tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-610803938756668468.post575105808304413751..comments2024-03-28T07:08:58.221-04:00Comments on Todd Seavey: Cass Sunstein Will Nudge You AllTodd Seaveyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08589187886030112999noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-610803938756668468.post-297345575423907502009-01-29T07:51:00.000-05:002009-01-29T07:51:00.000-05:00A clarification: As noted in this later entry, Jef...A clarification: As noted in this later entry, Jeffrey Friedman says he was reacting to more than one comment about Sunstein at the conference, not just mine: <br><br><a href="../../29/victor-niederhoffer-meets-jeffrey-friedman-at-the-junto/index.html" rel="nofollow">http://toddseavey.com/2009/01/29/victor-niederhoffer-meets-jeffrey-friedman-at-the-junto/</a>Todd Seaveyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08589187886030112999noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-610803938756668468.post-24578838394272316032009-01-24T08:13:00.000-05:002009-01-24T08:13:00.000-05:00Our country needs someone who will try to do somet...Our country needs someone who will try to do something about the massive cruelty to animals that is involved in factory farms, circusses, etc. Hunting that is done for sport should not be permitted in a so-called civilized society. It’s in truth, just killing for fun.<br><br>AndyDianenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-610803938756668468.post-62789110076210596552009-01-16T16:23:00.000-05:002009-01-16T16:23:00.000-05:00How anyone can believe that someone who has writte...How anyone can believe that someone who has written as extensively on “Animal Rights”, banning hunting, giving animals the “right” to sue, etc.<br><br><a href="http://www.prweb.com/releases/Cass-Sunstein/Animal-Rights/prweb1868134.htm" rel="nofollow">http://www.prweb.com/releases/Cass-Sunstein/Animal-Rights/prweb1868134.htm</a><br><br>How having a PETArd as Regulatory Czar – even if he has a legal mind – is seen as a “good thing” is utterly beyond me…Bryannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-610803938756668468.post-50031095525913508692009-01-09T20:30:00.000-05:002009-01-09T20:30:00.000-05:00To bring it full circle, while I was interning for...To bring it full circle, while I was interning for the current head of OIRA in her pre-OIRA Mercatus days, my chief task was to produce a law journal article related to a Mercatus study. My first idea was to do a c/b type analysis on arsenic in drinking water regulations. I was all set to begin some fiery tirade only to discover that Cass Sunstein had already written on the same topic, from the same point of view, and had written it far better than I ever could have. So, on the bright side, maybe he’ll bring something of an econ-friendly, cost-benefit point of view to the other regulations he’ll be overseeing. Even if he is a statist.Meredithhttp://piecesofflair.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-610803938756668468.post-8883098316349639992009-01-09T18:32:00.000-05:002009-01-09T18:32:00.000-05:00You cannot possibly be anything but an out-and-out...You cannot possibly be anything but an out-and-out, fascist statist if your title is “regulatory czar”.<br><br>And what the fuck is a “regulatory czar” anyways? Isn’t the entire point of the czar that the czar regulates?<br><br>Obama has dug up Himmler and Goebbels and employed them to great personal advantage. Welcome to Nazi America, Democrat style.Dirtyrottenvarmintnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-610803938756668468.post-12779748444696111442009-01-09T13:37:00.000-05:002009-01-09T13:37:00.000-05:00Count me in as a libertarian who is happy with Sun...Count me in as a libertarian who is happy with Sunstein’s appointment.<br><br>Sunstein is no libertarian but I think you lump together rather disparate things when you write:<br><br>“(1) FDR’s statist revolution is an improvement upon or replacement of the original Bill of Rights, (2) property is a fiction disguising the fact that everything really belongs to the state in the first place, (3) we should “nudge†people with insidious and psychologically-tailored regulations to do the more-rational thing, (4) strict liability is preferable to caveat emptor and assumption of risk, etc., etc.”<br><br>For instance I do think that a ‘nudge’, of the one-click variety Sunstein promoted in his Volokh posts, which *preserves choice* is not unlibertarian, or at any rate not as unlibertarian as the other three things you mention. Here’s how I see it, there is always going to be a default choice, and there is no grreat harm in tailoring the default choice in a particular direction, provided it is very easy to opt out. In any case, the (misleadingly named) libertarian paternalism is far preferable to the coercive paternalism many others advocate. Would you prefer the (Obama proposed, presumably Sunstein influenced) plan where employees are automatically enrolled in 401ks but can opt out at any time, or a plan (surely favoured by most liberals) that would make participation mandatory.<br><br>Sunstein is surely no libertarian. I have read a lot of stuff by him. And most definitely I do not agree with much of his views. Ultimately though, as I wrote <a href="http://musefree.wordpress.com/2009/01/08/this-might-be-my-favourite-obama-appointment-of-all/" rel="nofollow">on my blog</a>, I agree with Volokh: he is brilliant, thoughtful, and ideologically probably as good as libertarians can hope for from the Obama administration. He is in my view the best pick Obama has unveiled so far.Abhishek Sahahttp://musefree.wordpress.com/noreply@blogger.com