Friday, December 21, 2007

They Will Bribe Us with Our Money: A Brief Case for a Grand Coalition

I noted very briefly here, near the end, that there was a case to be made for a grand coalition. In my reply to a comment from t, I wrote the following:

“The downside of a piecemeal approach to collaboration across the aisle is that the two sides can easily wind up competing to bribe us with our money*. Case in point: Most recently, the LDP has reportedly shifted its position on agriculture subsidies to accomodate small-lot and over-65farmers, both of which categories are currently ineligible. A grand coalition makes it easier to share all the credit and the blame within a broad range of measures in a comprehensive policy package. At least that's my idea.

*I should trademark this.

I gave a little thought to expanding this, taking in such incidents as the waffling on both sides on the gasoline tax. I may well do so one of these days, but I’m bringing the essence to your attention, in case you might want to do it yourself.

BTW, if anyone has information on subprime loans and their securitization that is good enough to do some hard thinking with, please put it here as a comment. Thanks.

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