Garrett Hardin on the Tragedy of the Commons

some very simular arguments will be made by those wishing to cut social security and medicare. "The tragedy of the commons refers to a dilemma described in an influential article by that name written by Garrett Hardin and first published in the journal Science in 1968.[ The article describes a situation in which multiple individuals, acting independently, and solely and rationally consulting their own self-interest, will ultimately deplete a shared limited resource even when it is clear that it is not in anyone's long-term interest for this to happen."
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I might also suggest you check our "Life boat" ethics where Garrett makes the case against helping the poor.

http://www.garretthardinsociety.org/articles/art_lifeboat_ethics_case_against_helping_poor.html

Hardin uses the metaphor of a lifeboat to make his argument. Lifeboat ethics is a metaphor for resource distribution proposed by the ecologist Garrett Hardin in 1974