Something Doesn’t Compute
Toward the end of Megan McArdle's State of the Union criticism we get this paragraph:
As David Boaz said last night, Obama's talk of blueprints was telling. A blueprint is a simple plan that an architect imposes on an inanimate object. Obama really does seem to think that he can manage the economy in the same way. No, I don't think that he is a socialist. Rather, I think that he really believes there are technocratic levers that can make the income distribution flatter, the rate of innovation faster, and the banking system safer, without undesireable side effects.
But there really are technocratic levers that can make income distribution flatter! Strengthening union rights tends to have that effect. Tackling executive pay does too. Also, I don't think Obama himself believes that these changes, if implemented, wouldn't create undesirable side effects. The issue is whether government action on the economy benefits society as a whole. It'd be nice if stepping back and letting the economy do its thing without government intervention actually worked out. Too bad it doesn't.
