[lbo-talk] Discussing the Crisis/Bailout

[Mark Bennett]

>
>
> [WS:]  I think nobody really knows what is going on, except in very general
> terms.  Everyone is just guessing and political views taint thier
> judgments.  ASFAIK, the explanations how markets really work resemble more
> astrology than science - some general common sense observations mixed with
> intuition guesswork and heavy dollops of abracadabra.  Solutions to th
> eproblems are also magical, depending which schoold of sorcery one belongs.
>
> Let's face it, folks.  Economics is not science, at least in the emprical
> sense of the word, but modern day theology and fortune telling. If any other
> discipline had a similar record in explaining - or rather failing to explain
> - material reality, it would be laughed out of the stage.
>  Wojtek
>

This certainly sums up my view; which is one of the things that makes
discussions with Free Marketeers so goddamn strange.  Almost to a man or
woman, they claim to be hardest of hard-headed people, yet they have the
most childish faith in "market solutions" to each and every problem that may
arise.  They actually seem to believe that there is something called "The
Market" out there, somewhere, that exists independently of human agency,
that is often, and always deleteriously, interfered with: as if corruption,
price fixing, fraud, and everything else is not part of "The Market."  Very
strange.  These people are absolutely tying themselves in knots these days.

Thanks for the responses to my questions. I wasn't trying to get up in
anyone's shit, but I am truly curious about the amount of support for the
Bailout among the Left in general.  I tend to respond to political issues
emotionally, and my initial response to the crisis was simply "burn, baby,
burn".