Applying Pentanomics to Public Action

We must minimize waste.

Photo by Hermes Rivera on Unsplash

Pentanomics states that we cannot strive to maximize good. We can strive to minimize harm and by minimizing harm we wind up maximizing good.

We start with five fundamental types of human action. Imagine a world with no people. Add one person and we have private action. A person working alone for thon’s (neutral pronoun) own good. No person can harm the first person because no other person exists.

Now we add a second person to the world. Each person can still act privately. Suddenly we have possible harm. One person can steal from the other. That is still private action. It points out that a possible harm from private action is theft. To minimize that harm, we need police action.

We also have a new possible action – the two people can work together to mutually benefit – public action. For example, they could agree to build a road that would be used by both and not owned by either. The road would be a public asset. That new form of action has a new form of possible harm – waste. If the road is built poorly, or extravagantly, the public money, time, energy, and resources are wasted. To minimize that harm, we must prioritize spending.

When a third person is added, we can have political action. Two people can outnumber the third person. The harm is oppression. To minimize that harm, we need political checks and balances.

Foreign action becomes possible when the fourth person is added outside the group. The possible harm is invasion. To minimize that harm, the group must be defended.

The last person we need to think about is the person of tomorrow – future people. Governing action is creating laws to protect the future. We must recognize that future people are affected by decisions we make today. The possible harm is bad government. To minimize that harm, people must be educated.

I mentioned to a friend that Vice President Harris appears to have spent around a billion dollars more that President Trump for her election campaign. My friend said that governments are not run like a business. He thinks many people do not understand that.

If we use Pentanomics, we find that to minimize harm from public action we must minimize waste. To minimize waste, we must decide on a public benefit. In the case of running a campaign, the benefit is to win the election. An argument could be made that spending a billion dollars more to win an election is worth it. However, to spend a billion dollars more and lose an election seems to me to be waste.