Bizarre Behavior Results

The last line of this post at Asymmetrical Information bears repeating, often and loudly:

Just goes to show you: when there's something puzzlingly, inexplicably wrong, you need generally look no further than the government to find out what's causing it.

I run into this truth often at work.  I'm an engineer and work with other engineers, many of whom are shockingly ignorant of the larger world of business.  I was too, until I spent four years getting an MBA.  (I'm slow.)  Engineers are good at math and are completely capable of doing a simple cost-benefit analysis.  Yet when they try this, sometimes the numbers don't add up like engineers think they should.  So my co-workers come to me and ask about seemingly irrational business decisions they have encountered, either internally or in the news.  The answer usually comes down to one of two similar factors:  taxes or regulations.  If the question involves the movement or accounting of large sums of money, there's usually a tax reason involved.  If the question is about company policies that are counter-intuitive, it's usually the regulation answer.  A third, less frequent, reply is fear of lawsuits.  (I usually have to consult with my co-blogger on those issues.)

All of these answers have in common the overt hand of your elected representatives and their bureaucratic minions.  Whenever the government rears its porcine hydra head, strange things happen.