Shortsighted: Why Our Society Incentives Are Broken and How We Fix Them

Modern economic and political systems suffer from structural short-termism, where existing policy frameworks inadvertently incentivize individual enrichment and corporate extraction over broader societal well-being. Drawing historical parallels to public patronage mechanisms in the late Roman Republic, this essay argues that severe socioeconomic imbalances—such as hyper-concentrated wealth, unchecked inflation, housing misallocation, and corporate profit maximization—stem directly from misaligned systemic incentives rather than fundamental flaws in capitalism itself. Realigning these incentives requires stepping back from transient political tribalism to establish shared societal goals, ultimately proposing targeted policy adjustments to encourage pro-social behavior and foster long-term national stability.