The Competence Deficit




What has changed is faith in the federal government, not just in Virginia but in a growing number of places. The lack of faith in the competence of government -- and the soundness of the dollar -- has been growing leading some states to create contingency plans in case the currency goes bust.



Marshall's proposal would create a 10-member commission to study “the need, means, and schedule for establishing a metallic-based monetary unit to serve as a contingency currency for the Commonwealth.” This mirrors a rising trend in the availability of quasi-money. Economist Bernard Lietaer points out that there are already various forms this available. "For example, he said, there are 50 trillion airline frequent-flier miles in circulation, far surpassing the number of dollar bills." FTAlphaville at the Financial Times describes the emergence of parallel money in Kenya.


People want it as a hedge or insurance in case the major currency system goes down. One way to think about a parallel money system is by imagining that the dollar became worthless tomorrow.  But even without a dollar if you could obtain airline flights or get a case of beans, flour or ammunition by participating in an points system you could survive for a while -- as long as the institution that issued the points kept functioning. Today Amazon announced that it was launching a kind of "virtual currency".





Under those circumstances people naturally wondering whether they can keep relying on it for their essential safety and well-being. Recently the Chicago Police Department announced that it would no longer respond "in person" to 911 calls, allegedly in order to free up policemen to fight crime.


Otherwise the cops will take the 911 report by phone. This is as close as any major city's police department has come to saying no mas, no mas. They're not coming out for the bell, preferring to concentrate on the vital job of tracking down those "high powered magazines" that are threatening the fabric of American society.

The administration is no longer making an effort to hide its competence deficit. Brett Stevens at the Wall Street Journal notes with amazement that Chuck Hagel's backers are justifying his lack of aptitude by saying that other people will tell him what to do. "It says something about the political state of play that Mr. Hagel's defenders are now whispering that he just won't matter all that much. Serious defense policy will be run by the grown-ups in the White House, people like Ben Rhodes, Valerie Jarrett, Denis McDonough and, of course, the president."

Michelle Rhee has actually come out and declared "My Break With the Democrats" in the Daily Beast because she can longer oppose school vouchers with a clear conscience. For years she had been trying to convince herself that public education was perfect on all counts but for the sole defect that it didn't work.



She had also discovered the competence deficit. The Democratic support system was still handing out its brownie points but they were worth less and less. Sooner or later the system becomes incapable of rewarding its own supporters. Rhee may have reached that point where she's starting to feel the Titanic head down.

How deep does the incompetence go? As far as the dipstick will reach. Reuters has just reported that Anonymous has hacked the Federal Reserve. "Though no critical functions of the U.S. central bank were affected by the intrusion," anonymous did manage to access the "personal information of more than 4,000 U.S. bank executives, which it published on the Web."

When the Central Bankers can't even defend their own personal information one has got to wonder what they can defend.

The fundamental problem with the Chicago school of "we won" politics is that it so disproportionately rewards the hacks, scoundrels, mediocrities, pitchmen, liars and swindlers who have a talent for conning low-information voters that it eventually delegitimizes itself.  It turns itself into a big shambling joke. The final result of this style of power-grabbing is total corruption and total incompetence. "We won" is inevitably followed by "now what?"

The Three Conjectures at Amazon Kindle for $1.99

Storming the Castle at Amazon Kindle for $3.99

No Way In at Amazon Kindle $8.95, print $9.99

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