Tuesday, February 03, 2009

Beware of quacks ...

... Macroeconomics 'Experts' Apply Astrology, Not Science.

Franklin Roosevelt is often given credit for experimenting with the economy in a scientific manner. He did nothing of the sort. Any experiment involving human beings has to be a controlled experiment, as in medicine. Half the patients are given the new medicines and the other half, the controls, either the old medicine, or a placebo. Then, and only then, can one tell if the medicine actually improves the condition over doing nothing (the placebo), or is making matters worse. In contrast, Roosevelt — and today’s economic advisors to the President, unfortunately — propose to apply their economic medicine to the entire economy. This is astrology, not science. The professors of economics have no true, experimentally confirmed knowledge of macroeconomics.

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