until a democrat loses the popular vote and takes the election.

Heh.

I don't like straight plurality, either. Way too much chance of several popular candidates splitting the vote. If I were in charge, we'd have some kind of preferential ballot system. Not sure which one, since there's no such thing as a perfect voting system, but just about all of the reasonable ones are preferable to straight plurality.

I agree with you. In legislatures I prefer some form of PR. In offices like the presidency where you are not a electing a multi-member body, I prefer any reasonable form of preference voting. I'd settle for instant run-off, though I can think of a number that would have fewer anomalies. As you say. there is no perfect way of aggregating preferences. This includes markets, by the way. Markets are more than a way of aggregating preferences; but that is one of the functions they perform. And Arrow's theorem applies just as much their preference aggregating function as it does to any other preference aggregating system.

I'm just sort of unclear about how I feel about the Greeting cards for incarceration, complete with "Sorry to hear about your arrest."

This includes markets, by the way. Markets are more than a way of aggregating preferences; but that is one of the functions they perform. And Arrow's theorem applies just as much their preference aggregating function as it does to any other preference aggregating system.

How? Arrow's theorem applies specifically to social welfare functions. It requires a restricted set of options and a single decision. I can see how the general idea of the theorem could apply to other things, but not the theorem itself.

That's interesting, Kat. It's very much an "I don't know what to say" situation, so I can see the value of having cards, but it feels kind of off in a way that I can't put my finger on.

But you can focus on the a single decisions within a market. For example: how many Ford Tauruses shall we make. You can "cut" a decision out of a market system and treat it as a form of preferential voting on that decision.

But who are the voters and what are the options in that scenario?

Voters are the buyers. Dollars can be looked on as votes. I guess a better example would be "how many new Ford Tauruses will be put on the road this year". The voters are buyers. The dollars are votes. The other options are all other cars (new and used) for sale, plus not buying a new (to you) car.

Did anything blow up while I was away?

A highway tunnel in CA.

Don't we have a lot of birthdays today, like Matt's and Cashmere's and Megan Walker's?