Interesting book, it starts with the description of the air plane disaster at Tenerife. The pilot of the unfortunate KLM jumbo was no one less than the head of the safety program. Still he took off without clearance from the tower. Recently some complicated Dutchs laws had been enacted that set mandatory rest periods for pilots. Transgression was a criminal act and punishable by prison. Quite a humiliation for the head of a safety program. Because of a bom explosion on La Palma (the next stop), the captain was getting in the rest period danger zone. There was no spare crew at Tenerife, and not enough hotels to have all passengers stay over night. He decided to refuel at Tenerife while waiting, which would save some time at La Palma. Just as that started he could leave for LaPalma, but he had to wait untill the fueling was finished. When it was finished a mist decsended on the runway, but the captain was very eager to leave. When the captain hit the throttle the co pilot reminded him there was no clearance. "I know, get it", was his response. Soon the jumbo crashed into a parked PanAm plain that missed the exit of the runway in the fog.
Now there is a law that did not have the desired effect.
He continues to say that people are very much motivated by avoiding losses. He quotes an experiment for an auction for a 20 dollar bil. There are 2 rules:
1.Increments should be 1 dollar
2.The winner takes the bill, but the 2nd bidder still has to pay his last bid.
People start bidding at around 2 dollar, thinking they can get a 20 dollar bill cheaply. But at the end it gets driven by loss avoidance. Because of this the bid never ended below 39$ and sometimes even went up to 407$. There is usually a pause at 10 and at 20$. The author claims that paying 407$ for a 20$ bill is proof of irrationality, but he then proceeds explaining it rationally with loss avoidance. If the bid is at 20$ and you bid 19$, going to 21$ reduces your loss.
The author also expands this to politics. Pres. Johnson wanted to irradicate poverty so much and complete FDR's work by building the great society, but in the end he ended up in the Vietnam war and it was just loss avoidance and paying 400$ for a 20$ bill.
20 dollar auction
Violence has nothing with which to cover itself except the lie, and the
lie has nothing to stand on other than violence. Any man who has once
acclaimed violence as his method must inexorably choose the lie as his principle. Solzhenitsyn, Alexander