[Phil153]

The other possibility is that people are actually stupid/lazy/greedy/short sighted or simply uninformed and don't understand how their actions lead to various outcomes. Which means that people CAN want something in the long term but don't know or understand enough to make it happen.

The other larger point is that people have competing priorities, between cost and morality, between cost and risk, between the long term and the short, between individual gain and the good of all, between power and money, and they often pick an irrational choice that doesn't fit their goals at all.

The above can and does cause failure. The AP scandal is an excellent example of the last one. Gas guzzling SUVs are an excellent example of the second last. Buying the products of forced labor are an excellent example of the first.

The bottom line: People can SAY what they want to happen and actually want that to happen, but fall into numerous fallacies (i.e. "I'm only one person, what difference does my tiny contribution make" ), irrational tradeoffs, or poor understanding of the available information or its consequences. This has to the potential to cause complete social failure without intervention. Do you disagree?