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The Center for Disaster Economics
According to a report in the Chicago Tribune, 101 professors at the University of Chicago—8 percent of the full-time faculty—are protesting the school's plan to open the Milton Friedman Institute, a facility, according to a press release, "for path-breaking research in economics to build upon the strengths of economists throughout the University and to honor the contributions of Milton Friedman, considered by many to be the leading economist of the 20th century." The profs are, rather predictably, in a lather that a research center honoring the "right-wing" Nobel Prize-winning economist would damage the university's standing amongst those in the academic community—a tacit admission, I suppose, that the academy has strong political biases. One professor moaned to the Tribune that "It is a right-wing think tank being put in place...This will be a flagship entity and it will attract a lot of money and a lot of attention, and I think work at the university and the university's reputation will take a serious rightward turn to the detriment of all." And yes, he is complaining that the center would "attract a lot of money."
Yalit Amit, a statistics and computer science professor, is worried what the neighbors might think: "For many people who travel around the world, the university has had a pretty bad reputation that is tied to the Chicago School and economic principles that Milton Friedman advocated. We don't think it's a great idea to strengthen this reputation." And it is only a reputation; as Andy Ferguson rightly pointed out in his recent piece on Hyde Park, "Of the tens of thousands of faculty who have taught at the University of Chicago over the past half-century, perhaps as many as 65 have, at some point in their lives, voted for a Republican." Incidentally, the background image on Amit's faculty webpage is a repeated image of Karl Marx.
When I was attending the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, the administration decided to rename the school's 26-story brick library after the brilliant/deranged Stalinist W.E.B. Dubois. These aren't parallel situations (the library housed DuBois's papers, after all, and it wasn't a research institution that could be accused of ideological bias), but I recall finding it odd that few, if any, raised any objections. Here, for example, is DuBois—who joined the Communist Party in 1961, long after the purges, Khrushchev's secret speech and the invasion of Hungary—eulogizing Stalin:
"Joseph Stalin was a great man; few other men of the 20th century approach his stature. He was simple, calm and courageous. He seldom lost his poise; pondered his problems slowly, made his decisions clearly and firmly; never yielded to ostentation nor coyly refrained from holding his rightful place with dignity. . . .
"Stalin was not a man of conventional learning; he was much more than that: he was a man who thought deeply, read understandingly and listened to wisdom, no matter whence it came. He was attacked and slandered as few men of power have been; yet he seldom lost his courtesy or balance; nor did he let attack drive him from his convictions nor induce him to surrender positions which he knew were correct. As one of the despised minorities of man, he first set Russia on the road to conquer race prejudice and make one nation out of its 140 groups without destroying their individuality."
Speaking of dictator love, it's likely that at least a few of those 101 disgruntled University of Chicago professors will trot out the supposed Pinochet-Friedman connection, a slander recently resuscitated by the ridiculous Naomi Klein. My esteemed colleague Brian Doherty, author of the fantastic book Radicals for Capitalism (now out in paperback!), debunks the "advisor to an autocrat" myth here.
Nigel Watt|6.20.08 @ 1:07PM|#
Further proof that those who can't, teach. Wouldn't want to damage their struggle credentials by working for the Man.
|6.20.08 @ 1:10PM|#
Ilya Somin
posted about this yesterday, including a link to the letter in
question.
Still no list of signatories, but it least it puts to rest my
suspicion that Ms. Klein was making this all up.
Taktix®|6.20.08 @ 1:16PM|#
Says a lot about academic freedom, huh?
I'm just glad my Political Philosophy professor spent more time on
Locke than on Marx. He actually designated one day only for Marx
text discussion, knowing the flame war it would (and did)
create...
J|6.20.08 @ 1:20PM|#
"Says a lot about academic freedom, huh?"
No.
Although it is disheartening anyway.
Episiarch|6.20.08 @ 1:20PM|#
Oh noes, an Institute that brings money, attention, and flagship status! We can't have that!
Naga Sadow|6.20.08 @ 1:23PM|#
Episiarch,
The wrong kind of money, attention, and flagship status . . . or so
they believe.
|6.20.08 @ 1:24PM|#
Taktix -
You clearly don't understand that promoting academic freedom means
nothing if you don't give students a *diverse* base of knowledge.
That means completely ignoring what we consider to be the dominant
philosophy (in this case, the overwhelming love of the "free
market" (right MNG? ;) )) and only teaching the side that we
consider to be severly underrepresented, for whatever reason that
might be. It should also only be taught by professors with massive
chips on their shoulders.
Now do you understand?
|6.20.08 @ 1:24PM|#
I honestly don't understand why so many "professors" (and yes, those in the liberal arts and non-quantitative social sciences get scare quotes since they're fundamentally useless) get their panties in a bunch about how economics is taught. You certainly wouldn't see an economics professor getting upset that the works of Plato weren't being presented in the right way. So why does every idiot with a PhD think they understand economics? *And* care enough to witch hunt about it periodically?
|6.20.08 @ 1:25PM|#
But Naga Shadow,
In a just society all education would be free to the people. Can't
you understand that?
|6.20.08 @ 1:28PM|#
I like Milton way better than Naomi, but Brian's (excellent)
discussion was not a simple "debunking." Money para here:
"Undoubtedly, Friedman's decision to interact with officials of
repressive governments creates uncomfortable tensions for his
libertarian admirers; I could, and often do, wish he hadn't done
it. But given what it probably meant for economic wealth and
liberty in the long term for the people of Chile, that's a selfish
reaction. Pinochet's economic policies do not ameliorate his
crimes, despite what his right-wing admirers say. But Friedman, as
an economic advisor to all who'd listen, neither committed his
crimes, nor admired the criminal."
Episiarch|6.20.08 @ 1:28PM|#
The worst fucking idea since anal fisting.
That depends on who is receiving. Same with tenure.
Guy Montag|6.20.08 @ 1:28PM|#
Everybody knows that only Marx and Marxist ideas are acceptable
in enlightened thought and discussion. All of the independant
thinkers agree on this, it is beyond a concensus.
Allowing this monstrocity to be associated with the University of
Chicago will st back Socialism over 100 years.
Communism would work if anybody would actually try it. It has been
proven in theory, but this action by a fascist sect of academia
will only serve to further the cause of corporate slavery.
I suggest the City of Chicago adjust it's zoning to preserve
openness and freedom.
|6.20.08 @ 1:32PM|#
Just wondering how much of those 101 professors objecting to the Milton Friedman Institute are actual economist or who have at least read a freakin economics text.
Guy Montag|6.20.08 @ 1:35PM|#
Oh, sorry, forgot to add the [raving Leftist shrill lunatic
Marxist Commie voice] tag to previous post.
My bad, in case anybody confused that with my true position in the
proposed memorial to the greatest economist of our lifetimes.
|6.20.08 @ 1:37PM|#
Hold on a second, I need to do a little cyber-subversiveness for
all those Googling "University of Chicago.
UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO
UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO
UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO
UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO UNIVERSITY OF
CHICAGO
TOP 10 WORST COLLEGES TOP 10 WORST COLLEGES TOP 10 WORST COLLEGES
TOP 10 WORST COLLEGES TOP 10 WORST COLLEGES TOP 10 WORST COLLEGES
TOP 10 WORST COLLEGES TOP 10 WORST COLLEGES TOP 10 WORST
COLLEGES
DICTATORIAL PROFESSORS DICTATORIAL PROFESSORS DICTATORIAL
PROFESSORS DICTATORIAL PROFESSORS DICTATORIAL PROFESSORS
DICTATORIAL PROFESSORS DICTATORIAL PROFESSORS DICTATORIAL
PROFESSORS
CLOSED-MINDED CLOSED-MINDED CLOSED-MINDED CLOSED-MINDED
CLOSED-MINDED CLOSED-MINDED CLOSED-MINDED CLOSED-MINDED
CLOSED-MINDED
ELITIST AUTHORITARIAN MARXISTS ELITIST AUTHORITARIAN MARXISTS
ELITIST AUTHORITARIAN MARXISTS ELITIST AUTHORITARIAN MARXISTS
ELITIST AUTHORITARIAN MARXISTS ELITIST AUTHORITARIAN MARXISTS
ELITIST AUTHORITARIAN MARXISTS ELITIST AUTHORITARIAN MARXISTS
ELITIST AUTHORITARIAN MARXISTS
DEFENDERS OF MASS MURDER DEFENDERS OF MASS MURDER DEFENDERS OF MASS
MURDER DEFENDERS OF MASS MURDER DEFENDERS OF MASS MURDER DEFENDERS
OF MASS MURDER DEFENDERS OF MASS MURDER DEFENDERS OF MASS MURDER
DEFENDERS OF MASS MURDER DEFENDERS OF MASS MURDER
That is all.
|6.20.08 @ 1:37PM|#
get their panties in a bunch about how economics is
taught
It's not about that though. It's about image. They feel that the
image of UChicago might become that of a "neo-liberal" education
institution. The horror! And the signatories just want it to be
perceived as a home of "intellectual and ideological diversity".
And they aren't stating that it wouldn't be such. They're worried
about the perception.
Poor dears.
|6.20.08 @ 1:43PM|#
Whoa, whoa, slow your roll, honkies. Just because 8 percent of the faculty are pinkos doesn't mean that the UofC is suddenly Berkeley-Midwest. (Now, seeing that higher education is one topic that goes nowhere intelligent on H&R... ciao.)
Michael Ejercito|6.20.08 @ 1:44PM|#
Everybody knows that only Marx and Marxist ideas are acceptable in enlightened thought and discussion.
I wonder why Marxism is more acceptable than National
Socialism.
TallDave|6.20.08 @ 1:45PM|#
Protesting Milton Friedman? Seriously?
That man arguably did more good for more people than any other
person who lived in the 20th century.
Sigh. Leftist academics have become a self-parody.
Naga Sadow|6.20.08 @ 1:45PM|#
Thank you Jamie. Now that I have been brainwashed I can go out
into the world and really be somebody.
Also.
Fascism=Socialism=Communism
Guy Montag|6.20.08 @ 1:48PM|#
JK,
Guy,
We know you. We love you. We would never be confused.
I knew you would get it. It was directed at the folks who
never get it, like the ones who though my "fairness" comment about
a month ago was serious advocacy for Leftist-style 'fairness'.
|6.20.08 @ 1:49PM|#
I'm glad to see that the Tibune article contained quotes from a
music professor and a professor of "the history of religions".
Those are obviously the most important people to interview about
the topic of economics.
Professor of the History of Religions. HA, HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA
HA HA HA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Naga Sadow|6.20.08 @ 1:51PM|#
Guy,
Your sarcasm knows no bounds. That's why I suspect that you're a
Marxist shill, not a brilliant parodist(think I just created a new
word! Take that Shakespeare!)
Naga Sadow|6.20.08 @ 1:52PM|#
I keed, I keed. Though not about the word. If I just created it, I want credit.
Guy Montag|6.20.08 @ 1:52PM|#
I wonder why Marxism is more acceptable than National
Socialism.
Because International Socialism is the only true way to show
appreciation for the workers of the world, silly.
Oh, and because the German and Italian Socialists went to war
against Stalin.*
*There is not term fro blowing a thread by bringing up Stalin or
International Socialism, it only works for that other Socialism,
unless you are talking FDR, LBJ or Jimmy Carter.
|6.20.08 @ 1:55PM|#
*There is not term fro blowing a thread by bringing up
Stalin or International Socialism
Baldwin?
Guy Montag|6.20.08 @ 1:55PM|#
Naga,
We have had instanty, paperwork free, Copyright since around 1986
in the USA, so just add that little c in a circle to your word for
the rest of your life+50 years (or whatever it is now) :)
Guy Montag|6.20.08 @ 1:56PM|#
JK,
Nice! Never heard that one before.
I am lighting my next cigarette with a $1 bill.
Guy Montag|6.20.08 @ 2:01PM|#
Just find one on the intertubes and copy it, or look up special characters in word, or get really wild and make one out of dots as ascii art.
Kolohe|6.20.08 @ 2:04PM|#
who joined the Communist Party in 1961.
He was like frackin ninety years old.
And if wikipedia is accurate, was pretty much a Nazi prior to world
war 2.
I put Dubois, like William Jennings Bryan, as persons, who though I
don't necessarily agree with, as interesting thinkers of the 19th
century. But who also did some pretty stupid shit in the 20th
century when they were well past their sell by date.
Guy Montag|6.20.08 @ 2:06PM|#
Back to my other voice (which makes my throat hurt):
We need a federal solution to this! We demand that Ms. Pelosi order
out the National Guard to guard the park and prevent the jackbooted
construction workers from building this monstrosity!
The rights of all Americans are being violated and the University
officials responsible for this need to be brought before the Human
Rights Commission and they also need to be charged with crimes
against humanity.
The government should protect all of our rights, not just the
rights of a few, just like they do with ANWR and all of the other
pristine parks of the nation.
We demand new legeslation preventing union workers from
participating in fascist actions like this and we need all workers
to be union.
NeonCat|6.20.08 @ 2:13PM|#
@ Naga Shadow & Guy
On Windows machines, at least, hold down the Alt key and type in
0169.
©
Oh, if only I had gone to a fine and prestigious institution like
UChicago, instead of a rinky-dink state university with mostly
conservative (or at least centrist) professors! Ruined, ruined I am
by thinking capitalism makes people wealthier (on the whole) than
socialism!
Mr. X|6.20.08 @ 2:13PM|#
Man, if only the Nobel prize committee had known all of this
shit about Friedman before they gave him the fucking Nobel
Prize.
What kind of jackass opposes naming a center after a professor from
the institution who has won a Nobel Prize?
|6.20.08 @ 2:16PM|#
Fine. I hereby revise my opinion about the UC School of Economics. Now I view it as a Marxist institution. There, are they happy now?
|6.20.08 @ 2:16PM|#
So as someone who is an Academic, I am 1) disappointed that
there is (seemingly) no public list of signatories and 2) would
like to note that there are many of us who LIKE capitalism (even in
the 'non-quantitative' social sciences).
I get that people like Legate Damar think everyone who isn't bound
by the infallibility of statistical models are useless, but shit
like that doesn't help your cause. I am a relatively young faculty
member in a traditionally liberal field and I am strongly
libertarian and will generally accept money from anyone who will
send it my way - the more the better. I'm a big fan of the market
and would gladly work at the friedman institute and in no way
consider myself 'right-wing'.
Just my two cents...
Dagny T.|6.20.08 @ 2:20PM|#
In my very "small-l-liberal" Northwest uni, Friedman was pretty
much universally derided by faculty, and "neo-liberal" was the
worst insult possible. Had I not picked up Free to Choose
or seen The Commanding Heights I might have been deluded
into believing the same.
It's refreshing to hear from folks who actually read/think.
I mean: Oh noes! Friedman was a misanthropist who wanted to get rid
of this FDA so our babies would DIE. Won't someone please
think of the children!
|6.20.08 @ 2:22PM|#
I know it's totally obvious but holy shit, DuBois described Stalin's personality exactly backwards. Booker T. Washington, like a rock star, had the sense to die before he got all old and crazy.
J|6.20.08 @ 2:27PM|#
Richard Upton Pickman | June 20, 2008, 2:16pm | #
So as someone who is an Academic, I am 1) disappointed that there
is (seemingly) no public list of signatories and 2) would like to
note that there are many of us who LIKE capitalism (even in the
'non-quantitative' social sciences).
I get that people like Legate Damar think everyone who isn't bound
by the infallibility of statistical models are useless, but shit
like that doesn't help your cause. I am a relatively young faculty
member in a traditionally liberal field and I am strongly
libertarian and will generally accept money from anyone who will
send it my way - the more the better. I'm a big fan of the market
and would gladly work at the friedman institute and in no way
consider myself 'right-wing'.
Just my two cents...
Do you teach painting?
Guy Montag|6.20.08 @ 2:28PM|#
Richard Upton Pickman,
Unless you are a Professor of Unwritten Unspoken Marxist
Neo-neo-Feminist Collectivist Poetry then, I am afraid, your
opinion does not count.
|6.20.08 @ 2:31PM|#
J. - For a while, then there was a little controversy about my
subject matter...
Guy Montag - Oh. I knew I should have been a Gender Studies/English
major instead.
Naga Sadow|6.20.08 @ 2:31PM|#
Art-P.O.G.,
Backwards? The man was totally insane. Hard to get a read on that
much crazy. The dude even kept Hitler's skull(alleged skull,
anyways) as a trophy. He quelled the masses, liquidated his
enemies, and changed his name to Stalin, which is Russian for "Man
of Steel". How fuckin' crazy do you have to be to not just call
yourself the "Man of Steel" but to get everyone so scared of you
that they agree to call you the "Man of Steel".
|6.20.08 @ 2:32PM|#
I have a terminal degree, which means that I have a license to
kill in academia.
I'm just sayin'.
Guy Montag|6.20.08 @ 2:32PM|#
Richard Upton Pickman,
Isn't that title redundant in The Common Era? :)
Guy Montag|6.20.08 @ 2:34PM|#
Naga,
Did he change his name before or after publication of Superman
#1?
dhex|6.20.08 @ 2:35PM|#
dubois had a crazy life, to be sure, but i don't know how well any of us would have done in that particular fishbowl of institutionalized racism, either. he certainly tried a lot of things, if nothing else.
|6.20.08 @ 2:36PM|#
Guy Montag,
Perhaps. Although technically, I think one can get a gender studies
degree without having read anything.
|6.20.08 @ 2:39PM|#
People are STILL into Marx? Christ!!! Do they not read
history?
The hell with history. Reading the newspaper should dispel any
delusions about Marxism.
|6.20.08 @ 2:40PM|#
Richard Upton Pickman,
All you need to pick up your doctorate in that field is strong
feelings about something. Only an authorized something, of
course.
Guy Montag|6.20.08 @ 2:41PM|#
Richard Upton Pickman,
Please bring me into the current century. Is Gender Studies what
used to more accuratly be called Women's Studies?
Reilly|6.20.08 @ 2:45PM|#
Anyone know if any of the protesting professors are from the Econ department?
Naga Sadow|6.20.08 @ 2:47PM|#
Guy,
Good question . . . I don't know to be honest. It was Stalin by the
Russo-Polish War of 1920?1921? Not sure of the date. Pretty sure it
was before Superman #1.
|6.20.08 @ 2:49PM|#
Reilly,
Excellent question. The numbers make it clear that it's a
percentage of the entire faculty that's upset. So, what percentage
of the economics faculty is objecting?
|6.20.08 @ 2:51PM|#
Legate Damar,
You cited a philosopher, Plato, and the dominant philosophical
approach in the English speaking world is analytic, which is as
logic chopping and precise as many of the sciences. If you had more
humanities training maybe you would know this.
But you've displayed an even larger need for humanities training,
and that is that the perspective you would gain may clear up the
confusion you're experiencing; you seem genuinely confused about
why economics is the center of so much academic controversy.
BTW, from being around the species, the types of knee-jerk leftist
responses from certain academic types annoy the hell out of me.
Naga Sadow|6.20.08 @ 2:51PM|#
PL,
I feel strongly about sleeping with women. Does that get me into
the graduate program?
Guy Montag|6.20.08 @ 2:53PM|#
Naga,
There may be a royalties problem here. Maybe not, since the Soviets
never bothered paying any mind to that type of property
anyway.
However, I suspect Iron Man got his name as a direct result of this
controversy.
Guy Montag|6.20.08 @ 2:55PM|#
PL,
Not so fast. As long as it is ONLY sleeping with them, then fine.
But if he has any ideas of sex, then that is rape, even if she has
those feeling too because she only got those feelings from NS
exercising his absolute control of society as a man.
If he were a woman, at any time in his life, then this would all be
different.
|6.20.08 @ 3:03PM|#
Your reasoning is fallacious, Mr. Montag. The secret hegemony of womyn, now revealed, renders meaningless words of masculine oppression. Womyn are the oppressors, not the victims. Thus, rape is a victory of the feminine force over the masculine. Please, go review my treatise, The Hermeneutics of Sleaziness: The Renormalization of Ethics in a Slutty Paradigm.
Naga Sadow|6.20.08 @ 3:07PM|#
I assure you Guy, my conscience is clean when I'm banging hot womyn's study students. Also, it's only rape if I call them before midnight, not after.
Guy Montag|6.20.08 @ 3:11PM|#
Naga,
Mini-rapes count too, like telling them how nice they look, "nice
legs" is grounds for Amazonian vigilanty action in some
quarters.
Naga Sadow|6.20.08 @ 3:23PM|#
Dr. PL,
I almost chocked on my bagel. You have to let people know that
something that funny is about to be posted . . . for sake of the
children.
Guy,
If that is true . . . then I have raped a lot of women. Also, for
the record, I start usually with a bewildered expression and say
"My god your eyes are beautiful". If I stumble somewhere in the
conversation I refer back to the eyes comment.
Colin Clout|6.20.08 @ 3:30PM|#
Michael Moynihan,
...8 percent of the full-time faculty...
What does that say about the other 92% exactly?
Guy Montag|6.20.08 @ 3:39PM|#
Naga,
Per the sacred scrolls of Gender Studies, every time a womyn agrees
to have pleasure with us it is because we have brainwashed them,
coerced them or forced them, even if it is not apparent to the
parties involved.
I believe there is an underground movement to have the term
"statutory rape" changed to mean any time a male is in the presence
of a womyn.
Thus, the proper balance will be gained, with the hot womyn being
more available for the big ugly dykie looking ones.
Didn't they brief you before frocking you?
|6.20.08 @ 3:48PM|#
Reilly - having done no research on this whatsoever, I will
still guarantee you that the profs protesting this roughly break
down as follows:
75% - Sociology
25% - Hard sciences
25% - Math, engineering, computer science
I'd be surprised if there are more than 3 or 4 poli sci professors.
I'd be shocked if there are any econ professors.
|6.20.08 @ 3:56PM|#
"Of the tens of thousands of faculty who have taught at the University of Chicago over the past half-century, perhaps as many as 65 have, at some point in their lives, voted for a Republican."
Holy crap! Is he being serious? It's been a couple of decades since
I was in university, but I did not realize that academia had grown
so insular that it now has a 99.997% bias. I bet they pride
themselves on free thought and nonconformity too. My deepest
sympathies to any students in Chicago.
|6.20.08 @ 4:06PM|#
Anyone who thinks the 'Milton Friedman Institute' will be for free market economics must also believe that the Republican Party is for republicanism and that fundamentalist Christianity is about getting back to the precepts of the Sermon on the Mount.
|6.20.08 @ 4:13PM|#
imp,
Now that's disturbing. I'd be careful about that, if I were UC.
David Friedman is an anarchist, after all. I think I'll allow the
pejorative meaning of that word to stand, to heighten the implied
threat.
TallDave|6.20.08 @ 4:35PM|#
So, what percentage of the economics faculty is
objecting?
I think what you meant to ask was: what percentage of the economics
faculty is not incurring the opportunity cost of not
protesting?
TallDave|6.20.08 @ 4:38PM|#
brainwashed them, coerced them or forced them,
I prefer brainwashing, myself.
Remember: LNC - lips, nipples, clit. The order is important.
|6.20.08 @ 5:18PM|#
dude even kept Hitler's skull(alleged skull, anyways) as a trophy.
I like to think Stalin had long, creepy conversations with Hitler's skull. Anyway, that's what I was trying to say; DuBois describes Stalin as some sort of compassionate man driven entirely by rational interests when he was clearly sociopath, megalomaniacal and driven by self-interest. I think DuBois just started making stuff up.
Russ 2000|6.20.08 @ 6:00PM|#
I thoguht it funny that the Trib felt compelled to have an
article where a whopping EIGHT PERCENT of faculty are upset.
And are these eight percent all in their 90's or were they somehow
completely unaware until recently that they were teaching at the
University Of Chicago, the place where the Chicago School Of
Economics was named after?
Disagreeing with Friedman is one thing, but this is a kind of
stupidity that boggles the mind. I can only conclude that the story
was reported as an attempt to insult these dolts, knowing full well
that they were too unaware to know they were being mocked.
|6.20.08 @ 6:01PM|#
Hook, Line, Sinker, Rod, Reel, Basket, and copy of Angling
Times.
It's sad how many people in the west believed, and even today
continue to believe the propaganda that the communists put
out.
-jcr
|6.20.08 @ 6:04PM|#
Reading the newspaper should dispel any delusions about
Marxism.
That, or spending a minute or so interacting with any marxist.
They're nasty little misanthropes, just like PETA or scientology
followers.
-jcr
|6.20.08 @ 6:07PM|#
Friedman was pretty much universally derided by
faculty,
I would expect that of all the things they derided him for, his
support of fiat currency wasn't among them.
Friedman was right about many things, and tragically wrong about
one of the most important ones.
-jcr
|6.20.08 @ 6:37PM|#
Is Gender Studies what used to more accuratly be called
Women's Studies?
No, Women's Studies is basically a set of history and anthropology
subjects, and there is some legitimate academic basis to it.
Gender Studies is basically a fig leaf for digging up any possible
excuse to be snotty to men, to women who fail to despise men to a
sufficient extent, and anyone who fails to toe the party line that
men are criminals at birth.
-jcr
Paul|6.20.08 @ 7:01PM|#
a tacit admission, I suppose, that the academy has strong political biases.
A tacit admission that economics has a conservative bias?
Ok, Baldric, if you have one bean, and I give you another bean, how
many beans do you have?
Paul|6.20.08 @ 7:02PM|#
I wonder why Marxism is more acceptable than National
Socialism.
National Socialism was the artist formerly known as Marxism.
Guy Montag|6.20.08 @ 10:00PM|#
Disagreeing with Friedman is one thing, but this is a kind
of stupidity that boggles the mind.
Um, are you new to the post WWII era?
TallDave|6.21.08 @ 4:12AM|#
A tacit admission that economics has a conservative
bias?
Reality has a libertarian bias.
|6.21.08 @ 9:55AM|#
Jeebus, can none of you read?
Do people like Reinmoose actually think that CLASSICAL ECONOMICS is
not being taught at THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO?
Dude, pass me some of those whippets!
I realize that clicking a link and reading is hard, but this about
SETTING UP A THINK TANK, not whether classical economics is going
to be taught.
TallDave|6.21.08 @ 11:15AM|#
Reality has a libertarian bias.
And thus economics, forced to reflect reality in an unusually
uncomprising and mathematically rigorous manner, tends to gain one
as well.
Which, of course, is why Obama is walking back his anti-NAFTA
rhetoric so popular among the reality-averse statists: he knew what
he had to say to win the primary, but he's no fool. He'll likely
throw the antiwar "defeat at any cost" crowd under his bus
next.
I think I'm going to enjoy his Presidency.
TallDave|6.21.08 @ 11:22AM|#
He'll likely throw the antiwar "defeat at any cost" crowd
under his bus next
As evidenced by his meeting with Iraqi officials:
Mr. Zebari said that in addition to promising a visit, Mr.
Obama said that "if there would be a Democratic administration, it
will not take any irresponsible, reckless, sudden decisions or
action to endanger your gains, your achievements, your stability or
security. Whatever decision he will reach will be made through
close consultation with the Iraqi government and U.S. military
commanders in the field."
Hey, that sounds almost like Bush!
Ah, sweet vindication.
|6.21.08 @ 8:25PM|#
Interesting.
An authoritarian such as TallDave will actively work to convince
himself of a politician's goodness, deploying even the most
implausible arguments and completely reversing himself on his
interpretation of that politician's statements, as soon he realizes
he is going to come to power.
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