The conspiracy theorists will have a field day with this one from Faux Noise (boooooooo!):
The federal government is hiring what it calls a “Behavioral Insights Team” that will look for ways to subtly influence people’s behavior, according to a document describing the program obtained by FoxNews.com. Critics warn there could be unintended consequences to such policies, while supporters say the team could make government and society more efficient…
The document praises subtle policies to change behavior that have already been implemented in England, which already has a “Behavioral Insights Team.” One British policy concerns how to get late tax filers to pay up.
“Sending letters to late taxpayers that indicated a social norm — i.e., that ‘9 out of 10 people in Britain paid their taxes on time’ — resulted in a 15 percent increase in response rates over a three-month period, rolling out to £30 million of extra annual revenue,” the document reads.Another policy aimed to convince people to install attic insulation to conserve energy.
Attic insulation. Yes, let’s implement subtle policies to change people’s behavior regarding attic insulation. Like the Brits are doing. Since their society is in such an upswing.
I’m not worried about this being some sort of mind control or anything. Most Americans don’t like being told what to do, and believe it or not, most of them are smarter than the creeps who gravitate toward government. They’ll see through this horsecrap.
It’ll just be yet another waste of tax dollars on something that doesn’t work. Why should our betters in the public sector care? It’s not their money. But that’s government for ya. And Obama loves him some government.
It’s just galling to pay, at gunpoint, for being scolded. I’m pretty damn sick of it, which is why I go right for the Mute button whenever I see Obama.
But look on the bright side. As JWF notes:
I just noticed that the acronym for the Obama Behavioral Insights Team is OBIT
— JWF (@JammieWF) July 30, 2013
That’s almost as good as Winning The Future!