In the minds of the self anointed intelligentsia, 233 years of economic theory, practice and fact must be destroyed because it does not align with their agenda. The progressive left -who believe man is benevolent, utopia is possible, and a collective economy will create prosperity- will say anything and spend any amount necessary to create "proof" that their misguided worldview is valid. This is the agenda of tyrants. History has shown us all to many times the sickening results of such thinking and behavior.
Excerpts from: Converting the Preachers: George Soros launches a $50 million effort to purge economics of its free-market zeal. By Michael Hirsh, Newsweek
This week [George] Soros is gathering some of the leading practitioners of the market-skeptic school, who were marginalized during the era of "free-market fundamentalism," among them Nobelists Joseph Stiglitz, George Akerlof, Michael Spence, and Sir James Mirrlees.
He's also creating an "Institute for New Economic Thinking" to make research grants, convene symposiums, and establish a journal, all in an effort to take back the economics profession from the champions of free-market zealotry who have dominated it for decades, and to correct the failures of decades of market deregulation. . .
"Economics has failed not only to predict and explain what happened but has also failed to protect society," says Robert Johnson, a former managing director at Soros Fund Management, who will direct the new institute. "That's what the crisis revealed. The paradigm has failed. There is no guidance."
It might be tempting to dismiss all this as a war of words among brainiacs. It's not. The critical issues being discussed in Washington about the future regulation and control of the financial industry—the very nature of Wall Street and the health of the economy—depend on this battle of idea
And almost by default, the profession and many of its leading journals remain controlled by free-market thinking out of the University of Chicago, Stanford, MIT, and other institutions, Soros, Johnson, and others argue. Free-market thinking also dominates the debate on everything from the "too big to fail" problem to health care.http://www.newsweek.com/id/219720/output/print
Excepting a brief history with the Reagan administration, Keynesian and Protectionist policies have been dominating ever since Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Over the decades, government spending as a % of GDP has gone up, regulations have increased, the progressive tax structure has been distorted further, the frequency of government interventions has skyrockted..
ReplyDelete50 million dollar program? Why bother? Looks like they've been winning for 80 years...