Better adjust my priors about Toronto

The mayor of Toronto, Rob Ford, is as we say in Oklahoma, a big un.

When he hit 330, he announced a weight loss contest with his brother Doug, who is junior to him both in political office (a councillor) and size (265 pounds).

 Hizzoner ran smack into the time inconsistency problem and after an initial early loss, actually weighed MORE at his penultimate weigh-in in May.

 He did however, end up losing 17 pounds but was trounced by his baby bro both in relative and absolute terms (brother lost 33 pounds from a smaller base).

 The mayor actually had to be herded onto the scale for the final weigh-in and fell off it awkwardly in his eagerness to get away from the cold hard facts.


 


Let's go for a politically incorrect breakdown:

Are all the members of Toronto's government from the same family?

Does Toronto choose it's mayor via a pie-eating contest?

The  "cut the waist" contest raised $14,000 for charity, which probably wouldn't cover the cost of thanksgiving dinner at the Ford house!


Do read the timeline at the end of the linked article. It's excellent.

Hat tip to Drew M.

Tying one's self to the mast with silly string

Richard Thaler, in today's NY Times has words of wisdom on governments' pervasive inability to commit to painful future courses of action with balanced budget amendments or fiscal rules.

Sadly, he fails to stick the landing:

The bottom line is that in matters of governmental self-control there is no real substitute for willpower. If we want to balance the budget over time we are going to have to elect adults to Congress who are prepared to invest now in our country’s future and then, when the economy picks up, take the necessary steps to get spending in line with revenue. The question is whether politicians who act like adults can win elections.

Yes, that is surely the solution to the inability to bind future politicians and the serious problem that optimal policies are often time inconsistent: just find the right people!

Could we not at least try to think of institutional changes that might help the situation instead of calling for politicians from another planet to come and save us?

How about longer terms of office but no re-election? say 6 years in the House, 8 years for President, 10 years for Senate?

Other ideas?