Blame Economists for the Mess We’re In
nytimes.com
Blame Economists for the Mess We’re In
1–10 of 143 posts
Re: Blame Economists for the Mess We’re In
#2Economists are a part of the problem, sure. But I think MBAs and more broadly the laws of corporate governance deserve to take some of the blame.
Re: Blame Economists for the Mess We’re In
#31980s/1990s economists:
"Here is what we will do, we will pass laws and make it easy to outsource all of the jobs, and then we will import tons of foreign labor. Then, our gracious corporations will happily retrain all of our workers for new jobs with completely new skills. Mid/Late career workers can change on a dime right? Next, when the economy crashes in 2008, we will print unprecedented levels of money to save the economy by pushing up financial assets. That money will mostly end up in the hands of the upper class. Then we will scream wealth inequality! Telling those disenfranchised middle class citizens that it was not us who created such a disparity... we are not the enemy. As China continues to destroy and hollow our economy, we will paint all dissenting politicians as crazies, surely China's unprecedented wealth did not came at our own cost. We need more free trade, more immigration, and more outsourcing."
Re: Blame Economists for the Mess We’re In
#4Non-paywall https://archive.is/4dn8na
But don't even bother. It has no clear reasoning, only a handful of anecdotes and hurling an insult to Friedman. It's a weak hit piece to sell you a book. NYT is a joke.
Re: Blame Economists for the Mess We’re In
#5I blame politicians.
Re: Blame Economists for the Mess We’re In
#61980s/1990s economists: "Here is what we will do, we will pass laws and make it easy to outsource all of the jobs, and then we will import tons of foreign labor. Then, our gracious corporations will happily retrain all of our workers for new jobs with completely new skills. Mid/Late career workers can change on a dime right? Next, when the economy crashes in 2008, we will print unprecedented levels of money to save t…
> ... we will pass laws and make it easy to outsource all of the jobs ...
Not just laws. During the Reagan era, there were US government programs to promote outsourcing jobs. And to coach firms on how to do it.
Re: Blame Economists for the Mess We’re In
#7Or don't, because we're not listening to economists in general, but people who are employed/supported by the very wealthy (just like lobbyists and thinktanks) to give politicians something to say publicly when they do things that the very wealthy want them to do.
Re: Blame Economists for the Mess We’re In
#8Applebaum tries to finger "elfin libertarian" Milton Friedman as "the most important figure". But the specific policies he attributes to Friedman don't seem so bad:
* end the draft, replace with well-paid all-volunteer military
* let international exchange rates vary
* evaluate regulations based on the cost-to-save-a-life
Does Applebaum want to bring back the draft? Put exchange rates back under direct political control (as is attempted in places like Venezuela & Argentina)? Have a purely "feel-it-in-our-guts" approach to regulation, without regard to whether the same $X million dollars in imposed costs could save 1 life in one case, or 100 lives somewhere else?
Re: Blame Economists for the Mess We’re In
#9[deleted]
Re: Blame Economists for the Mess We’re In
#10Blame no one. I sincerely doubt if humans truly understand economics. I mean we have the data for last 100 years. Maybe more. And everything we know today has been inferred from this data. But honestly, how do we know how economy is supposed to behave over a 20 year period in a world of high frequency trading, automated trading, disruptive technologies, globalization, ability to work remotely, a Continental currency and the list goes on. We don't know what we don't know. We just have to accept that.