The victims of that disguise are those we instruct in error. The beneficiaries are the institutions whose power we so disguise. Let there be no question: economics, so long as it is thus taught, becomes, however unconsciously, a part of an arrangement by which the citizen or student is kept from seeing how he is, or will be, governed."
John Kenneth Galbraith, Power and the Useful Economist, March 1973
"The Roman politician and philosopher Cicero once said: ‘Not to know what has been transacted in former times is to be always a child. If no use is made of the labours of past ages, the world must remain always in the infancy of knowledge.'
Economics is a political argument. It is not — and can never be — a science; there are no objective truths in economics that can be established independently of political, and frequently moral, judgements. Therefore, when faced with an economic argument, you must ask the age-old question cui bono, who benefits? Ninety-five per cent of economics is common sense — made to look difficult, with the use of jargon and mathematics.
The economist Joseph Schumpeter emphasized that all analysis in economics is preceded by a pre-analytical cognitive act, called vision, in which the analyst ‘visualises a distinct set of coherent phenomena as a worth-while object of his analytic efforts’. He pointed out that ‘this vision is ideological almost by definition’, as ‘the way in which we see things can hardly be distinguished from the way in which we wish to see them’.
The free market doesn't exist. Every market has some rules and boundaries that restrict the freedom of choice. A market looks free only because we so totally accept the regulations and underlying restrictions that are propping them up that they become invisible. How 'free' a market is cannot be objectively defined. It is a political definition. There is a human tendency to be seduced by a theory that supposedly explains everything.
Markets do weed out inefficient practices, but only when no one has sufficient power to manipulate them.
Once you realize that trickle-down economics does not work, you will see the excessive tax cuts for the rich as what they are — a simple upward redistribution of income, rather than a way to make all of us richer, as we were told.
Since the 1980s, we have given the rich a bigger slice of our pie in the belief that they would create more wealth, making the pie bigger than otherwise possible in the long run. The rich got the bigger slice of the pie all right, but they have actually reduced the pace at which the pie is growing. The best way to boost the economy is to redistribute wealth downward, as poorer people tend to spend a higher proportion of their income.
The widely accepted assertion that, only if you let markets be will everyone be paid correctly and thus fairly, according to his worth, is a myth. Only when we part with this myth and grasp the political nature of the market and the collective nature of individual productivity will we be able to build a more just society in which historical legacies and collective actions, and not just individual talents and efforts, are properly taken into account in deciding how to reward people.
Why do we need to make the rich richer to make them work harder, but make the poor poorer for the same purpose?
When some people have to run a 100 metre race with sandbags on their legs, the fact that no one is allowed to have a head start does not make the race fair. Equality of opportunity is absolutely necessary but not sufficient in building a genuinely fair and efficient society.
We need to design an economic system that, while acknowledging that people are often selfish, exploits other human motives to the full and gets the best out of people. The likelihood is that, if we assume the worst about people, we will get the worst out of them."
Ha Joon Chang, Economics and the Things They Don't Tell You About Capitalism
Economics and financial reporting can become just another facet of the long con in a highly artificial speculative bubble.
It serves the purposes of the power elite and their acolytes.
We will have an option expiration for the Comex precious metals futures on Tuesday, the 27th.
Oil was spiking on widespread rumors of a military confrontation in the Middle East this weekend.
An election very important for Netanyahu is coming up in Israel.
Trump is sweating the midterm elections.
Stocks are on the edge.
Gold and silver and Bitcoin have been beaten down.
VIX is elevating.
Let's see what actually happens.
The last resorts of scoundrels is the fog of war.
Have a pleasant weekend.
