer and fewer citizens as time went by, much to the detriment of more and more citizens who seem to be waking up to this fact and looking with a lantern lit in bright daylight for an honest man to elect. This is a really good article.