Capitalism with taxes on negative externalities and government subsidies to pay for public goods.
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Replying to @JimDMiller @RokoMijicUK
Great idea except now the parasites have a goal of "take over the institution you've created to determine what has negative and positive externalities". A King naturally wants to subsidize positive externalities and tax negative ones because it maximizes the value of his realm.
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Yes, because that worked so well in the past.
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Yes
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The ineptitude and waste of autocrats and monarchs, even after the Industrial Revolution, was way beyond anything seen today. I’m not sure how Wilhelm II’s ineptitude maximised the value of his realm; it was his civilian ministers who had to keep him in check.
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Replying to @UtilityMonster2 @CovfefeAnon and
There’s no reason for a King to “naturally” want to maximise the value of his realm, instead of maximising his own value. You’d have to be completely devoid of historical knowledge to even suggest such a thing.
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He owns the realm - the means by which he maximizes his personal value is by maximizing the value of the realm.
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Well, we could each cite dozens of competing examples, but more fundamentally I think you’re imagining a very specific type of monarch with very specific aims. A monarch may not wish to maximise personal value, and may not think it’d be achieved by maximising realm value.
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Replying to @UtilityMonster2 @CovfefeAnon and
Will Britain be better governed if Charles takes the throne and declares himself to be an absolute monarch? I’m sorry, I just don’t see it. Not everyone is Frederick the Great. Humans are rarely rational, and Charles wouldn’t even benefit from competition (as CEOs do).
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Replying to @UtilityMonster2 @CovfefeAnon and
What’s stopping Charles from being seized by a desire to spread women’s rights around the world (bad, according to you), or perhaps homeopathic treatments?https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/jun/25/prince-charles-criticised-continuing-promote-homeopathy …
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Him going nuts in that way is certainly possible but spending his own money and the lives of men personally loyal to him has a way of concentrating the mind compared to some Chairman of the Joint Chiefs who bears none of the costs and gains holiness points personally.
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Yeah, you can tell a story where it would work out for the better, but it’s not going to be a panacea even under an enlightened monarch. The idealism and almost-scientific certainty that value will be maximised reminds me of Communism.
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Replying to @UtilityMonster2 @CovfefeAnon and
We all share the same goal, maximising “value”, no matter how hard the forces of Anarchy, Communism and indeed Reaction protest that they are different from liberals and utilitarians. Except our pods will be (and are) nice, whereas yours tend to be camp or Gulag-shaped.
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