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It's simple to include, but there's no denying that the 101-level economics models steer you away from thinking about inequality harder than Vin Diesel in a car
by smallmancontrov 2y ago
It's simple to include, but there's no denying that the 101-level economics models steer you away from thinking about inequality harder than Vin Diesel in a car chase.
Carefully omitting the fact that the economic notion of value is wealth-weighted (and you can march enough elephants through this loophole to wage a class war), drawing attention away from "rich people getting paid for being rich" dynamics by dividing out wealth wherever possible, inviting you to use averages where "rich get richer" hides "poor get poorer" -- it's a masterclass in propaganda. I have literally never in my life seen a more artful tapestry of deception than Econ 101.
- thfuran 2y ago101-level models in every field elide important details. That's pretty much their whole point. And it doesn't make them propaganda, it makes them a perfunctory introduction.
- smallmancontrov 2y agoNo, you don't omit the leading term by accident. Not five times in a row from three different angles. In any case, this is also matter of historical record: the purge of left-wing thought from economics and politics at the end of the New Deal Era was loud and vicious. It didn't stop at ensuring capitalist principles got top billing, it scorched the earth until even the most earnest self-examination of capitalism's largest weakness was cause for cancellation. You bury it, or you wear the scarlet letter. Most chose to bury it, and here we are.
- theGnuMe 2y agoThis is an awesome take.
- roughly 2y agoI cannot think of another subject whose “101” level magical thinking has affected the real world as much as economics, though. At some point the purpose of a system is what it does, and economics 101 affects the political discourse in a way I struggle to find adequate comparisons for.