- 17 Aug 2021 06:39
#15185934
I do not think so.
I think that the rich realized in 1971 that ending the gold standard could prompt some thinkers to conclude that dollars were then just “Status Points” because there was no longer any constraint (except possible inflation) on how many could be in circulation. They saw this reality, and didn't want the people to understand this.
So, they got Lewis Powell to write his now famous memo. It called for the rich to fund new conservative think tanks, chairs in univ. for conservative professors, the elaboration of what has become neo-liberal economic theory, and for its conclusions to be flooded into the mass media. The rich did do these things and they were very successful in keeping the new reality out of the public consciousness.
Link to article about the Powell Memo --- https://www.greenpeace.org/usa/democrac ... democracy/
I again claim that this must have been an intentional program to lie to the American people. I say this because, the neo-liberal theory was based on 3 things.
1] They stopped teaching the history of economic thought, because early econ. writers had different conclusions and definitions for key words.
2] They down played any attempt to base economics on reality or what actually had happened in nations in the past, or in the future either.
3] They based the new theory on proofs that began with assumptions. However, many of the assumptions are false, and they waved this way by claiming they were necessary to simplify the otherwise too complicated reality.
. . . There are 2 problems with this.
. . . . . a] In logic, it is totally and always never allowed to use false assumptions (that you assumed to be true) in any proof.
. . . . . b] Computers were coming available to allow massive repeating calculations to study complicated problems. Soon, mathematicians would use computers to discover Chaos Theory or the study of non-linear equations.
Again I emphasize, that one can prove any ridiculous conclusion if it is OK to use false assumptions as if they were true.
. . . For example, if all animals with backbones that swim in the sea are fish, and all fish have gills, and whales have backbones and swim in the sea, then whales are fish and whales have gills. Or, if this blank piece of paper is a contract that you signed and it says that you owe me and will pay me (on demand) $100K, then you must pay me $100K right now.
. . . Or one from economics, if in a perfect market everyone knows everything about all the stuff being sold in the market, and if the real market is perfect, then the market price is the perfect price for all the stuff being sold in the market. Also, no buyers or sellers are ever tricked into the sale, so they are always satisfied with all transactions in the market. Also, all workers are always satisfied they are being paid enough for their labor.
. . . Or another from economics, if banks are like pawnbrokers and can only lend dollars they have in an account somewhere, and this account is the total of all the deposits made into the bank by its depositors, then the money being saved in banks is being recirculated back into the economy when corps. get bank loans to make investments. Also, if a rich woman uses dollars in a savings acc. to buy a new US bond, this action reduces the amount of dollars that bank (and therefore, the total of all banks) can lend to corps. for investments, and this means Gov. deficit spending with bond sales is competing with corps. in the economy for dollars for their investments, and this will bid up interest rates.
. . . I hope I don't need to list all the false assumptions I used in those examples.
My conclusion from the above is ---
Neo-liberal economics is and always was a knowing attempt to gaslight the American people and its leaders into adopting Gov. policies that would transfer money from the bottom 80% of earners to the top 1% of earners. The entire project was a con job.
. . . The theory was used to prove several false conclusions and the resulting policies being adopted have been a disaster for America and/or the world in several ways ---
1] It furthered the moving of (IIRC) 70,000 factories from the US to Mex. and then to China. Some say this was the greatest mistake any nation has ever made in all of recorded history.
2] It kept the nation and world (for the next 40 years) from heading warnings that CO2 in the air would warm the earth, and this would cause economic damage like forest fires, floods, droughts, large hurricanes, etc. in the mid-term; and would cause disastrous changes in the climate in the only slightly longer-term.
3] It kept the nation (for the last 20 years) from heading warnings that the next pandemic was coming soon, and this blocked all attempts to prepare the nation for covid-19.
4] It kept (for the next 40 years) real wages flat as measured with the CPI being used (and forced real wages down if a more reality based CIP had been used). This caused the working class to be ready to vote for a conman like Trump. And we all saw the disasters that he created. Including the on going assault on democracy that included the assault on the Capitol Building and the new state laws to suppress more votes by Dems and even allowing state legislatures to defy the vote of the people and send the loser to Wash. DC. without any real proof of fraud.
I think that the rich realized in 1971 that ending the gold standard could prompt some thinkers to conclude that dollars were then just “Status Points” because there was no longer any constraint (except possible inflation) on how many could be in circulation. They saw this reality, and didn't want the people to understand this.
So, they got Lewis Powell to write his now famous memo. It called for the rich to fund new conservative think tanks, chairs in univ. for conservative professors, the elaboration of what has become neo-liberal economic theory, and for its conclusions to be flooded into the mass media. The rich did do these things and they were very successful in keeping the new reality out of the public consciousness.
Link to article about the Powell Memo --- https://www.greenpeace.org/usa/democrac ... democracy/
I again claim that this must have been an intentional program to lie to the American people. I say this because, the neo-liberal theory was based on 3 things.
1] They stopped teaching the history of economic thought, because early econ. writers had different conclusions and definitions for key words.
2] They down played any attempt to base economics on reality or what actually had happened in nations in the past, or in the future either.
3] They based the new theory on proofs that began with assumptions. However, many of the assumptions are false, and they waved this way by claiming they were necessary to simplify the otherwise too complicated reality.
. . . There are 2 problems with this.
. . . . . a] In logic, it is totally and always never allowed to use false assumptions (that you assumed to be true) in any proof.
. . . . . b] Computers were coming available to allow massive repeating calculations to study complicated problems. Soon, mathematicians would use computers to discover Chaos Theory or the study of non-linear equations.
Again I emphasize, that one can prove any ridiculous conclusion if it is OK to use false assumptions as if they were true.
. . . For example, if all animals with backbones that swim in the sea are fish, and all fish have gills, and whales have backbones and swim in the sea, then whales are fish and whales have gills. Or, if this blank piece of paper is a contract that you signed and it says that you owe me and will pay me (on demand) $100K, then you must pay me $100K right now.
. . . Or one from economics, if in a perfect market everyone knows everything about all the stuff being sold in the market, and if the real market is perfect, then the market price is the perfect price for all the stuff being sold in the market. Also, no buyers or sellers are ever tricked into the sale, so they are always satisfied with all transactions in the market. Also, all workers are always satisfied they are being paid enough for their labor.
. . . Or another from economics, if banks are like pawnbrokers and can only lend dollars they have in an account somewhere, and this account is the total of all the deposits made into the bank by its depositors, then the money being saved in banks is being recirculated back into the economy when corps. get bank loans to make investments. Also, if a rich woman uses dollars in a savings acc. to buy a new US bond, this action reduces the amount of dollars that bank (and therefore, the total of all banks) can lend to corps. for investments, and this means Gov. deficit spending with bond sales is competing with corps. in the economy for dollars for their investments, and this will bid up interest rates.
. . . I hope I don't need to list all the false assumptions I used in those examples.
My conclusion from the above is ---
Neo-liberal economics is and always was a knowing attempt to gaslight the American people and its leaders into adopting Gov. policies that would transfer money from the bottom 80% of earners to the top 1% of earners. The entire project was a con job.
. . . The theory was used to prove several false conclusions and the resulting policies being adopted have been a disaster for America and/or the world in several ways ---
1] It furthered the moving of (IIRC) 70,000 factories from the US to Mex. and then to China. Some say this was the greatest mistake any nation has ever made in all of recorded history.
2] It kept the nation and world (for the next 40 years) from heading warnings that CO2 in the air would warm the earth, and this would cause economic damage like forest fires, floods, droughts, large hurricanes, etc. in the mid-term; and would cause disastrous changes in the climate in the only slightly longer-term.
3] It kept the nation (for the last 20 years) from heading warnings that the next pandemic was coming soon, and this blocked all attempts to prepare the nation for covid-19.
4] It kept (for the next 40 years) real wages flat as measured with the CPI being used (and forced real wages down if a more reality based CIP had been used). This caused the working class to be ready to vote for a conman like Trump. And we all saw the disasters that he created. Including the on going assault on democracy that included the assault on the Capitol Building and the new state laws to suppress more votes by Dems and even allowing state legislatures to defy the vote of the people and send the loser to Wash. DC. without any real proof of fraud.
Last edited by Steve_American on 17 Aug 2021 13:55, edited 1 time in total.