From: Ed Weick <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>I would still like to know why you feel so compelled to sling mud at them.
I thought I posted this berfore, but perhaps not:
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JOIN MY NEW JUNKECONOMICS LIST!
PURPOSE OF THIS LIST
This is an "action" list. The purpose of this list is to start a grass-roots
movement to discredit the court astrologers -- the official apologists of
the ruling class -- the economists. We intend to do this by supplying
activists and journalists with the tools so they can hold economists up to
public ridicule.
NEED
Our present economic-political system is rushing full speed into the brick
wall known as LIMITS TO GROWTH (LTG). LTG assumes many forms: depletion of
nonrenewable resources, pollution and perturbation of natural systems, and
simply reaching a level of complexity that is too great for our energy base
to sustain.
AMERICAN POLITICS
Democracy is "government by popularity contest", and as such, requires
nothing of its leaders other than "popularity". We elect people to office
because "like them" -- not because they have any specific ability to lead or
solve problems.
Democracy in America is "economized" -- elections are based on money, and
whomever who spends the most money usually wins: one dollar, one vote. Thus,
elected officials are simply the "most liked" by the moneyed-class.
Obviously, a government of the "most liked" by those who "profit most from
business as usual" can not possibly avoid a headlong crash into LTG. Indeed,
I believe that all global social systems will be in chaos in less than ten
years -- perhaps much less (tomorrow?) -- and nothing can be done to avoid
it.
MISSED OPPORTUNITY
Political reformers usually focus on the election process itself and miss a
very important (perhaps THE most important) aspect of policy: advisors. Who
are the president�s top advisors? Are they scientists and engineers, or are
they astrologers and entertainers? If you don�t know, then you haven�t been
following the news:
"Not long ago, Mr. Rubin and Mr. Summers were being compared to Douglas
MacArthur, the general who reshaped Japan after World War II. Under their
leadership, Americans were remaking Asia's dysfunctional crony capitalism --
with its close links between government, corporations, banks and in some
cases, ruling families -- in America's free-market image." [WSJ, 9/24/98]
LEVERAGE
When the shit hits the fan, everyone is going to be looking for someone to
blame -- lynch-mobs will search the streets looking for victims (e.g., the
Rodney King riot). All we need to do is point the mob in the right
direction. Everyone who is not an economist will be so relieved to be spared
that they will join the lynch-mob.
WHY ECONOMISTS?
It is important to understand that we are not targeting economists because
the are somehow evil, bad, or stupid. To the contrary, there are many
brilliant economists in the world today who are working hard to solve our
social problems (e.g., the entire ecol-econ genre). The problem lies in the
economist�s world-view. Economists see our life-support system as a
subsystem of the economic system rather than the other way around. Think of
it as an incurable genetic defect:
"The human mind evolved to believe in gods... Acceptance of the supernatural
conveyed a great advantage throughout prehistory, when the brain was
evolving. Thus it is in sharp contrast to [science] which was developed as a
product of the modern age and is not underwritten by genetic
lgorithms." --E..O. Wilson (Apr, 1998)
"Economists can, for example, always retreat to unobservable variables to
explain unwelcome facts... Either one believes it or one doesn't. So, in
general, an economist's prior beliefs about what is true play a very
important role in the way he sees economic evidence. Once their beliefs are
formed, it is difficult to prove any economist's priors wrong so
convincingly that he will change his beliefs about the way the world works.
And because of its seemingly comprehensive answers to all economic
questions, the price-auction model creates a very strong set of prior
beliefs." -- Lester Thurow
With few exceptions (e.g., Boulding, Daly, Georgescu-Roegen, a few others),
ALL economists call for more economic growth in some form or another: so
called "sustainable growth". Simply put, endless economic growth is
physically impossible and can only lead to universal ruin. In other words,
economists-as-a-class must be rejected because they are incurably wrong --
no matter how well intended -- no matter how many "epicycles" they hang on
their theories.
ULTIMATE OBJECTIVE
Our objective is to change the nature of the decisions coming out of world
capitals by changing the nature of top advisors. We aim to accomplish this
by discrediting economists over the next few years to the point where
elected leaders would be embarrassed to admit they asked an economist for
advice.
RULES OF THE LIST
A prerequisite to submissions to this list is the understanding that limits
to growth do exist, and that we are now beginning to feel them. The focus of
this particular list, as defined by the purpose message, is fairly narrow. I
am going to moderate this list to keep discussions in the ballpark. We will
not debate the "limits" issue -- nor will we debate politics -- it�s about
economics and economists.
To subscribe to JunkEconomics, click here:
http://onelist.com/subscribe.cgi/JunkEconomics
