By this logic should newborn babies be the most trusted decision makers?
Incentives, moral judgement, expertise, cognitive ability, etc. are all pertinent to evaluating a person’s decision making. Not someone’s remaining life expectancy.
Discussion
I don’t want to fight with you, your points are 100% valid, I apologize that my wording wasn’t perfect, I’m not an expert by any means.
I’m certainly not looking for a fight either 🙂
I made that comment to point out that the best way to debate a point is to fortify your argument by also understanding the other side (and being open minded). Why does it not feel right that someone “old” is making a decision in this situation and not in another situation? Maybe it’s because if how you assess moral judgement and value one thing more than another. Maybe it’s because you critique their incentive structures or think their expertise is facetious (as many bitcoiners do regarding Jerome Powell and the Fed for example).
No one should be trusted decision makers. No one should have the authority to deny the property rights of anyone else, even oil companies. Fixed.
While I generally agree, at some point you will be trusting someone’s judgement. Especially the younger you are the more you’ll be trusting your family and environment around you. As you get older you’ll (hopefully) become less dependent but there will still be an element of trust in others like your partner, parents, or peers.
Consider doctors as well. That gets tricky because a doctors incentive may not necessarily be to heal you fully. Or at the very least not without making a quick buck.
Taxation is theft and the government are thugs.