Once one cuts through all the jargon and jettisons the circular arguments, one finds that economics is NOTHING BUT POLITICS. It turns out that an economics degree is sort of an academic version of the CIA's "School of the Americas". * The only logical reason to teach economics because it's part of an economic plan to convert the entire world into the economist's ideal: a world where everything is for sale. How will we deal with these "cultural cane toads"? "Economists have become a plague as dangerous as rabbits, prickly pear or cane toads. Economists have become the cultural cane toads of Canberra, oozing over the landscape and endangering myriad indigenous species. Not only the economy but also mental health would be greatly improved if we could lift the fog of obfuscation on things economic. The first step is to take economists from their pedestal and to see them as the curiosities they are. The first step to reducing their power is to reduce their legitimacy. How is this to be achieved? First, economists' outpourings should, as a matter of principle, be met with laughter, derision, benign paternalism. They should cease to be employed as media commentators. In the long term they should cease to be hired. Let them be pensioned off and die out. Extinction is a worthy end for a profession whose brief is rotten to the core. (Jones, 1991, 88)" Quoted in HEALING A WOUNDED WORLD: Economics, Ecology, and Health for a Sustainable Life. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0275956016 I hate to see "healing" in a book title. I expect to find a new-age, self-help book of the "win friends, influence people" variety. But ignore the title, this is a serious work! It's packed with references, scientific studies, sound logic, economic enlightenment, and quotes. This is the ultimate doom and gloom book (I think I have read them all). I highly recommend it. Reference: * The School of the Americas was established in Panama in 1946 to train Latin American military and security officers. The school was moved to Ft. Benning in Columbus, Georgia, in 1984. The US Army School of Assassins, based in Fort Benning, Georgia, trains Latin American soldiers in combat, counter-insurgency, and counter-narcotics. Graduates of the School of Assassins have been responsible for some of the worst human rights abuses in Latin America. Among the SOA's nearly 60,000 graduates are some of the most notorious dictators of Latin America. [ http://members.xoom.com/LiberalGuy/soaw.htm ] Jay ------------------------- COMING SOON TO A LOCATION NEAR YOU! http://dieoff.com/page1.htm
