The BEST Salad Dressing Ever

[Xerographica]

Here are the ingredients for the very BEST salad dressing ever:

1. Fresh squeezed lemon juice
2. Extra virgin olive oil
3. Raw garlic (pressed)
4. Cayenne powder
5. Oregano flakes
6. Basil flakes
7. Cumin
8. Salt

[DISCLAIMER - Please read]: By choosing to make and try this salad dressing, you are agreeing to absolve me of any and all liability and responsibility should your taste buds explode

As you can see, I didn't include any measurements. That's because my family has always approximated the appropriate amount of each ingredient to add.

I really love this salad dressing...but there's something that I love even more...economics. Why? Because it's really important for me to understand exactly why I'm 99.9% certain that if I went to my local grocery store right this second, I would be able to find all the ingredients that are necessary to make a salad dressing that would provide my friends, family and I with lots of joy, happiness, pleasure, benefit, utility and welfare.

Economics is the field of study that focuses on what can be done to try and ensure that we have all the "ingredients" that we need to maximize joy, happiness, pleasure, benefit, utility and welfare. The two main economic theories are the "market" theory and the "planned" or "command" theory.

Personally, the market theory makes far more sense to me than the "planned" theory. In fact, the "planned" theory makes so little sense that I prefer to refer to it as the "non sequitur" theory.

The market theory makes sense because...if I want to make the BEST salad dressing ever...I have the freedom to go to the store and exchange my money for the necessary ingredients. By giving my money to the cashier...I'm giving a "high five" to everybody responsible for making these products possible. My money gives them the incentive to continue using society's limited resources for my benefit. Except, clearly I'm not the only one who finds value in giving them positive feedback. The market works because it's the epitome of a group effort.

The non sequitur theory, on the other hand, makes no sense because, well, it's a non sequitur. If I go to the store, place all the necessary ingredients in my cart, and give my money to the cashier...my money...my "high five"...my positive feedback...my encouragement...my gratitude...my appreciation...my sacrifice...wouldn't go to the people responsible for producing the ingredients that I had placed in my cart...it would be redirected to the people responsible for producing fennel, bananas, tofu, plastic utensils and cheese whiz. As a result, there would be a disconnect between the demand (the premise) and the supply (the conclusion). The shelves would be overflowing with some ingredients/inputs and completely devoid of other ingredients/inputs.

Nearly all countries have mixed economies. A mixed economy is one where the private sector operates on the market theory while the public sector operates on the non sequitur theory. But do we really want the public sector to be a non sequitur economy? Why would you want to exchange your taxes for a bundle of public goods which does not even come close to matching your preferences? Why would we want the shelves to be overflowing with tanks but completely devoid of environmental protection?

In essence...economics is the study of why freedom matters. I think I know why freedom matters...which is why I want you to have the freedom to choose which government organizations you give your taxes to. I want you to have the freedom to choose whether you eliminate tanks from your "recipe" just like you have the freedom to choose whether you eliminate garlic from the recipe that I've shared with you. Should you eliminate garlic from the BEST salad dressing ever? No way! Should you have the freedom to do so? Absolutely.

Is my salad dressing truly the BEST ever? If it really is...then why would I hesitate allowing you to decide for yourself? Is your recipe for life truly the BEST ever? If you really believe it is...then why would you hesitate allowing taxpayers to decide for themselves?

Here are the three most common reasons why people hesitate:

1.
Argument: People are too uninformed to make good decisions
Counter argument: If people are uninformed it's because they have a vanishingly small say how their taxes are spent. The technical term for this is rational ignorance.

2.
Argument: "Important" government organizations would be underfunded.
Counter argument: How "important" a government organization is to society can only be revealed by our actions. The technical term for this is demonstrated preference.

3.
Argument: It would be unfair because rich people would have more influence than poor people.
Counter argument: Given that nobody evenly distributes their money, a market economy in the public sector would be considerably more fair than the current non sequitur economy. The technical term for this is dollar voting.

Please make it a priority to understand why society's total welfare absolutely depends on you having the option not to "buy" things. If you don't like what I'm trying to "sell" to you...if you really don't "buy" it...then please, by all means, add me to your ignore list. But if you choose to do so...then your actions would be speaking louder than your words. Clearly you would value the freedom to place any government organization on your ignore list.

If you do decide to make it a priority to understand why your priorities should matter...then here are a couple of resources that might be of some interest. They aren't interesting because they are pro tax choice...on the contrary...their focus is primarily on the downside of having too many choices. But they are interesting because they assume that you have a firm grasp on why your freedom is important.

1. Here's a psychologist, Barry Schwartz, making an argument against having too many options...The Paradox of Choice. Not sure if you have to register to watch the video...but it's also available on Netflix. On the TED website you have the option to just read the transcript...but then you'd miss out on all the funny comic strips he shares.

2. Here's a paper...The Dark Side of Choice...by Simona Botti and Sheena S. Iyengar that offers a more in depth exploration of the same topic discussed by Barry Schwartz.

Both offer a lot of food for thought...so hopefully you'll take a look at them.

Is there really a BEST salad dressing? No way...and thank goodness. Life wouldn't be worth living if there wasn't room for improvement. So where's there room for improvement with my salad dressing? I have no idea. I've been too busy trying to find where there's room for improvement in my argument for your freedom.

Trying to find room for improvement is second nature to us. Not just us though...right next to me there's a cat on a blanket shifting around trying to find where there's room for improvement. The market works because we have the freedom to reward the people who've discovered exactly where there's room for improvement. Is there room for improvement in the public sector? Most definitely. So let's create a market in the public sector and give our taxes to whichever government organizations are doing the most to improve our lives.

[Torcularis Septentrionalis]

No.
Plain EVOO.
Screw everything else, all you need is EVOO.

[Wikkiwallana]

I really regret not looking at the author before clicking on the thread. Seriously, do you even have any other interests?

[Wikkiwallana]

No.
Plain EVOO.
Screw everything else, all you need is EVOO.

I can't stand that stuff, way too strong. I much prefer light olive oil.

[Divair]

I just.. what the fuck did I just read?

[Reploid Productions]

Here are the ingredients for the very BEST salad dressing ever:

1. Fresh squeezed lemon juice
2. Extra virgin olive oil
3. Raw garlic (pressed)
4. Cayenne powder
5. Oregano flakes
6. Basil flakes
7. Cumin
8. Salt

[DISCLAIMER - Please read]: By choosing to make and try this salad dressing, you are agreeing to absolve me of any and all liability and responsibility should your taste buds explode

Lies. The best salad dressing ever is the sesame dressing the sweet little Japanese lady that used to run the E&E Cafe in Los Angeles made. Oh my gosh, the salads you could get there were at least 20% cooler with that dressing on them. Fortunately for the culinary world, she wrote the recipe down and it's included in a cookbook she put together after she and her husband retired and closed the cafe. I'd share that recipe, but the cookbook is currently a four hour drive away from my location.

[Mike the Progressive]

Hehe you said cumin.

[Lunatic Goofballs]

I'm really not a salad kind of guy. My greens go in my tacos and the rest of my vegetables I steam with a little fresh basil. Yummy and very healthy.

[Avenio]

Seriously, do you even have any other interests?

No, he really doesn't. And three pages later he's probably going to make a thread in moderation saturated with J.S. Mill quotes complaining about how we threadjacked it.

On that note, salad dressings.

I'm not a huge fan of the mayonnaise-based ones myself (due to a lifelong dislike of mayonnaise, mostly), but I like pretty much all other oil-based dressings. The best salad I've ever had was a spinach salad with goat cheese, almonds and cranberries with a red wine vinaigrette - simple, sweet and perfect for the summer barbeque I had it at.

[Katganistan]

No.
Plain EVOO.
Screw everything else, all you need is EVOO.

And a bit of balsamic vinegar goes well with the evoo -- as well as some chopped rosemary.

[Trollgaard]

I'm not a fan of salads...but I would be willing to try some KC masterpiece, or some Gates BBQ sauce on some salad...

[Galloism]

If you could come up with an amount of each of those ingredients, that might make a good dressing.

[Ifreann]

How could that be the best anything when it doesn't involve any liquor?

[Saint Clarke]

Hehe you said cumin.

...you...you...you are a genius!

But jokes aside, the best salad dressing I had was in a golf clubhouse in Scotland...really vinegary...

[Lunatic Goofballs]

No.
Plain EVOO.
Screw everything else, all you need is EVOO.

And a bit of balsamic vinegar goes well with the evoo -- as well as some chopped rosemary.

Mmm... fresh rosemary. Yummy.

[Ifreann]

If you could come up with an amount of each of those ingredients, that might make a good dressing.

Cayenne powder - 1.93 kg
Serves one.

[Tsaraine]

I'm not a huge fan of the mayonnaise-based ones myself (due to a lifelong dislike of mayonnaise, mostly), but I like pretty much all other oil-based dressings. The best salad I've ever had was a spinach salad with goat cheese, almonds and cranberries with a red wine vinaigrette - simple, sweet and perfect for the summer barbeque I had it at.

Not a huge fan of mayo myself ... except garlic mayo. I could eat that stuff with a spoon. But then that's more about my unhealthy desire for all the garlic than anything else.

[Yumyumsuppertime]

Lemon juice and olive oil, French, or Russian. I can actually deal with most dressings, but can't stand blue cheese or thousand island.

[The Blaatschapen]

Here are the ingredients for the very BEST salad dressing ever:

1. Fresh squeezed lemon juice
2. Extra virgin olive oil
3. Raw garlic (pressed)
4. Cayenne powder
5. Oregano flakes
6. Basil flakes
7. Cumin
8. Salt

[DISCLAIMER - Please read]: By choosing to make and try this salad dressing, you are agreeing to absolve me of any and all liability and responsibility should your taste buds explode

Lies. The best salad dressing ever is the sesame dressing the sweet little Japanese lady that used to run the E&E Cafe in Los Angeles made. Oh my gosh, the salads you could get there were at least 20% cooler with that dressing on them. Fortunately for the culinary world, she wrote the recipe down and it's included in a cookbook she put together after she and her husband retired and closed the cafe. I'd share that recipe, but the cookbook is currently a four hour drive away from my location.

When you happen to be near the recipe, please share.

NSGastronomics is interested in it.

[Wikkiwallana]

I'm not a fan of salads...but I would be willing to try some KC masterpiece, or some Gates BBQ sauce on some salad...

That reminds me of a college student who came into the Quiznos I used to work at and sometimes topped his salads with our French Dip jus. He said it was pretty good. I need to try it sometime.

[Tahar Joblis]

That reminds me, I keep forgetting I mean to make a strawberry vinaigrette from the ones I froze earlier. I'm thinking of using just plain white vinegar. White balsamic would be more flavorful, but I want the strawberry to really sing centerstage here. Maybe a little sage to accentuate it, but strawberry first and last.

Now, here's the problem:

1. Most customers don't know what salad dressing is best for them; and they don't understand what is actually in the ingredients on the shelves. This generates informational asymmetry, so most of them are trying to make the wrong salad dressings in the first place. Yes, the crowd has a measure of collective wisdom - and that's precisely what the democratic process aims to harness.
2. Without any regulation at all, this gets worse, because while I, as an informed customer, know I want EVOO and nothing less, the unscrupulous grocery store owner has been relabeling some bottles and cutting others. Today might not be my lucky day, and that bottle is actually peanut oil with a touch of artificial color. No wonder it tastes like crap!
3. Also, in the absence of regulations, my strawberries are actually poisonous - that particular batch was grown in a field polluted with arsenic.

I would not mind seeing taxes allocated more in accordance with the direct desires of the populace. This will mean major cuts in military funding, among other things; and we would need to be very careful about how we implemented it if we are to actually manage this without aggregation paradoxes dominating the procedure or long-term / short-term planning clashes running up.

[Cannot think of a name]

I can't help but notice the OP did not say 'bleu cheese' as is the proper response.

[Lunatic Goofballs]

I can't help but notice the OP did not say 'bleu cheese' as is the proper response.

Bleu cheese goes in the tacos with nice thin slices of flank steak, some greens and a fresh salsa. *nod*

[Tubbsalot]

I'm starting to wonder whether you're the world's most advanced AI, and you just haven't been programmed to absorb any information except that related to pushing your prime directive. "So I need to pretend this is something other than my blog, eh? Well I'll just insert a totally random subject into the post! EAT THIS. EAT THIS SALAD DRESSING."

I really regret not looking at the author before clicking on the thread. Seriously, do you even have any other interests?

I hear he has some hobbies. Mostly stabbing himself in the dick.

[Yumyumsuppertime]

I can't help but notice the OP did not say 'bleu cheese' as is the proper response.

Bleu cheese is the unholiest of abominations.