Using Psychology To Save You From Yourself {0bamas plan for you "Behavioral Economics"}

NPR ^ | June 8, 2009 | Alix Spiegel

[Tigen]

This is the story of how obscure psychological research into human decision-making first revolutionized economics and now appears poised to remake the relationship between the government and its citizens.

Cass Sunstein, President Obama's pick to head the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, was a vocal supporter of the program, because it was an economic policy that shaped itself around human psychology. Sunstein is just one of a number of high-level appointees now working in the Obama administration who favors this kind of approach.

All are devotees of behavioral economics — a school of economic thought greatly influenced by psychological research — which argues that the human animal is hard-wired to make errors when it comes to decision-making, and therefore people need a little "nudge" to make decisions that are in their own best interests.

And that is exactly what Obama administration officials plan to do: By taking account of human psychology, they hope to save you from yourself.

[Hardastarboard]

There is a difference between irrationality and not having perfect information which neither the NPR author or the subjects of this article mention or even demonstrate awareness of

That's what has driven a lot of my purchases. Not having sufficient information to understand that that cool car or motorcycle I want was produced in such small numbers that it will be hard to get parts for, hard to get worked on, and was produced in small numbers for a REASON (the design basically sucked). I had a Taurus SHO based on that lack of knowledge. NEVER AGAIN. I buy Mustangs, Jeeps, 1911 model .45 autos, commonly produced models of bikes. No more "rare", few produced of anything, unless I'm just looking for a collectible.

For just a few concrete examples. I bought a bunch of gun related stuff during the Clinton administration that I've never used as another example. None of it's gone bad, but I haven't used it in 10 years, and I'll never get my money back. I did it because I thought he was going to get his agenda passed to disarm all of us. Again, incomplete information.

[wbill]

And that is exactly what Obama administration officials plan to do: By taking account of human psychology, they hope to save you from yourself.

This is likely the most terrifying sentence that I'll read all day today.

"I'm from the government and I'm here to save you from yourself!"

(shudder)

[concerned about politics]

What might work on a wall street broker would not work on a construction worker - and even at that all brokers and workers don't think alike.

The democrat politicians are in sinc with democrat voters. The democrat base - unwed mothers, druggies, homos, commies/socialists, the lazy, race baiters, pro-aborts....etc. This is all they know. The democrat politicians don't understand the moral, the productive, the accountable, etc., because they never have contact with them. The democrat politicians think like their base, because like minds attract each other.
That's why none of the social programs or laws in America are designed for the normal American. The democrats don't even know there's such a thing as a normal American.

[Jabba the Nutt]

Actually, homo oeconomicus is a kind of self-executing concept of circular reasoning. IE, when human beings make decisions, they believe these decisions are in their own self-interest. We know that by the fact of the decisions people actually make.

Homo oeconomicus is a concept of 'classical economics'. It's not part of other schools of economics. In Marxism, (arguably a school of economics) sets history and the stages of production as the moving forces of economics. In the Austrian school of economics (Hayek, von Mises, Rothbard + others), Human Action is the subject of this science. You observe how people actually act and behave. It studies what happens, when people are free to choose and what they do, when the State introduce coercion into economic activites. The Austrians don't believe, unlike Congress, that raising taxes has no effect on the economic behavior of human beings.

Basically, Cass Sunstein is using the flawed theory of economics and an arrogant view of human beings as an excuse to force people to behave in the way, he wants them to behave. Sunstein is tarting up his totalitarian impulses in science. Reminds me of "Scientific Socialism", which Karl Marx invented.

[griswold3]

Good post.
And yet the ‘progressives’ continue their plight even with all the historical evidence presented.

[Oceander]

Of course they do. That is the surest sign that what liberals are really interested in is nothing more than a de-facto putsch, an illegal, unconstitutional, fascist seizure of power, precisely the same way that Hugo Chavez seized power in Venezuela, and the way that Manuel Zelaya attempted to seize power in Honduras. The Hondurans, God bless their souls, were blessed with sensible people who, when the push was on, did the right thing, and a military and supreme court that had the country's interests in mind, not their own personal interests, when they removed him from the office of president. Not to insult the brave Honduran people, but I am more than just a little dismayed that our own people are too blind and venal to do what the Hondurans saw as an absolute necessity.

[Red Boots]

Who the hell do these people think they are to make all our decisions for us ?

That's some kind of sick and twisted God complex.

The only hope I can see in it is that these type of programs always fail, because the foundation of them involves the coercion of another, and thus are spiritually bankrupt.

How is it that these supposedly so smart people have missed that part ?

Didn't they study Gandhi's nonviolence/ sarcasm.

[Uncle Miltie]

The only thing worse than stupid people making decisions for themselves is government bureaucrats making decisions for them.

At least the stupid people can learn from their mistakes, because they suffer the consequences.

The bureaucrat can persist in his mistakes, because he is not punished by the bad consequences of his decisions.

[GailA]

This is from a 2007 contact list of congressional aides. Some might not be there any longer, but worth a try. The ones on the one post are senate aides, a few have bounced back, it’s worth the effort to clog up their email system along with the phones, and 1/3rd of these senators are up for re-election.

Contact congressional aides.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1857768/posts
U.S. Senate switchboard: (202) 224-3121
U.S. House switchboard: (202) 225-3121
White House comments: (202) 456-1111
Find your House Rep.: http://www.house.gov/writerep
Find your US Senators: http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
Toll free to the US Senate:
1-800-882-2005. (Spanish number)
1-800-417-7666. (English number)

Courtesy of a pro-amnesty group, no less!!

Defeat Obamacare call list: List now contains the new MAYBES culled from FR posts. Be sure to call KNOWN RINOS too.THEY ARE ANSWERING THEIR LOCAL NUMBERS

Here is one of the ones Rush gave out on the radio that I’m calling. So far it’s been busy but I’m going to burn it up till I get to tell my congress critter to vote NO!
Join me?..... 1-877-762-8762

Good idea from the bloggers at Hillbuzz:
http://hillbuzz.org/2010/03/17/action-items-march-17th-2010/
They offer specifics and links on how to put pressure on Dem DONORS, who have private numbers for legislators who may have taken their phones off the hook.
Congress may not want to hear from us, but they’ll listen to the money men.

KEEP THE CALLS UP! DC OFFICE LOCAL OFFICE

CODE RED Contact list http://www.nrcc.org/CodeRed/targets/
Remember they are all being offered BRIBES for their votes. Ask them how much their bribe price is.
The National Republican Congressional Committee has published a target list on health care. In addition to continuing to contact the five Tennessee Democrat Congressmen, you can go http://www.votervoice.net/link/clickthrough/ext/94697.aspx to contact some of these targets. Much of the talk following Obama’s announcement has focused on how to defeat this second bill through reconciliation, but that is misleading because the first step to defeating Obamacare is not by concentrating on defeating the “fixer” bill but by defeating the Senate bill in the House when it goes to the floor for an up-or-down vote on Thursday, March 18th.

New FLIPPERS
Dennis Kucinish, Lakewood 216)228-8850, Fax (216)228-6465,
Parma. 440)845-2707, Fax (440)845-2743, DC (202)225-5871
Dennis Cardoza DC (202) 225-6131, Fax: 225-0819, 800-356-6424, Merced, (209) 383-4455 Fax: 726-1065 Modesto 209) 527-1914 Fax: 527-5748 Modesto, (209) 527-1914
Fax: 527-5748
Jim Costa Fresno 559-495-1620, Fax:559-495-1027, Bakersfeld, 661-869-1620 Fax: 661-869-1027 DC Phone:202-225-3341 Fax: 202-225-9308
Fax (202)225-5745
James Oberstar (202) 225-6211, Duluth (218) 727-7474,

Chisholm (218) 254-5761, Brainerd (218) 828-4400, North Branch, (651) 277-1234
Gabrielle Giffords (202) 225-2542 (520) 881-3588 AZ 8th District
Rep. Lincoln Davis 202-225-6831 Columbia office: 931-490-8699
Rep. Jim Cooper 202-225-4311 Nashville office: 615-736-5295
Rep. Bart Gordon 202-225-4231 Murfreesboro office: 615-896-1986
John Tanner (202) 225-4714, Union City, (731) 885-7070, Jackson Phone: (731) 423-4848, Millington (901) 873-5690 TN (MAYBE)
Rep. Steve Cohen 202-225-3265 Memphis office: 901-544-4131
Harry Mitchell (202) 225-2190 (480) 946-2411 AZ 5th District
Ann Kirkpatrick (202) 225-2315 (928) 226-6914 AZ 1st District
Jerry McNerney (202) 225-1947 925-833-0643 CA 11th District
John Salazar 202-225-4761 970-245-7107 CO 3rd District
Jim Himes (202) 225-5541 (866) 453-0028 CT 4th District
Alan Grayson (202) 225-2176 (407) 841-1757 FL 8th District
Bill Foster (202) 225-2976 630-406-1114 IL 14th District
Baron Hill 202 225 5315 812 288 3999 IN 9th District
Mark Schauer (202) 225-6276 (517) 780-9075 MI 7th District
Gary Peters (202) 225-5802 (248) 273-4227 MI 9th District
Dina Titus (202) 225-3252 702-256-DINA (3462) NV 3rd District
Carol Shea-Porter (202) 225-5456 (603) 743-4813 NH 1st District
Tim Bishop (202) 225-3826 (631) 696-6500 NY 1st District
John Hall (202) 225-5441 (845) 225-3641 x49371 NY 19th District
Bill Owens (202) 225-4611 (315) 782-3150 NY 23rd District
James Matheson Toll-Free Number 1 (877) 677-9743 (202) 225-3011Mike Arcuri (202)225-3665 (315)793-8146 NY 24th District
Dan Maffei (202) 225-3701 (315) 423-5657 NY 25th District
Earl Pomeroy (202) 225-2611 (701) 224-0355 ND At-Large District
Steven Driehaus (202) 225-2216 (513) 684-2723 OH 1st District
Mary Jo Kilroy (202) 225-2015 (614) 294-2196 OH 15th District
Zach Space (202) 225-6265 (330) 364-4300 OH 18th District
Kathy Dahlkemper (202) 225-5406 (814) 456-2038 PA 3rd District
Patrick Murphy (202) 225-4276 (215) 826-1963 PA 8th District
Christopher Carney (202) 225-3731 (570) 585-9988 PA 10th District
Paul Kanjorski (202) 225-6511 (570) 825-2200 PA 11th District
John Spratt (202) 225-5501 (803)327-1114 SC 5th District
Tom Perriello (202) 225-4711 (276) 656-2291 VA 5th District
Alan Mollohan (202) 225-4172 (304) 623-4422 WVA 1st District
Nick Rahall (202) 225-3452 (304) 252-5000 WVA 3rd District
Steve Kagen (202) 225-5665 (920) 437-1954 WI 8th District
Bart Stupak (202) 225 4735 MI (MAYBE)
Brian Baird (202) 225-3536, Vancouver, (360) 695-6292. Olympia, (360) 352-9768, (MAYBE)
senator mark begich (202) 224-3004 toll free. (877) 501 - 6275 just became a MAYBE

Jason Altmire 202-225-2565, Aliquippa, 724-378-0928,
Natrona Heights, 724-226-1304 (MAYBE)
On the Bubble (Major developments from the “yes” and “no” columns in the House)

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2467046/posts
Congressional Dems on Twitter
http://www.arrghpaine.com/congressional-dems-on-twitter
And here are toll-free numbers we can use to call any Senators or Reps.

At the first number below you must wait through a tape recording urging you to tell your Rep or Senator to vote “yes” for the health care bill. Just hang on and when the recording is over, you will get the Capitol operator. Just ask for your Rep or Senator’s office. Then you will either talk to an aid or have the chance to leave a message for him/her to vote NO on the health care bill.

When you use the second number and the Capitol operator comes on, just ask for your Rep or Senator’s office. Every time I use this number I get the Rep or Senator’s answer machine, so it may be set up that way all the time...to go to their answer machine. Either way you can leave a message to vote NO on the health care bill!

We need to use these toll free numbers that have been set up for the health care/ BO supporters and illegals to use! After all they are FREE!

1-866-220-0044, 1-866-338-1015, 877-851-6437, 877-210-5351

[R. Scott]

They think their base are the normal Americans.

[R. Scott]

... when human beings make decisions, they believe these decisions are in their own self-interest.

Yep, and Karl Marx has been proven wrong. People prefer to act in their own self interest, not in the best interest of the collective.

[thesearethetimes...]

Oceander writes - “that cannot logically be, the grounds on which one group of people decides to take over making decisions for another group of people, because the group that would attempt the takeover suffers from precisely the same decision-making flaws and would therefore be unable, in general, to make decisions for someone any better than that person could make for themselves. “

Ding! Ding! Ding! Folks, we have a winner!

[thesearethetimes...]

Uncle Miltie writes - “The bureaucrat can persist in his mistakes, because he is not punished by the bad consequences of his decisions.”

Also very well said, but it is my fondest hope, that we can remedy that, and soon.

Tatt