Kyle Crichton writing in the New York Times gives some attention to the Austrians but cautions policymakers not to pay any attention to them. Hard to say why he says this, except that perhaps it would mean smashing the counterfeiting operation at the head of the central state.
Note: commentators have convinced me that I misread the Colander quotation at the bottom to which I referred.
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Actually, I thought the piece skeptical of Kondratieff cycles, not Austrian theory. Perhaps I’m being obtuse, but how is saying that Austrians should probably be taken more seriously by the profession equivalent to cautioning policymakers not to pay attention to them?
look at the last sentences
“A good profession should take its outsiders more seriously,†Mr. Colander says. “They make you look at things in different ways. The worst thing for policy makers is to think they are right.â€
“A good profession should take its outsiders more seriously,†Mr. Colander says. “They make you look at things in different ways. The worst thing for policy makers is to think they are right.â€
This could be read two ways, either as Jeffrey Tucker appears to have read it:
“A good profession should take its outsiders more seriously,†Mr. Colander says. “They (outsiders) make you look at things in different ways. The worst thing for policy makers is to think they (outsiders) are right.â€
or, as I read it:
“A good profession should take its outsiders more seriously,†Mr. Colander says. “They (outsiders) make you look at things in different ways. The worst thing for policy makers is to think they (policymakers) are right.â€
That is, I read this as saying that policymakers should challenge their own conclusions by taking opposing views seriously.
That’s how it is written people. That is a direct quote from Colander who is talking about the policy makers.
Hence, your second interpretation is correct.
You misread the end, Mr. Tucker. You might want to edit your blog entry.
correction:
That’s how it is written, PETER.
Sorry.
Unless I’m missing something here, it appears almost certain that Colander means “policymakers” should not sit back and think they are always correct (which would mean ignoring outside criticism).
Thus, I think Colander was being critical of the mainstream — not of the Austrians.
I’m not sure either of those interpretations are what Colander is saying. I think he means that the worst thing for the policymakers’ interests is for people to think that the Austrians are right.
In any case, it certainly doesn’t seem to be “caution[ing] policymakers not to pay any attention to them.” I don’t think Colander was even speaking to policymakers in that quote.
I fail to see any criticism of Austrian economics in this article. He does not seem to fond of Kondratieff(which isn’t a bad thing). I can see how some people can interpret the “they” as anti Austrian but the tone of the piece suggests he is referring to the policy makers not the outsiders(aka us)
Ok, I’m probably wrong. It is ambigous but re-reading it, the above interpretations seem correct. I’ll add a note.
You rock, Jeffrey.
As a Marxist, I am inviting you to go to http://kapitalism101.wordpress.com/about/
and try to refute our theories if you can.
The art of half-truths is the what is being rewarded by the unConstitutional coup. Anyone ambitious can advance in their career if they weave half-truths and by that unethical means puke the propaganda onto the people and infect them with the disease that also causes dysentary.
Marxist: I think those theories have already been tested, and proven un-workable in human societies. Had we been born bees or some other altruistic species, then the ideas of Marx might have had a basis in reality. However, we are human beings and are competitive by nature, and we are social by necessity.
If you wish to have an intellectual discussion of ideologies, then say something intelligent here. Post a rational argument to the subject at hand. Otherwise, please refrain from using this post as an advertisement for your website.
Not bees.
google: self-organization in biological systems bee swarm temperature control
This is every bee in the swarm deciding the temperature he wants to be….
For more on Comrade Kondratieff, see Murray Rothbard.
@ George – Go ahead and blow my rhetoric!
Seriously though, such self organizing systems of chaotic free-will entities is precisely what a free-market is. What lesson we need to learn is that we can TRUST this kind of thing much more than we can trust a central-planning committee!
“A good profession should take its outsiders more seriously,†Mr. Colander says. “They make you look at things in different ways. The worst thing for policy makers is to think they are right.â€
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