calling in loans

Michael Perelman michael at ecst.csuchico.edu
Tue Aug 27 07:47:59 PDT 2002


How about the law and econ. movement where judges are being indoctrinated in neoclass. econ? Why is congress mandating the teaching of neoclass. econ.? Ideology is not a primary force, but it is a useful reinforcement. If econ. texts started questioning the Shrub policies, the s. would hit the fan, as they did in the 50s, when Keynes was thought to be communistic.

On Tue, Aug 27, 2002 at 10:42:53AM -0400, Doug Henwood wrote:
> eric dorkin wrote:
>
> >If the Shrub started to make policy based on the
> >position of Saturn, then you might have to. For
> >crying out loud, we are still arguing over evolution.
>
> How much does Shrub justify policy on the basis of neoclassical econ?
> It's all about rewarding his friends - clearcut the national forests,
> break unions, cut wages, drill in ANWR, cut the taxes of
> centimillionaires, etc. Insofar as they use any theory to justify it,
> it's bastard supply-side-ism, with a few supply and demand curves
> thrown in for people who remember Econ 101. The Fed makes policy on
> the basis of instinct, anecdote, and their judgment of the balance of
> class forces.
>
> Neoclassical econ is more interesting as an ideology (as is
> astrology). It obviously has so little to do with the real world, the
> real question is what purposes its preposterous theories serve. If it
> were more relevant to policy than it is, then the chair of the CEA
> would be an important figure in the government instead of a largely
> useless figurehead. And so what if neoclassical economics has no
> explanation of profit. Bourgeois society has a couple - the reward
> for risk-taking and the source of investment funds.
>
> I suppose if I were an actual economist I wouldn't enjoy the luxury
> of dismissing the whole enterprise rudely. But I'm not, so I do.
>
> Doug

-- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929

Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu



More information about the lbo-talk mailing list