MOST economist agree....

I am writing to remind everyone that "agreement" is not always evidence of good sense.

Just because it is a group of doctors, scientists, or economists who are doing the agreeing, doesn't mean that particular majority enjoys an automatic exemption from being wrong.

So you can tell me that the value of Keynesian economic insights are "agreed" upon by "most" economists, and it will still sound like "Most doctors choose Camel cigarettes," to me.

Have no idea what I'm talking about? Don't worry, most people don't.



P.S. Just trying to be challenging and witty, not rude. It's not a reasonable expectation that most people ought to be versed in the entire history of economic thought. It would simply be that way if I had my druthers, because *I* think it's cool. But I'm just another blogger among millions, don't mind me. :)

A quote for the times in which we are living

"Anyone who says that economic security is a human right, has been too much babied. While he babbles, other men are risking and losing their lives to protect him. They are fighting the sea, fighting the land, fighting disease and insects and weather and space and time, for him, while he chatters that all men have a right to security and that some pagan god – Society, The State, The Government, The Commune – must give it to them. Let the fighting men stop fighting this inhuman earth for one hour, and he will learn how much security there is."

~ Rose Wilder Lane (1886–1968)

Lasting effects ....

I bought those Debbie Meyer's Green Bags "As Seen On TV" in an effort to attain long-lasting veggie freshness. I know you've seen them, and you've wanted the very same thing for yourself, haven't you? Hey, it's natural. There are many things in the world that humans try to keep going "just one more day."

Take the economy for instance. Wouldn't it be nice if instead of deteriorating further, we could wrap it in some sort of miracle packaging that will arrest its natural progression? Indefinitely?

(Special plastic didn't work for the celery, but maybe a bureaucratic committee can pass a law that will buy us some time...)

One of my friends forwarded me an email he got this week. It said the following:

Following yesterday’s meeting of the Board of Directors it was decided to institute a temporary Wage and Salary Freeze for all employees effective immediately. This action will be reviewed and the end of the first Quarter 2009 with one of two possible outcomes:


* Extend the Freeze Indefinitely


* Rescinded Retroactively


Your support and cooperation will be appreciated.

Events can be delayed, but rarely are they avoided completely.

But that fact that we can't pervert the natural progression of things is good, right? Because who wants an "indefinite" wage freeze, anyway?

And I wouldn't eat celery that lasted too long either.

One-in-a-lifetime versus day-to-day

Because humans are born, live for some finite period, and then die, we tend to assume that all of the really defining moments in life are singular events. A wedding. A car crash. Winning the lottery. Just once is enough.

Just one time is enough times to change the course of a life forever.

While it is true that turning points do indeed tell the story of an individual's life, I have found that the human condition is better described by its thousand-times-over events. It's what we do again and again that truly impacts our lives and shapes who we are.

I think we can be grateful for the repetitive nature of life. Personally, I'm rooting for a zillion more heartbeats to come, even if each one is not particularly thrilling.

While the everyday may be associated with drudgery and monotony, I contend it is a far more desirable to have life described by the phrase "one day at a time" than by "do or die."

At least, most of the time.