re: #53 Flame Fin Tomini Tang

We’re not going to agree on this, but I could easily argue that your concept of fairness is getting in the way of analyzing the facts. Even though this is the present, I think one should analyze it as if it were history.

As it stands now, you would believe that the Swedes are somehow inherently more fair than Americans. Until you live in Sweden and find that they are pretty much like everyone else. Or perhaps you wish to believe that the 1% percent are actually cold-hearted unfair people who control the government—until you meet people who are wealthy, who don’t mind being taxed, who give to charity, who are smart and caring.

I’ve met people who are astoundingly greedy, but have very little money. I’ve met people who are astoundingly greedy who have a lot of money. Therefore, I’m not keen on using character traits to explain sociology. I like using historical methods.

I’m not spinning anything. You asked me how I would explain some numbers. I said that there are a lot of ways to explain numbers, and here’s one explanation. But whatever explanation you choose, you would have to test it.