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Harvard Econ Student Walk Out to Protest Propaganda Approach to Econ 101

Discussion in 'BBS Hangout: Debate & Discussion' started by glynch, Nov 11, 2011.

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  1. SamFisher

    SamFisher Member

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    That definition is ass-clenchngly stupid, but by this logic, so does the gold standard (and a tornado is simply a kind of fart "IT DOES THE SAME THING A FAR DOES")

    Anywho, generations of ore-seeking Paul-tards endorse price controls everybody!
     
    #61 SamFisher, Nov 12, 2011
  2. glynch

    glynch Member

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    Granted on the supply/demand curves.

    Now if they spend enough time at the beginning of the course with frequently stating over and over. These are models based not on the real world of human society in which you have government and wealthy folks who value their own money and political power over any sort of reasonable good for society. A world in which poltics and economics are joined at the hip.

    In addition class in these supply and demand curves we hypothesize, large numbers of assumptions which often don't exist in the real world such as large numbers of buyers, large numbers of sellers, ease of entry to the markets, equal information for all buyers and sellers, equal politcial power for all market participants to set the rules etc. etc.

    Now, class, repeat after me these are only models, don't turn them into a religion like libertarianism or the primitive versions of Friedman which have been so heavily subsidized and spread by the rich to justify inequality. Don't listen to the monied interests who will preach only a truncated version of models largely devoid for practical purposes of the initial assumptions about government and the joining of the hip of economics and politics and who will spend billions try to subvert the models to justify the 1 percent having all the wealth.....

    Finally class keep in mind that economists know that in general the more their theories support the 1% the more they will make or the more famous the will become.
     
    #62 glynch, Nov 12, 2011
    Last edited: Nov 12, 2011
  3. Johndoe804

    Johndoe804 Member

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    To quote myself from earlier:

    I'm not calling for a gold standard. I'm calling for legalizing competition in currency and interest rates based on the market for loanable funds. People should decide which currency they use. They shouldn't be forced to use a currency that Congress has allowed the Federal Reserve (bank cartel) to purposely debase.
     
    #63 Johndoe804, Nov 14, 2011
  4. Northside Storm

    Northside Storm Member

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    Rational, bounded economic man will choose wisely, with all information available to him!

    or we'll have wildcat banking all over again. YAY FREE BANKING ERA (aka 1837-1863-2011-!)

    (so much of libertarian economic and policy thought can be traced back to "let's go back to the 1800s", without any consideration for the root issues that led to the reforms in the first place.)
     
    #64 Northside Storm, Nov 14, 2011
  5. SamFisher

    SamFisher Member

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    Nobody cares if you want the gold standard or not - the bottom line is that, in making the statement above, you are endorsing price controls, according to your idiotic defniition of price controls.
     
    #65 SamFisher, Nov 14, 2011
  6. Rashmon

    Rashmon Member

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    I choose Monopoly money as my new currency.

    Who wants to join me in the 1%?
     
    #66 Rashmon, Nov 14, 2011
  7. Mathloom

    Mathloom Shameless Optimist

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    They are protesting the teaching of those principles as the only principles.

    In fact they are protesting to avoid people thinking in the way you are thinking - that econ basics are those which are found in american econ basics books.

    I also had those micro and macro books and I recall that it starts out by listing out some outdated economic models and theories, and then goes on purely talking about John Smith, invisible hand, capitalism, etc. as if that is the only one worth talking about? As if that's the one that deserves 95% of the pages?

    Nah. I suggest you read up on this guy among others:

     
    #67 Mathloom, Nov 14, 2011
  8. Johndoe804

    Johndoe804 Member

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    How is that? Just saying something doesn't make it so. ;)
     
    #68 Johndoe804, Nov 14, 2011
  9. Johndoe804

    Johndoe804 Member

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    I doubt you could tell me what those "root issues that led to the reforms in the first place" were.
     
    #69 Johndoe804, Nov 14, 2011
  10. Kojirou

    Kojirou Member

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    You tell us. We HAD free banking after Jackson killed the bank. Why'd we go back?
     
    #70 Kojirou, Nov 14, 2011
  11. Northside Storm

    Northside Storm Member

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    How comfortable would you be holding 100 Lehman Brothers dollars in 2006, and subsequently in 2010?

    Moral hazard? Yeah, well, I hold 100 Goldman dollars. Heaven forbid they construct a way to profit off that, while screwing me. (HEY, printing money--->technically, if we don't recognize it as a liability, it is just another way to increase return on assets or equity! Our record with off-balance items is spotless. We don't need Basel I/II/III/IV/3842739478. Except when CDS and counter-party risk threaten to destroy us.)
     
    #71 Northside Storm, Nov 14, 2011
  12. Mathloom

    Mathloom Shameless Optimist

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    It is, as long as they're recognized as opposing viewpoints.
     
    #72 Mathloom, Nov 15, 2011
  13. glynch

    glynch Member

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    Economist Dean Baker trying to explain why economists got it so wrong and generrally favor the 1% over the 99%.. BTW if we look at the economic/development success stories in Asia we will see that the programs were run by engineers and lawyers and seldom economists so they werre not bound by free market orthodoxy.

    **********
    If we ask why economists would believe something about the world that seems to fly in the face of evidence, my answer would be that it is the easiest path for them. The vast majority of economists have no interest in upsetting the apple cart. They wanted to be economists because it is a relatively well-paying and prestigious profession. The way you move ahead in the profession is you repeat what the people who are more prominent than you are saying. This carries no risk. If they are right you can share in the glory. If they end up being wrong, then you have the “who could have known?” excuse.

    In terms of the leading lights of the profession, they have no reason to change what they are saying because no one is ever going to cause them to lose their job or even their standing because they are wrong. How many people even missed a promotion because they failed to recognize the largest economic crisis since the Great Depression? Since the status quo position in the profession fits in well with most powerful interest groups, and everyone has been in the habit of repeating the same lines, there is little real pressure for change.

    This is a depressing description of the profession, but people should understand that economics as practiced in the world cannot be seen as a neutral science. The deck is definitely stacked. Again, it is not typically in the form of someone getting money to push a particular line, it is more attributable to the way the profession has developed over the last five decades.

    http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2011...aign=Feed:+NakedCapitalism+(naked+capitalism)
     
    #73 glynch, Nov 15, 2011
  14. Johndoe804

    Johndoe804 Member

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    I'm not playing the NO U game. ;)
     
    #74 Johndoe804, Nov 15, 2011
  15. Johndoe804

    Johndoe804 Member

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    I love you guys. :rolleyes:
     
    #75 Johndoe804, Nov 15, 2011
  16. Qball

    Qball Member

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    Oh ya, just like debate we see in D&D right?
     
    #76 Qball, Nov 15, 2011
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  17. Johndoe804

    Johndoe804 Member

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    Glynch, your posts in this thread have been great. Just catching up with them.
     
    #77 Johndoe804, Nov 15, 2011
  18. juicystream

    juicystream Member

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    Fixed for you

    Supply and demand was the focus of both classes. Supply and demand is what economics is. Yes it Adam Smith and his Invisible Hand Theory play large roles in his books, but it was recognized as being imperfect.
     
    #78 juicystream, Nov 15, 2011
  19. Dubious

    Dubious Member

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    Coming from the Environmental Design program at A&M, I used to try and argue over in my Econ classes that any model that relied on constant growth would always eventually fail. Like a lead balloon.
     
    #79 Dubious, Nov 15, 2011
  20. pgabriel

    pgabriel Educated Negro

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    this is stupid
     
    #80 pgabriel, Nov 15, 2011
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