The importance of having 'Skin in the game'.

I was recently referred to an interesting article, on the Internet,  about a book which I have not read myself yet, called 'Skin in the game'  by M. Taleb.

The key points from the article were:-

1. An insight as to why societies and economies thrive or fail boils down to  one of scale.

2. Organisations that function well at a small scale (ie.localised) fail when scaled up and centralised ( ie globalised).

3. Both markets and governance function well at a small scale because those making the decisions must absorb the consequences of their actions/choices.

4.The entire point of centralised hierarchies is to buffer top decision-makers from the consequences of their actions and choices.

5.Having 'skin in the game' exposes decision makers to the consequences of their actions.

6. The decisions of political leaders, like going to war, has virtually a zero risk of them being killed.

7. Leaders of highly centralised hierarchies lead cost-free lives enabling them to to pursue disastrous policies.

8. Cheating is easier to get away with the more centralised the organisation or government.

9. Cheaters at the top of the wealth-power pyramid hire slick attorneys to evade consequences or they buy political influence/protection, in effect legalising cheating by those at the top of the pyramid in systemic ways. Small scale governance mostly avoids this as the office holders are more readily made to face the consequences of their decisions.

10. A state issued currency is the perfection of a centralised system which enables governments to avoid the consequences of their policies.

Our second demand for 'Real Local Democracy' recognises all the above and aims to give the basic unit of our counties REAL power including raising taxes and leave the central government to concentrate on the Nation's Home and Foreign Affairs, Defence and the National budget.