Basement Whatever

Nobody’s saying things have been going great in America over the past quarter century.

Instead, the right is obsessed with the idea that mysterious forces of fraud have run off with all the money, while the left has convinced itself that billionaires aren’t paying any taxes.

But it’s not some huge secret why it seems like the government keeps spending and spending without us getting any amazing new public services — it’s transfers to the elderly.

How do we get more skin in the game on policy? Common sense is that when voters get the benefits and penalties of their preferences, the voting improves. I think this requires: Public scorecards, replace gerrymandering with an automated system, make it easy to replace politicians who are poor managers.

More here.