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… is from page 35 of Thomas Sowell’s 1979 Hillsdale College lecture, “Knowledge and Decisions,” as it appears in Champions of Freedom [2], Volume 7 (1980):
Decisions over the past half century or so have been gravitating away from those people who directly experience the consequences, and toward third parties who simply observe. That is, decisions are moving, for example, out of the market, where those who directly buy and sell something can decide whether they want it or they want it a certain way or a different way, into the hands of other people who simply look on. For example, automobiles are now made not simply the way customers want them and General Motors is willing to produce them. They also have to please Ralph Nader. I happen to have one of those bumpers that are now built to please Ralph Nader, and I can’t get a bicycle rack on it. I’m willing to pay to have the old bumper, General Motors is willing to produce it, but it would not make Ralph happy.
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