Friday, January 04, 2013

Does He Actually Get It?


Is this just an accidental use of the right word, or does Senator Michael Bennet really understand what is going on?  From an NYT piece by Maureen Dowd -  

He thinks the trouble is not so much a clash of Democratic and Republican orthodoxies as it is a clash of past and future.  I think the inhabitants of the past are fighting hard to keep the rents they acquired in the 20th century,” he said.

The story is about why Michael Bennet   - a Democratic senator  - voted against the cliff deal.  He gets a smiley face, from KPC.  If more senator talked about rent-seeking, instead of doing it, we would be better off.

Is this the way 2013 is going to be?  Going to Maureen Dowd for good information, and Democratic senators for wisdom?  Golly.

1 comment:

sciencegirl said...

I think I finally understand what rent-seeking is.

What are your thoughts on how university professors are encouraged to spend so much time and effort seeking government grants? I'm a scientist, and our research is funded by federal agencies. For at least one month a year, we spend time writing grant applications. This time could be spent writing research articles, teaching students, or doing the labwork that leads to articles. However, without funding, no postdocs can be hired to do the work in the first place that leads to these research articles. I think, based on your rent-seeking article, that grant-writing is a form of rent-seeking, but I don't see any way to avoid it in university science labs.

Any suggestions?