Sandwichman wrote: > One recalls Keynes's comment about "madmen in authority, who hear > voices in the air..." > > I am currently working on a piece tentatively titled, "Kook, cranks, > quacks and clowns." > > In some respects, every world view is 'insane' to the extent that it > insists on the fundamental infallibility of its own mythology. And all > world view are based on a mythology. Confronted with the inevitable > disjunction between enduring objective reality and ephemeral > subjective experience, fundamentalists project the madness onto those > who don't share their preconceptions, thereby reconciling reality and > experience (at least in their own frenzied imaginations). > > This is NOT to say that Summers himself is nuts. It is, rather, that > he has insulated himself from truth by constructing a bogeyman who > doesn't hear the same "voices in the air" that he hears (the "academic > scribblers from a few years back," by the way, would be folks like > E.D. Domar, R.F. Harrod, Robert Solow, etc.). > > Thus, for Mr. Summers, THERE IS NO ALTERNATIVE to "robust and > sustained economic expansion" even if he can't really explain what > economic growth is, other than an increase in a statistical index that > is itself subject to distortion by non-"national goal" related > elements.
You have to give Larry _some_ credit. If we were to cut back on work-hours (hopefully without a cut in yearly pay), as Tom recommends, it would have the problem of not generating more tax revenues to help the government moderate the increase in its deficit and debt (one of the Obama administration's official goals, which can help attain other government goals). On the other hand and for all it's worth, GDP-growth does have that positive effect. BTW, I don't like Keynes' line about economists being dominated by the words of dead scribblers (that Tom cites). That's the "false consciousness" theory of ideology. I'd say instead that ideology arises from fetishism, i.e., from looking at the system from the inside, taking the distribution of wealth and power for granted, taking the structure of the system as "natural," etc. It's not a matter of reading the wrong stuff or hallucinating as much as suffering from a mirage seen only from academia, from the viewpoint of individual businesses, etc. -- Jim Devine / "Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti." (Go your own way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante. _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
