Probably I should not waste my time
with this, and I do not
know what VOW is and I am not sure that I want to know,
but
I guess I find this kind of apocalyptic forecast that we are
on
the verge of something worse than 1929 to be a major
waste
of time to bother with. Periodically we have had such
forecasts.
We also regularly have forecasts of the Second Coming
of
Christ, the End of the World, and the World Proletarian
Revolution.
Perhaps any or all of these events really are imminent.
But I
am not holding my breath, and I do not particularly see why
now, rather than say three or four years ago, or even 12
years
ago, or 21 years ago, was not more imminent than this
very
instant, when, although things are certainly far from
perfect,
I personally do not see any obvious signs of impending
enormous
collapse of anything.
Barkley Rosser
----- Original Message -----From: schulte-baeuminghausCc: Jozef ImrichSent: Monday, June 30, 2003 5:33 AMSubject: Re: [gang8] Re: Disillusionment of the critical studentArno,The only thing that eventually will change academic economics is a repetition of 1873 or 1929, a severe crisis that lasts long enough for :1. The effects to be obvious to everybody and pressure academics to do something more than produce heaps of worthless paper.2. Lasts long enough for the orthodox professors to die - literally speaking, as Keynes pointed out."The real difficulty in changing any enterprise lies not in developing new ideas, but in escaping from the old ones." ? John Maynard KeynesArno, how right you are.The horror of the present circumstances is that a bigger and "worser" 1929 is almost certainly upon us and we have done and are doing nothing to deal with it.We did a lot of thinking after 1929 but, even after the outbreak of war in 1939, we had still not developed and implemented effective policies to deal with what was an immensely serious crisis - economic, social, political, strategic.Today, we have not even begun to think about what crisis measures are necessary. The poverty of the thinking of the academics and the policymakers more than matches even the desperate physical poverty of so many millions - indeed, billions of people - around the world.That is why I have been advocating VOW for some year and a half now.The long agony - the long economic and social misery - is now unavoidable for many millions; but the sooner we get together and hammer out agreed policies of cooperative, pragmatic, democratic action the more quickly we will be able to get the better of the huge menace with which we are confronted.I wish devoutly that we could draw more people into active, vigorous support for VOW - and for a program of well-managed public and private investment to enable us to achieve a more rapid recovery than now seems likely.Jameshttp://members.chello.at/schulte-baeuminghaus
http://www.authorsden.com/jameswcumes
http://VictoryOverWant.org
http://www.crystaldreamspub.com/bios/authors/A-E/cumes_j.htm----- Original Message -----From: Arno Mong DaastoelSent: Monday, June 30, 2003 10:36 AMSubject: [gang8] Re: Disillusionment of the critical studentChris,I have often been told that one can question the foundations of economics after one becomes a professor, if before you won't get that far.However, if you love economics and is a critical student,First, you will loose the love for the (curriculum part of the) subject and perform badly and wont ever get the necessary superb marks for a successful career.Secondly, after eventually getting that far, most have been brainwashed to believe the crap.Thirdly, after eventually getting that far and still being critical, you will be censored in subtle ways, for instance financially.Fourthly, the remaining critical few they won't make much of a difference anyhow, since the indoctrinated professors don't give a damn anyhow....Fifth, the above deals only with academia. In addition you will be fighting the vested interests of in particular "the financial class", as Michael so often has pointed out.;-)So, becoming a professor doesn't make much of a difference, even becoming a Nobel laureate won't make much of a difference.My best example is the Nobel speech of the very able econometrician Trygve Haavalmo, who then said that we have started in the wrong end (meaning we got everything upside down) by starting with the individual instead of the system, the whole. Have you ever heard about this later? I am pretty sure you have not.So, my conclusion is that if you want to become a professor, keep quiet about your doubts, accept the world as it is and peddle along within this glass bowl. If you eventually manage to stay critical after making an academic career, don't expect to change anything.The only thing that eventually will change academic economics is a repetition of 1873 or 1929, a severe crisis that lasts long enough for :1. The effects to be obvious to everybody and pressure academics to do something more than produce heaps of worthless paper.2. Lasts long enough for the orthodox professors to die - literally speaking, as Keynes pointed out."The real difficulty in changing any enterprise lies not in developing new ideas, but in escaping from the old ones." ? John Maynard KeynesArno
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