Why I don't respond to most political posts

[drscott]

The Wall Street Journal is running an excellent dialog on economic illiteracy here. When I first joined LJ, I would jump in and try to educate people when they posted angry comments that sprang from a misunderstanding of how the economy works. Over time I have realized that it is impossible to explain complex systems behavior -- the interaction of law, politics, and economics -- to people who don't know (or want to know) anything about economics. It is much easier to assume dark forces of The Rich or The Republicans or (less commonly, here) the Jews are manipulating and conspiring to squeeze the little guy.

It was that misunderstanding among the majority of the populations of developed countries in the 30s that led to years of depression as the international trading system shut down under an assault of beggar-thy-neighbor trade policies, then fascist or communist movements which further exploited the ignorance, then the millions of deaths and destruction of most of Europe and Japan in World War II. So it really does matter when you let yourself fulminate about supposed injustices (high gas prices? price control'em! ... high rents? slap on rent control! ... rich people? Tax'em until they bleed!). You end up not only impoverished but see your freedom, or even your life, vanish. This kind of thinking (the attractions of socialism) is always near the surface, barely restrained by the slim majority that has enough grounding in the real world, or education in history and economics, to realize it's a trap and a delusion to believe you can create wealth and equality through regulation and politics. East Europeans understand exactly why it doesn't work, having had recent experience, but some of the nicest people you would ever want to meet here still believe in fairies.

Comments

[furfairy.livejournal.com]

I mis-typed. Economics is often taught in highschools, including mine. But it was not required, and was a niche class almost exclusively for the AP kids. (My only AP classes were physics and English.)

[tmaher.livejournal.com]

We should require more Economics education in our public schools.

Wait, that might require more money to hire clueful economics teachers, which would translate into higher taxes. Sounds awfully socialist to me.

[dr-scott.livejournal.com]

The "economics" usually taught in Econ 101 is a very simple supply/demand version only valid in unrealistic conditions. It is sort of like teaching Newtonian mechanics and then declaring that all natural phenomena have been explained; it fails to capture most of what's complex and interesting about the world.

And those people can spend a lifetime believing that, if only things were run the way they wish, they would be happy and everyone would benefit. Since things never are run the way they wish, they have no direct expereince to prove them wrong. Believing a new golden age (or the return of some previous one) is prevented by Bad People protects you from having to address your own failures.