February 5, 2012

What's Fair

By Michael Applebaum, MD
On January 24, 2012, POTUS delivered his State of the Union address. The word "fair" appeared 8 times, either followed by words such as "shot," "share," and "play" or preceded by "un-" or "not." The predominant domestic policy use of "fair" was in relation to those who allegedly have contributing more to those who allegedly have not.  The scheme, broadly speaking, was for involuntary contributions to be made via taxation. "Fairness" as policy is problematic.  Policies that are consistent and predictable (or with little wiggle room) are preferred. Consider: with everything else being equal, what type of consumer would choose a store with a return policy that differs from one item to the next over a store whose return policy is the same for all items? One person's fairness is someone else's unfairness. For example, one may find it unfair that good-looking people tend to get higher-paying jobs than the ugly.  The ugly and their supporters may advocate for an ugly...(Read Full Article)