Asymmetric Information

If the debt limit is not raised, and there's a government shutdown on steroids and amphetamines, and maybe a debt default after that, a big question is who the public will blame. The Republicans will have been the ones who voted against it, and who took America hostage to get what they wanted, but our press is so lacking, and asymmetric information is so bad, will most of the public understand that? especially with the Republican's billionaire backed propaganda machine.

The world is just so immensely advanced and complicated today, asymmetric information is just an enormous problem. It just really takes tremendous study to understand many issues in economics and government, and people have so little free time today.

One important solution is a better press, where the monumental positive externalities of serious analytic and investigative journalism are commensurately subsidized, but another huge one is try-and-see. We need to end the filibuster, for one, so we can have a lot more try-and-see to disintegrate Republican disinformation and really move us forward. Another thing is massive public campaign finance, and donation limits. With this kind of asymmetric information, we really need well informed and well intentioned representatives. Our legislators should be spending 80% of their time learning and studying to make good decisions, not 80% of their time raising money.