Posted on 12/21/2008 10:09:48 AM PST by HawaiianGecko
As the economy sinks and investors buckle over, the behavior buffs are rising up. From the lesser-appointed corners of academia, psychologists, sociologists and a youthful breed of economists scoff at the revered mathematical models that have driven economic thought and snared Nobel Prizes. These preachers of behavioral economics, including some on President-elect Barack Obamas economic team, argue that humans cannot be relied upon to obey the efficient, orderly tenets espoused by free-market thinkers.
(Excerpt) Read more at kansascity.com ...
I’m a firm believer that the public generally gets what it wants, individually and collectively. It was noted in China over a thousand years that invaders and conquerors of China would “become Chinese” after just a few generations.
This is because if the conquerors ordered the Chinese to do things they didn’t want to do, they would either not do them, or do them slowly, expensively, and not well. But if they were told to do what they wanted to do, it was done quickly, well, and far under budget. It was just easier for everybody to do things, “the Chinese way”.
But the same thing applies everywhere else as well. Right now, Obama is full of all sorts of schemes. However, unless the public wants them, they will fall flat.
The study of economics is less reputable than astrology nowadays.
Man, and look at how much good our current tax code has done! You’ve pretty much nailed it.
It would not be so bad if Bush or Obama thrusted their hands in our pockets, their parents’ pockets and their children’s pockets, as if it were theirs, patheticaly...
but to see added to it grandiloquent holier than thou “theories”, excuses and self-messianisms, is the epitome of insults and ridicule at the same time.
I cannot stand these jacka$$es.
good advise
“Libertarian Paternalism”... hmmm... that is straight out of the communist “Opinion Making” handbook of arrogance of thieves and plagiarists.
The thing is, it’s always the ones with good behavior who volunteer themselves under the commands of a leader who helps keep them in check. The rest, they are rebellious and do not care, or, they even claim themselves to positions of leadership.
The world is in need of correction, and the earlier we let go of the rot, the better it will have a chance of “degangrening” itself of socialism.
Exactly
What is so difficult about that simple concept to grasp? Yet some of the econ genius’ on this forum STILL don’t get it.
Thats absurd, counterfactual and now theyve created a catastrophe,
But markets are always self-correcting, even if the correction is painful. "Catastrophic" is what you get when governments believe that they can direct economic activity better than the market can.
I don’t know. Its clear as a bell that is what is happening.
-George Reisman
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That's just part of it; it's also a good way to cover up blunders. When asked by Congress (Greenspan admits mistake), "Greenspan said he had made a "mistake" in believing that banks in operating in their self-interest would be sufficient to protect their ..."
So Greenspan's saying the only thing he did wrong was underestimated the public's stupidity.
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