Known Unknowns

WILLIAM A. JACOBSON FEB 9, 2011 7:30 AM

Watching Sean Hannity’s interview with Donald Rumsfeld last night reminded me of Rumsfeld’s “known- knowns, known-unknowns, and unknown-unknowns” statement during a press conference in 2002.  I use this construct in class to describe how to build a legal case (you build it around the known-knowns, just saved you about 50k in tuition):

“[T]here are known knowns; there are things we know we know.  We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know.  But there are also unknown unknowns – the ones we don’t know we don’t know.”

The known-knowns are the things we usually argue over — we know them. The unknown-unknowns are more fun, but amount to speculation and often devolve into conspiracy theories.

Much more interesting to me are present day known-unknowns, things we know we do not know.  Focusing on policy issues, what are some known unknowns?

Let me start:

• When we will reach the tipping point in national debt.
• The number of years it will take us to recover from the increasing restrictions on offshore drilling.
• Whether and on what conditions the Obama administration will resupply Israel in the event of a full-scale Mideast war.
• Whether it will be too late to reverse Obamacare if it takes two years until the U.S. Supreme Court rules the mandate to be unconstitutional.
• The number of jobs which will not be created because of the sweeping scope of pending regulations.

Others?

——————————————–
Related Posts:
Can War Crimes Charges Be Far Off?
The American Left Outsources The Spanish Inquisition
What Do Juan Cole and “Death to America” Have In Common?

Follow me on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube
Visit the Legal Insurrection Shop on CafePress!

CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY