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Guest Post: Harvard Lobotomies And The Disgrace Of The Economics Profession
Submitted by Damon Vrabel
Harvard Lobotomies And The Disgrace Of The Economics Profession
It's worth stepping back on occasion to consider the progress that has been witnessed in particular academic fields. Astronomy took a giant step forward centuries ago when it finally realized the sun was at the center of the solar system. Geology adapted to the fact of a round earth. The continuous evolution of Physics boggles the mind. Engineering perpetually pushes into new frontiers.
And how does Economics compare?
Well let me take a moment to congratulate the few Harvard, LSE, Princeton, Chicago, MIT grads serving Wall Street, the Fed primary dealer cartel, the IMF, and the World Bank (Larry Summers deserves extra credit). These economists drive the field, and they've brought it to a point that has taken us back to the days of medieval feudalism. The field is now more primitive than flat-earth Geology and Ptolemaic Astronomy. Congratulations economists!
Of course it's not entirely the economists' fault. They were taught from day one in Economics 101 that they will undergo a moral lobotomy. Economics goes to great lengths to indoctrinate new recruits that it's a positive vs. normative "science." Other sciences don't bother to do that because the fact is there should be no conflict between the positive and the normative. Why is Economics the only field that does this? Because it wants to avoid the questions that good students interested in true progress would otherwise ask. It knows it's hiding something in its content that conflicts with the normative and it doesn't want students to search for and find the truth. Just remember this helpful indicator in your next life--anything that goes to such lengths to admit upfront that it's morally bankrupt might be something around which you should NOT build your life!
The truth is that Economics has been designed to completely hide the monetary system that hovers above the economy. Economics assumes money is just a medium of exchange floating through the economy to facilitate a free market and generate wealth. At times that has been true, but today it's probably the biggest lie of modern history. The current system does not generate wealth and freedom for most people. It generates debt and servitude. And it is not a free market. Today's money flows from a top-down imperial power system expanding globally. It creates a master-servant relationship because all money comes from privately held debt.
Let me say that again. ALL MONEY COMES FROM DEBT (for those of us who suffered the most indoctrination by attending schools like Harvard, let's pause here for a moment so we can catch up to the rest of the class). This means in order for governments, businesses, and people to have the liquidity necessary to live, they must agree to sign over a claim on their assets to banks. As the banking system inflates over time passing out credit, which makes everyone feel good with more digits in their accounts, it gathers claims on all the assets in the system for its private capital holders. Admittedly, this is one way of facilitating development (good students would've figured out a better way had they not been stifled). But it's also the method for transferring everyone else's assets to the balance sheets of the capital holders behind the banks once deflation sets in.
This is what we're facing today. The global banking system has a claim on most assets in the world (except those in places like Iran, so it's no surprise we're fanning the flames of war so the military can eventually conquer the region for JP Morgan Chase and its Harvard employees...of course Chase was one of the first corporations to move in on the mineral assets seized in Afghanistan because it's the primary bank that pays the military-industrial complex to conquer territory for it...they're giving us an obvious lesson in how the world really works today).
Once the system has gathered all the claims it wants, senior capital will be removed, kicking off the next phase of deflation and a transfer of assets from the people to the banks. At that point we'll probably see JPM Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, another Harvard lobotomy victim (there's a high correlation between Ivy League lobotomies and billionaires), on CNBC threatening Americans to pay up as his firm jacks up their rates and takes their homes like he did in early 2009.
In this transfer process, the people's equity will be eliminated. And this means, they will be returned to the life of a feudal servant to the capital holders behind the banks. This is not rhetoric, but the unarguable math and accounting of the banking system. It's very simply a mechanism to transfer assets/equity from the balance sheets of the many to the balance sheets of the few.
So a final word for all the top economists out there:
Congrats again! It didn't take much to buy you off. Today's financial elite, those who control the global debt machine, have rewarded you with some meager paychecks and the status of the high priests of old. Sad. Do you have any pride, or is it really that easy to co-opt you with retreats in Jackson Hole, hobnobbing in Davos, and membership in the CFR?
Come on. Rise above it. You are obligated to fix this immediately:
1) Develop an interim solution in concert with the old time-tested bondage/jubilee, growth/rest cycles which gave the people, communities, land a breath of fresh air in the midst of empire growth. (if you're writing that off as religious romanticism, ask yourself what top athlete doesn't live by training/rest cycles...over-training results in deterioration, not progress)
2) Then develop and advocate a humane money system that facilitates the rebuilding of real community as opposed to one based on debt servitude that parasitically sucks the life OUT of communities.
We know the debt holders have a lock on Harvard and LSE (my days at Harvard were marked by professors preaching the benevolence of Enron finance and Wall Street derivatives, so most Harvard grads are probably beyond recovery). But what about the rest of you? It's time to step up and work toward progress like your colleagues in other fields. It's time to move beyond the dark ages.
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The hubris of trying to impose linear solutions on non-linear problems...
+5
Oh good I have been junked. Would you care to come out from hiding and explain your rational for the junking? What are your thoughts?
Some people junk anything they don't agree with, their opinions are that precious and fragile.
We must find ways to goad them into thinking if they are ever to change!
Actually it is more the implementation of additional non-linearities that destabilizes the system even more.
Like:
- huge increase in credit: do nothing
- huge decrease in credit: print like crazy
You're absolutely correct. But don't get discouraged. Getting a Keynesian economist to admit he's wrong will require far more effort than it is to convince a religious Zealot that the Earth is not the center of the universe.
"Getting a Keynesian economist to admit he's wrong..."
Getting almost all economists to admit they're wrong...
There! Scrubbed clean of cheap politics, it looks much better, doesn't it?
I have no doubt that until the economy becomes "A Smoking Ruin" the population will not develop the political will to demand a reform of the monetary system, that until that event, i'd like to offer a possible solution to cogitate on. Check out http://www.monetary.org and perhaps the answer to our trials is not so complicated
Many states, in order to get a CPA, the CPA candidate needs to work in the field, sometimes as long as two years before they are licensed, even after passing the exam. So CPA's spend "time in the field" and generally have a really good understanding of the practical side of business "in the wild".
The same should be true for economists, they NEED to spend time "in the wild" to actually see the effects of their bullshit theories.
I didn't do the research myself, but I understand that NONE of these current guys running the economy ever worked for a real company, please correct me if I am wrong.
EDIT -
Ok, here is some research
Geithner - 3 years, consulting?
Roamer - None
Bernanke - None
Orszag - None
Krugman - None
Summers - 5 Years, during which he famously ran Harvard into the ground
Anyone see a pattern here?
"Geithner - 3 years, consulting?"
...during which time he explained to people things they already knew, but in language they could not understand...excellent preparation for government....the master being Greenspan
Summers went to DE Shaw after Harvard. I got some nice jollies by teasing a few of the (very intelligent) females who worked there about his opinion of their inferiority. It didn't seem like they cared much for the guy.
Economics is basically Applied History. Unfortunately, most economists ignore this basic fact...
Don't confuse history with economic science.
"History cannot teach us any general rule, principle, or law. There is no means to abstract from a historical experience a posteriori any theories or theorems concerning human conduct and policies. The data of history would be nothing but a clumsy accumulation of disconnected occurrences, a heap of confusion, if they could not be clarified, arranged, and interpreted by systematic praxeological knowledge." - Human Action by Ludwig von Mises
Don't confuse History with Applied History.
I think observation and experience would be more useful, which seems to favor Applied History. Just watched a Hawvad economics professor explain on CNBC why the gov't needs to pick and choose winners in the economy, and the importance of central planning. I guess he never got the memo.
... and carry forward a furious disregard for history itself.
I like that.
But to really really screw things up you need an Economist AND a computer!
Most "economists" are econometric pseudoscientists that cling to fallacies and childishly play with numbers.
Only the Austrian School of economics deserves to be called a "science", i.e. actual knowledge.
Austrian School is FAR more religion than science. Cracks me up how certain its adherants are that their hypotheses are Divinely Revealed Truths, rather than mere conjectures to be proven or disproven (as it would be with real "science"). The von Mises clergy and their followers pat one another on the back for their "brilliance", while deriding anyone not of their faith as intellectually (and morally) inferior. Meanwhile, those who financially rape others quote Austrian School scripture to justify all the chips ending up on their side of the table.
No macro economic system can be consistently predictive -- far too many variables and unseen forces at work. Much like the "science" of psychology, mainstream economists hide behind obfuscatory statistical models to mask their uncertainty with "how it all works". However, Austrian Schoolers simply self-reference, then imply their over-simplistic interpretations of extremely complex systems are beyond question (i.e. "actual knowledge").
Well, I'd be more willing to categorize Austrian economics as equally 'quackified' to Keynesian voodoo.....if there were any actual examples of failed economies which adhered to the Austrian model. Hell, are there even any examples of the Austrian system being attempted?
If the answer is no, then shouldn't we wonder why? History has shown the Keynesian model to be the gargantuan failure it is, on repeated occasions, and yet it keeps being pushed in some variation or another. Meanwhile, the Austrian system is blatantly suppressed by TPTB, with no other rationale than 'it's not an accepted school of thought'.
So yes, it's entirely possible that Von Mises was as equally full of bullhockey as Keynes. But for some reason, humanity has been denied the necessary scientific model testing required to make that determination.
Again, shouldn't we asky ourselves: WHY?
"those who financially rape others quote Austrian school"
Who are we talking about here??
Austrian Kook Hans-Hermann Hoppe: "The state is useless"
Where does he work? At a state funded university.
+Fed's Fresh Monetization
Economics is nothing more than the religion of greed. It occupies itself with matters of seeming archane knowledge of looming importance out of reach of simpler mortals, which are actually simply made up on the spot.
It all sounds so very important but is only intended to confuse, misdirect and enslave. They argue endlessly over how best to fit the collar around the neck of people who actually produce things of value, while themselves producing nothing by smoke and noise.
In the end, they fondle you. But by then you won't even know it's wrong.
If you are a working economist and you are reading this, please kill yourself at your earliest convenience. Thank you.
"It all sounds so very important but is only intended to confuse, misdirect and enslave"
You're right. Mostly, economics is a gigantic load of rubbish. But have you read "Economics in One Lesson" by Henry Hazlitt? http://www.hacer.org/pdf/Hazlitt00.pdf
"ECONOMICS is haunted by more fallacies than any other study known to man. This is no accident. The inherent difficulties of the subject would be great enough in any case, but they are multiplied a thousandfold by a factor that is insignificant in, say, physics, mathematics or medicine—the special pleading of selfish interests....The group that would benefit by such policies, having such a direct interest in them, will
argue for them plausibly and persistently. It will hire the best buyable minds to devote their whole time to presenting its case. And it will finally either convince the general public that its case is sound, or so befuddle it that clear thinking on the subject becomes next to impossible.
"
Yep, and yet the economists are making the most important decisions of the day, all based on this religion of greed as you say.
It's no coincidence that Greenspan was famously obtuse. The guy just made shit up.
Fondle? More like grab your ankles and just bend over a little deeper....
Finally someone makes the connection. But I believe it's a virus.
The virus was made in a foriegn lab. A specimen of it was brought here to Harvard.
It remained there contained and isolated for years. Then one day a terrible accident. A janitor accidently broke the petri dish left lying on the lab table by the absent minded professor. The virus became airborne.
It does not think. It does not feel. It's only purpose in being is to reproduce itself. The first symptom is anxiety. This is followed by euphoria then suffocating debt. Then finally a fiat collapse and death.
But the host's death does not end the virus. It lingers, resting, on every paper note...waiting.
A Stand-up Economist gives a short lecture on the Principals of Economics.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVp8UGjECt4
Funny, a good laugh. Thanks for the link.
Great post!
Re:
"The current system does not generate wealth and freedom for most people. It generates debt and servitude. And it is not a free market."
If you haven't seen this little vid... you might enjoy!
"Money as Debt"
http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=-2550156453790090544#
The first 30 minutes of that video are just superb.
Then the morons make the infinitely stupido mistake of letting "government" (a fiction, by the way) create unlimited money to spend on whatever they want. Of course, as always, what they "want" is to misdirect the money to themselves, their families, their friends, to co-conspirators, and whoever will kick-back the most.
Why cannot humans just stop being massively insane? Why cannot humans ditch all these absurd fictions?
The "solution" is simple. Everyone must trade real physical goods for real physical goods... period. No receipts for gold (or other goods). No fractional reserve ANYTHING. There must be ZERO ways to create fictions, ZERO ways to earn wealth by creating debt or "money" out of nothing. Of course, if gold (and/or other real physical goods) is "money", fractional reserve is IMPOSSIBLE... as it must be in any honest economy.
One great aspect of the video is, it clearly shows the exponential nature of the current system of fictional debt "money", and how it encourages ecological destruction.
The only solution for mankind is to "grow up", and stop believing that utter fictions are somehow real. These include:
- fiat money (as opposed to physical gold, silver, etc)
- paper money (as opposed to physical gold, silver, etc)
- governments, corporations (all are "fictitious entities")
- authorities (dishonest or delusional human predators)
Currently the entire human race is playing a massively delusional game of "simon sez", where so-called "government authorities" are simon telling everyone what to do. This is literally, clinically and massively INSANE. But sadly, at least 99.99999% of humans today are literally, clinically, massively insane.
Wake up, humans. And get real.
I suppose you have examined 100% of humans to get your insanity level. It's either facts or assumptions, let's not mix them up. Editing is the greatest tool for making a point well.
Okay, that's an informed estimate. Does it change anything significantly if you chop off that last one or two 9s?
This is definitely a time of corporate feudalism. With the heads of state being merely those in seisin, of a term granted by the multinationals to the nation-states.
The people, everywhere, are just the serfs, bitchez!
THE UNKNOWN ECONOCOMEDIAN
http://williambanzai7.blogspot.com/2010/09/introducing.html
Yes, the economists are engaged in a robust trade of horse manure. So is the Fed and Banks trading subprime and other toxic assets.
go damon go!!!!!
more economic orgasm tonight with david galland, damon vrabel, and the perenially brilliant george washington, and smartknowledgeu....a cabinet is in the making....we have the minds to take back amerika from the ruling oligarchs who MUST be destroyed.
economics of the ivy league sort is voodoo economics - the dark craft of a wicked enslaving priesthood who are so sociopathic that they have only their own wealth and self-agrandizement to consider...
this article speaks truth....let it ring broadly....
Buy side econs are simply hired writers. Send me a Buy side econ who ever predicted a recession. Oh, sure, they have "20% chance of recession" but they have to sell shit so they can never say "get to the bunker, now !". Insurance company econs are the worst.
Most of the conversation above is centered around big name econs in govt, universities, etc but I think that Sell side econs are far better than Buy side econs.
There are some excellent sell side econs out there - I pick John Ryding.
Damon's a genius. The Econs are crims and Money is Debt. Whew. Sure, its only been said 14000 times here already but I'm not going to get to sleep tonight. With Damon's guidance, I think I'll be ready to tackle the concept of a Financial Derivative in about 140 years from now.
If anyone here is indeed willing to challenge the (weird) belief "we need more GDP growth forever just to keep functioning", see David Harvey's "The Crises of Capitalism" RSA lecture (or others that can be found on youtube) here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26o22Y33h9s&feature=related
Additionally, see a review of his most recent book here: http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/the-enigma...
In future centuries, humanity will regard economics with the same contempt and mild amusement as we regard alchemy and astrology. Behind the pseudo-science and risible self-importance of its adherents is a confidence trick with zero predictive ability.
The current debate between inflationists and deflationists demonstrates that economics only has the answers because it covers all the bases. Whichever camp is proved wrong by events simply tweaks its theory to accommodate the facts and carries on as if nothing has happened. They are charlatans, all of them.
theres no comparison Economics is not a science.
It's more like the scam art we got from Warhol. Only the finest sophisticated elite can really appreciate it.
Come on guys....economics is hard and I'm not going to let a bunch of bloggers tell me otherwise.
http://agonist.org/files/active/2/33655771-Economics-is-Hard.pdf
I found lots of interesting information here. I love zerohedge.
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