New Economy rant

Brad De Long delong at econ.Berkeley.EDU
Thu Sep 28 16:46:51 PDT 2000



>G'day Brad,
>
>You probably find many allies when you sink the slipper into poor ol' GO on
>this list. But I ain't one of 'em.
>
>>They should be miserable! They have no
>>right to be happy just because the bourgeoisie have fed them the
> >lotus of nylon stockings!

No. Wigan Pier's a great book. But at this point in the book Orwell is arguing that nylon stockings have worked--that people *think* they're happy.


>
>
>>You don't want to say that people aren't *allowed* to
>>dream of Michael Jordan while wearing their Nikes.
>
>You do want to say that their lives shouldn't be made up of such hopeless
>and distracting dreams, though. Nor that their notion of self-worth should
>depend on the patterns on their footwear.

Well put...


>
>
>>In short, I don't know what I think. But I do think that the issues
>>are more complicated than Naomi Klein admits. (Which doesn't mean
>>that her book isn't a very good book.)
>
>Well, at the end of the day, we do have to make judgements about these
>things, doncha reckon?

We do. But I don't yet know what to think...



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