Mustang
Gold Member
- Jan 15, 2010
- 9,257
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As a general hard and fast rule, I've found that it's best to make decisions based on factual information as opposed to a feeling or an emotional response of some kind. However, because people are too often ruled by their emotions (if not their passions), the opposite is very often the case. Businesses understand this. That's one of the reasons that they can exploit what's commonly referred to as impulse buying when they place certain products at a check out line.
With that said, large organizations like corporations and our gov't are generally set up to minimize the chances that decisions will be made based on some kind of rash knee-jerk response. That's why there are meetings where people sit together in conference rooms where the pros and cons of various options are carefully weighed before making a far-reaching commitment for or against some course of action. Of course, even then, there are no guarantees that the right decision will be made. However, the point is to MINIMIZE, as much as possible, the chances of making a wrong decision based on not adequately considering and weighing all the available information.
If there's a weakness in this approach, it's the human factor. That's because even a group of people can be swayed by an emotional argument despite an abundance of evidence that either doesn't support the merit of the decision or actually runs contrary to that emotional argument.
Enter the electorate:
If there's one thing that politicians running for office understand, it's the fact that an emotional argument can frequently sway an election in their favor even as a rational argument very often falls on deaf ears. Combine that fact with an effective advertising campaign short on truth and long on emotional pleas (if not downright demagoguery), and a group of politicians running for office might very well be swept into power with a campaign promise to pursue a course of action which has far more long term negatives than positives associated with it.
As the saying goes, nature abhors a vacuum. Well, it looks as if China is going to rush in to fill the void created by the anticipated withdrawal of the United States from TPP.
China Touts Its Own Trade Pact as U.S.-Backed One Withers
Nations begin to coalesce around China-led trade group after Trump reiterates plan to withdraw from TPP
By
JOHN LYONS in Hong Kong,
MARK MAGNIER in Beijing and
WILLIAM MAULDIN in Washington
Updated Nov. 22, 2016 3:04 p.m. ET
China is moving swiftly to capitalize in Asia on the apparent collapse of a landmark U.S.-backed Pacific trade agreement, saying it hopes now to conclude its own Asia-wide trade pact in a step to broaden its influence as priorities shift under a new administration in Washington.
China Touts Its Own Trade Pact as U.S.-Backed One Withers
With that said, large organizations like corporations and our gov't are generally set up to minimize the chances that decisions will be made based on some kind of rash knee-jerk response. That's why there are meetings where people sit together in conference rooms where the pros and cons of various options are carefully weighed before making a far-reaching commitment for or against some course of action. Of course, even then, there are no guarantees that the right decision will be made. However, the point is to MINIMIZE, as much as possible, the chances of making a wrong decision based on not adequately considering and weighing all the available information.
If there's a weakness in this approach, it's the human factor. That's because even a group of people can be swayed by an emotional argument despite an abundance of evidence that either doesn't support the merit of the decision or actually runs contrary to that emotional argument.
Enter the electorate:
If there's one thing that politicians running for office understand, it's the fact that an emotional argument can frequently sway an election in their favor even as a rational argument very often falls on deaf ears. Combine that fact with an effective advertising campaign short on truth and long on emotional pleas (if not downright demagoguery), and a group of politicians running for office might very well be swept into power with a campaign promise to pursue a course of action which has far more long term negatives than positives associated with it.
As the saying goes, nature abhors a vacuum. Well, it looks as if China is going to rush in to fill the void created by the anticipated withdrawal of the United States from TPP.
China Touts Its Own Trade Pact as U.S.-Backed One Withers
Nations begin to coalesce around China-led trade group after Trump reiterates plan to withdraw from TPP
By
JOHN LYONS in Hong Kong,
MARK MAGNIER in Beijing and
WILLIAM MAULDIN in Washington
Updated Nov. 22, 2016 3:04 p.m. ET
China is moving swiftly to capitalize in Asia on the apparent collapse of a landmark U.S.-backed Pacific trade agreement, saying it hopes now to conclude its own Asia-wide trade pact in a step to broaden its influence as priorities shift under a new administration in Washington.
China Touts Its Own Trade Pact as U.S.-Backed One Withers
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