Comments on: Money On The Ground

By: Armstrong For President 2020

Armstrong For President 2020 — Tue, 24 Jun 2014 02:45:26 +0000

The lead crime link is, at best, highly speculative and it predicts the decline in crime fairly poorly for a theory made in retrospect. Murders and property crimes in particular have only a weak relationship to lead in these studies, rich cities/nations with more automobile traffic were somehow less affected than poorer ones where public transit was the norm, the drop-off was much too fast given the supposed mechanism of action, and most tellingly there seem to be few signs of the nationwide (much less global) drop in IQ during the years where brain damage would logically have been the most common.
(Pinker, Sailer)

The law enforcement theory, on the other hand, also fits the data fairly well but has the added benefit of actually making sense.

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By: Ialdabaoth

Ialdabaoth — Tue, 24 Jun 2014 02:11:06 +0000

Just because you WANT it to be because of these practices, doesn’t make it because of these practices.

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By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 24 Jun 2014 02:02:02 +0000

Crime is down a lot more in NYC than other places.

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By: Matthew

Matthew — Tue, 24 Jun 2014 01:13:44 +0000

Except, as Kevin Drum has discussed extensively, crime is down all over the place, in cities that pursued all sorts of different policing methods, suggesting that policing techniques are not primarily responsible for the decline in crime rates.

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By: Armstrong For President 2020

Armstrong For President 2020 — Tue, 24 Jun 2014 01:00:31 +0000

And thanks to those kinds of tactics which you look down on the NYPD for using, the city I live in today is much much safer than the one my father grew up in back in the 60s and 70s.

For those of us who still have to to live or work in the city and lack the legal ability to carry arms ourselves, having police actually willing to keep order is a godsend. It’s easy to sacrifice distant people’s safety for your ideals when you don’t have to take any of the risks yourself.

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By: Ialdabaoth

Ialdabaoth — Mon, 23 Jun 2014 23:55:22 +0000

Was this done in New York City? because the NYPD are actually known for leaving things out in plain sight, and then arresting anyone who picks them up. (They tend to drop the charges if you aren’t brown.)

EDIT: Ah, first few seconds say it’s done in London. Well, even so, the circle around the wallet definitely signals that something is up, and someone is likely to punish you if you attempt to take advantage of the situation.

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By: F.

F. — Mon, 23 Jun 2014 23:33:38 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxYCh_p2Mjs

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By: drethelin

drethelin — Mon, 23 Jun 2014 07:59:15 +0000

reminds me of my dad

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By: drethelin

drethelin — Mon, 23 Jun 2014 07:58:50 +0000

And let’s not forget all the times where we’re basically shredding extra 20 dollar bills as part of some necessary process. Nobody actually SEES 20 dollar bills lying on the ground until they look at the process and realize it could be 20 dollars cheaper.

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By: Nornagest

Nornagest — Fri, 20 Jun 2014 21:49:38 +0000

At the time I wasn’t familiar enough with the Bible to say for sure (I’ve since read one version through, and parts of several others), but it’d be hard to fit a full-length one into the volumes they were handing out: about the size of a pack of cards, but less thick. My guess would be that it only contained the Gospels.

And yes, I’m fully aware of the cult connotations and don’t endorse this as a tactic; the Hare Krishnas aren’t exactly the group to emulate if you’re going for mainstream respectability. I just don’t think pamphlets with small amounts of cash would be substantially more effective than pamphlets alone: I’d expect a small improvement in general disposition, but nothing in terms of obligation, which is what the Hare Krishnas are banking on.

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