I ran across a quote a long time ago, and it's stuck with me:
“Never, ever, think about something else when you should be thinking about the power of incentives.”
— Charlie Munger
This talk is both in transcript form and there's a YouTube audio of it as well.
I like this quote from Munger:
"I think I’ve been in the top 5% of my age cohort all my life in understanding the power of incentives, and all my life I’ve underestimated it. And never a year passes, but I get some surprise that pushes my limit a little farther."
So now, like a mad monkey who has just discovered the hammer, I will now go around using this tool of incentives and perverse incentives on everything. Maybe I'll get lucky and hit a few actual nails.
At root, I think the riots at the capitol are the result of a synergy of perverse incentives in politics, mass media, and social media, and they all contribute to a perfect storm of dysfunction. Maybe this is obvious to everyone, and I'm just catching up. But whatever. Here goes.