“The science is finally settled on this one,” reads this magnificent specimen of reasoning: “people who consistently make good decisions enjoy an undeniable and unfair advantage in life.”  No, it is not a satire.

Silly me, I always thought making good decisions is “merely a matter of luck.”  Amazingly, say the authors, it’s not!  Then could it have something to do with prudence?  Not that either!  What a relief!  But why doesn’t it?  Because actually, good decisions result from a “virtuous cycle.”

A virtuous cycle sounds like a good thing, doesn’t it?  Wrong again.  “Good decisions lead to better outcomes,” we find, “which in turn provide more opportunities and resources to make even better decisions in the future.”  But by definition, all such advantages are “ill-gotten,” because deriving benefit from good decisions is unfair to everyone else.  This is why “the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.”

And that’s not all.  Consider that virtuous cycle again.  If good decisions lead to good results, and if good results lead to still more good decisions, ad infinitum, then we have a “compounding accumulation of ill-gotten advantages.”

“Compounding” – where have we heard that word before?  Why, that’s just like compound interest!  And you know what that implies!  As the authors explain, “You need not have listened to many Warren Buffett lectures to get the less than subtle hint that this good decision-making is inextricably linked to capitalism.”

For the sake of equity, from now on I will try to make all my decisions foolishly.

I’m so glad that “the science is finally settled on this one.”