Complots

El Angry Economist:

It's not a conspiracy if they don't need to conspire. For an example in the natural world, consider that raindrops fall. The natural laws that apply to them ensure that this happens. No doubt if the molecules in a raindrop could conspire to form themselves into the shape of a glider, and locate an updraft, they could fly forever.

So why don't public school teachers teach good economics to their students? Why don't they teach that minimum wages just hurt the least qualified workers? Why don't they teach that unions mostly serve the employees and leaders of the union? Why don't they teach that unqualified amateurs (homeschoolers) teach better than trained professionals (themselves)? These are all documented facts.

Are public school teachers conspiring to suppress these facts? No, they aren't. No conspiring is necessary. No consultation, no coordination. It is in the interests of each and every teacher to fail to teach these things. No conspiracy exists because no conspiracy is needed.

Contrast this with your favorite conspiracy theory, e.g. the 9/11 truthers. They claim that the U.S. Government faked these attacks in an attempt to cause people to give them more power. Such a conspiracy would require the continued cooperation of at least a hundred people. Not likely that they would continue to cooperate for 8 years.

No, no conspiracy is needed to get people to cede power over their most intimate parts of their lives to governments, e.g. health care.