tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861605.post659631995607697525..comments2024-03-24T11:01:27.668-04:00Comments on Resource Insights: Corruption, resources, climate and systemic riskKurt Cobbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05330759091950742285noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861605.post-42698106476452850442016-04-10T16:36:23.128-04:002016-04-10T16:36:23.128-04:00I would really like to put in a good word for &quo...I would really like to put in a good word for "Corruption".<br /><br />Not the practice, but rather, the word. I feel that we abuse it, employ it excessively, and thus dilute its meaning and impact. Instead of using it with<br />restraint, so that it maintains a clear meaning, it becomes another spraygun in the toolbox of broad stroke painting a rather limited kind of portrait of our problems. Make that portrait limited enough, and some of the problems blend together so that we cannot recognize them clearly enough to solve any of them.<br /><br />The sorts of Investment strategies discussed in this article are, in my view, not corrupt at all. The Cartoon, as ,quoted, tries to make the point that such an unbalanced is wrong and unwise, because, in terms of long-term investment strategy, it looks laughably foolhardy and wrong. Of course, that's a clearer statement of the nature of the problem, unwise investing is unwise investing, it doesn't need the label "corrupt" when it is already wrong. Thinking that this method of investing is right all along has also been wrong, but it has also not really been corrupt. <br /><br />I do not want to see the term "Corrupt" become corrupted by misuse, because if it is, we will not be able to use it for those cases where good ole' corruption is going on. <br /><br />When you disagree with someone, they might not be corrupt, they may be merely wrong, or unwise, not doing something sustainable, not solving the problem at hand, as the case may be. Conversely, you may agree with those who advocate certain policy positions and points of view, while those people have been bought and paid for, exactly for doing so. Perfectly viable, sustainable products may be represented, marketed, and sold in any of a number of corrupt ways.<br /><br />Perhaps I'm the problem, I want my words to cover a fairly well-defined locus of meaning, since that is how they retain their utility. I believe there are politicians out there who I can never vote for or agree with, but they may honestly believe in everything they are saying, and would never dream of taking a dime, or a job, or a gift in exchange for any change in their speech or behavior.<br /><br />That is my definition of "Corruption" in the public policy sphere -- someone who is taking a point of view that is not his own, because of some inducement that involves personal gain or enhancement in status, willfully accepted and dutifully paid. i am sure that there are exceptions or expansions on this definition, but I am inclined to be pretty restrictive about these definitions. <br /><br />I do recall a story from the early 1950's, about a man who worked for the building department in New York City. He could not explain exactly why he had approved a lot of building plans that did not meet the standards required by the local building code, but when asked about his extravagant lifestyle, he had an excellent explanation. When he put his hand into a cookie jar on top if his refrigerator, he would sometimes retrieve generous rolls of cash, which over the course of a year amounted to some multiple of his salary from city employment. Apparently the justice system found his actions and story compelling enough that they supplied him with free residence and food for several years at state expense.Robert Brownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17893518516529800764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861605.post-91105939779955693082016-04-10T15:02:08.066-04:002016-04-10T15:02:08.066-04:00But goods producing isn't really "efficie...But goods producing isn't really "efficient." It relies on a fuel that will be just about non-existent by 2100.Ken Barrowshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02713400119168020630noreply@blogger.com