My co-presenter was from Stanford. He stuck to the Law and Econ theorists like a fly stuck to flypaper. His heros - Richard Posner and Richard Epstein. Any comments on these two will be welcomed. But what was astounding was that he actually claimed that economics was NOT political. In his view, there is no political economy. Is this the standard line out there now in universities??>
I'd say no on balance, though usually the notion of 'political' is impoverished in one way or another. You seem to have bumped into one of the more moronic of the breed.
>> For Max - and EPI folks
The commentator was an economist from Cornell. He was very
critical of
my having used EPI as a reputable source. He said "It's
controlled by >>
And who might this cupcake be?
>labor" but then proceeded to use the President's Economic
report as an
unbiased report of how well the economy is doing. He also tried
to
convince me privately that the minimum wage had contributed
nothing to
people's economic well being and is sending some "proof" in the
mail. .>
We'd love to see this proof. We might nominate him for the Nobel. As for the ERP, we've also noticed the economy isn't doing badly in terms of the principal macro measures. Obviously we'd differ on why, or on what's most important in the welter of assorted indicators.
> We might agree that the minimum wage is not a living wage but
he was
saying it had no valid purpose or place in the scheme of
improving
people's material reality. This guy calls himself left of
center.>
Sad to say, he could be right.
> Whew! those of you who face this everyday may be used to it
but I found
it very disheartening. The encouraging part of the experience
was that
many disabled people felt that my economics centered work was of
import,
was filling some missing gaps, so perhaps I am beginning to make
some
inroads there.>
Thanks for the report.
Best,
Max