Altered State

'If you don't mind me asking, son, what happened?'
--Admiral Leslie Reigart (Behind Enemy Lines)

It's hard not to read this 1960s essay by Alan Greenspan and ask 'what happened?' Elmer essentially nails the rationale for gold in the context of the welfare state. Quite ironically, however, as Fed chairman he proceeded to speak and act in ways totally inconsistent with what he knew.

Perhaps there's a lesson here that's generalizable to bureaucrats as a whole. Borrowing from Red, when individuals enter bureaucratic life, they become 'institutionalized.' Whatever values and thought processes they had going in get revised in light of the unique context they navigate. Bureaucratic environments differ in many ways compared to organizations that function in market environments (different goals, incentives, etc). Behavior seems bound to be subject to influence.

Currently, there is some debate over the socialist nature of the Obama administration. On the one hand, it seems doubtful that anyone in this administration is a card carrying socialist. On the other hand, there can be little doubt that a significant portion of the programs/initiatives/behavior of this administration resembles activities that we would expect to see under a centrally planned or socialist state.

The point: perhaps the bureaucratic context is capable of altering an individual's actions in ways that perhaps even the individual never dreamed ex ante.

position in gold