Have you ever tried arguing with economists?

[BlackSpecs]

Well forget about this building a whole other system - nice idea but it's not going to happen today.

What concerns me is the fucking COLONISATION of economists into every area of life - which isn't necessary even in this current system. They can have the bean-counting in the treasury as far as I'm concerned, but that's it. They should stay out of anything even vaguely social or human.

Yeah it's pretty freaky how they reduce people and lifes to numbers ! One of them explained to me that firing 20.000 people at Airbus actually creates more jobs for France in the long run .....he might have been right but i couldn't help but think about 20.000 people going home to their famillies , kids and morgages to break the "good news"

 

[nosos]

What concerns me is the fucking COLONISATION of economists into every area of life - which isn't necessary even in this current system. They can have the bean-counting in the treasury as far as I'm concerned, but that's it. They should stay out of anything even vaguely social or human.

This is what my old PHD plan was going to be about (the status of claims economics makes as a technical discipline outside that discipline) until I decide not to do it because dedicating 3 years to it just because I have a grudge against economists would probably be rather silly.

 

[Brainaddict]

This is what my old PHD plan was going to be about (the status of claims economics makes as a technical discipline outside that discipline) until I decide not to do it because dedicating 3 years to it just because I have a grudge against economists would probably be rather silly.

No no, do it The destruction of economists' pretensions to omniscience would be worth three years of anyone's life

 

[nosos]

Nah my new phd plan is the same thing but with rationalist liberals as the target. Just as much fun, far more interesting options afterwards and a fuck of a lot easier.

 

[nosos]

plus after a year of intellectually interrogating every economist I came into contact with and six months of living with two phd economists whose entire social circles consister of other phd economists, I've got somewhat sick of it (even though I still think I'm right and they're wrong). which probably would have boded badly for 3 years doing it.

 

[Brainaddict]

plus after a year of intellectually interrogating every economist I came into contact with and six months of living with two phd economists whose entire social circles consister of other phd economists, I've got somewhat sick of it (even though I still think I'm right and they're wrong). which probably would have boded badly for 3 years doing it.

I can understand that. I'm sick of it after only a few months of arguing with their hive mind. Like I say, it's like arguing with a fundamentalist Christian or a Scientologist or something.

 

[metalguru]

I work with economists regularly and find them incredibly helpful.

For almost every area of public policy, I think economists can add a great deal of value. It's not all dry policy either, but things like climate change...

 

[8ball]

I work with economists regularly and find them incredibly helpful.

They burn well?

 

[fudgefactorfive]

I work with economists regularly and find them incredibly helpful.

For almost every area of public policy, I think economists can add a great deal of value. It's not all dry policy either, but things like climate change...

i hate those pompous fucking straplines in the British media where some wobbling-with-self-inflation hack regurgitates what they just saw an economist take fifty PowerPoint slides to explain:

GLOBAL WARMING COSTS BRITAIN £3 TRILLION

GAY INTERPRETERS COST YOUR MUM £9 QUADRILLION

POOR PEOPLE BEING ALIVE COSTS BORDERLINE-AUTISTIC STOCKBROKERS £7 SEPTILLION

always in this "x costs britain n" style like they're weeping over the loss of a rosy potential future where we're all fucking frolicking in a fucking meadow, BUT NO, the methane-emitting gay interpreters FRITTERED IT ALL AWAY.

 

[Wolveryeti]

I like economics and think it is highly relevant to how we lead our lives.

This having been said, there's nothing I hate more than smug twats who think they can bamboozle you by regurgitating chunks of their Economics BA at you.

 

[Bob_the_lost]

Yeah but that's why they end up running the fucking world

If you're referring to Wall street et al. I think you'll find it's mostly mathematicans and physicists as well as the odd engineer or two. All of whom would be rather taken aback at the idea that you can't represent reality with numbers, you merely need the right model.

 

[kyser_soze]

i hate those pompous fucking straplines in the British media where some wobbling-with-self-inflation hack regurgitates what they just saw an economist take fifty PowerPoint slides to explain:

GLOBAL WARMING COSTS BRITAIN £3 TRILLION

GAY INTERPRETERS COST YOUR MUM £9 QUADRILLION

POOR PEOPLE BEING ALIVE COSTS BORDERLINE-AUTISTIC STOCKBROKERS £7 SEPTILLION

always in this "x costs britain n" style like they're weeping over the loss of a rosy potential future where we're all fucking frolicking in a fucking meadow, BUT NO, the methane-emitting gay interpreters FRITTERED IT ALL AWAY.

Everyone uses memes like this - it's no different from someone saying '1 Trident missile costs 3 million baby ICU bassinets' or 'For the cost of this office wallpaper we could have had 10,000 nurses' - same meme, different subjects, but it's still comparative econmics.

 

[8ball]

Everyone uses memes like this - it's no different from someone saying '1 Trident missile costs 3 million baby ICU bassinets' or 'For the cost of this office wallpaper we could have had 10,000 nurses' - same meme, different subjects, but it's still comparative econmics.

You make a reasonable point but there's a big difference between the kind of memes you're using and what ff5 was talking about.

With your memes you could just dump the missile idea and actually *have* the bassinets, whereas the stuff ff5 was talking about (single mothers costs x, global warming costs y)was the kind of media twattery that just begs more questions but pretends they don't exist, and ispurely used as rhetoric to imply that single mums are blood suckers, measures to stop global warming would have purely positive economic impacts etc.

 

[kyser_soze]

OK, let's take the 'Global Warming costs X' line...both 'sides' (IYSWIM) use economic comparators like that as well - the whole basis of the economic discussions used around Global warming by both sides of the debate rely on it, from the basic notion of the carbon footprint etc - what about when someone like Shelter says 'Homelessness costs the economy X a year in potential business'.

 

[8ball]

I know these comparators get used by all sorts of people, but sometimes they're clear-cut enough to make some sense and sometimes they're just rhetorical bollocks spouted by people who need to be killed in the face.

 

[kyser_soze]

Ah hell yeah, I completely agree they are, just FF5 seemed to be implynig it's only used from a certain perspective, when it isn't.

 

[muckypup]

anyone interested in a super simple yet through explanation on banking and paper money This little gem of an animation titled 'money as debt' will make it very clear.

The monetary system needs to be reformed, it must be reformed as its based on a continually expanding economy which translates to increasing individual debt (think mortgages and rising house prices) and increasing energy supply. The latter we know now is about to peak anytime soon and then decrease over the next decade or so. This in itself will stop economic growth in its tracks and lead to economic collapse or wholesale reform.

 

[gorski]

plus after a year of intellectually interrogating every economist I came into contact with and six months of living with two phd economists whose entire social circles consister of other phd economists, I've got somewhat sick of it (even though I still think I'm right and they're wrong). which probably would have boded badly for 3 years doing it.

It didn't stop Kolakowski writing a History of Marxism...

There's Keyneses, Polanjis, Galbraiths etc. of this world and then there's Friedmans, too....