Sometimes it comes to our attention that some kinds of science are similar to each other. It is especially true when some kinds of science come under attack. As example, right-wing Christians (and some fundamentalist Jews) do not believe in Evolution. Specifically, they deny everything Darwin wrote in his Origin of Species. Likewise, right-wing coal and oil producers and their flacks, deny that burning fossil fuels has anything to do with climate change, in spite of a good deal of evidence in favor of the theory, and no evidence to challenge it. If glaciers in Asia and North America and South America and Europe are melting, that is a pretty strong case that something is going on. The fact that some low-lying countries are going to get wiped out by rising sea level, that is another piece of evidence.
In view of these challenges to established fields of Academia, Diogenes observes that Economics is very much like Astrology. Both involve a lot of very serious observation and calculation, and it is not evident that either is connected to the rest of the universe.
Last week a Romney Economics flack (one economist friend thinks it was Glenn Hubbard) was on the radio. The flack prefaced some number of mis-statements and un-truths with the phrase “As a professional economist, I can tell you…” Diogenes noticed that this radio guy used a wonderful Republican trick, of putting three untrue items into a sentence, so the host cannot even try to keep it honest. Good work! These people, radio guy and Romney, have been saying that the economy is in bad shape because or the failed policies of the current President. Not because of the failed policies of the previous President, of course, because those are the same policies Mr. Romney would bring back. Diogenes appreciates the idea that all of the blame belongs to Mr. Obama. The Congress has no part in this, do they? Because if the Congress actually had the power to pass laws and budgets, it would not all be the fault of the current occupant at #1600. Who was it that said “Job One is to make sure this President is a one term President?” And then used his forty votes in the Senate to filibuster everything the President proposes. Diogenes needs a reminder. And which Speaker of the House was unable to collect enough votes to come to a common-sense compromise about the budget deficit? And while we are at it, which party in The Congress caused the budget deficit starting in 2001?
People on the political right like to talk about economists and the economy.
They have some people who practice this arcane art, but who do not agree in principle with others, on the left and in the middle, about some of the main areas of study in Economics.
Diogenes suggests that in actual Science, two physicists would not argue endlessly
over the speed of light. Few weeks ago, some physicists announced some test results that would have overthrown Einstein’s assertion that nothing can exceed the speed of light. When that subject did come up, as one would expect in a real science, somebody looked at the test apparatus of the guys who were
disputing Einstein and found that it was calibrated in a silly way. There were people who disputed Einstein’s work very forcefully in the 1930’s, calling it Jewish Science. Those views did not prevail, of course. That’s the way it is, in real science.
Diogenes has a BA in Political Science. Even in politics, professionals in the
field seldom argue over actual facts. The causes and effects, of course.
When somebody does question an obvious fact, like the Birthers, they are
ridiculed, and nobody with a PhD in Political Science would go on the radio
to say “As a professional political scientist I can tell you Barack Obama
was born in Kenya.” They might say that Gore actually had more votes in Florida than Bush, and they might actually be able to prove it. Not that it matters at this late date. The election of 2000 was decided by exactly one vote, that of Mrs. Justice O’Connnor, who chose party loyalty over the rule of law. But there is not a dispute about who won the election, or of the principles of Political Science.
Economics is different. Republican Economists insist on the truthfulness and the applicability of the Laffer Curve. Of course, there is no evidence that the Laffer Curve has actually existed, only “it stands to reason.” And there is evidence that the Laffer Curve is actually upside down, according to the work of Mike Kimel and others. Republican Economists insist that the problems with the economy are due entirely to the lack of competence of the current President, who in other ways has shown himself to be a very capable guy by normal, non-Republican standards.
Diogenes has never actually studied Astrology. .Never heard some guy on the radio saying, “as a professional Astrologer I can tell you that this or that will take place on a specific date in the future.”
If there is a practitioner who feels that this essay unfairly disparages their life-work, one hopes he will come forward.
Diogenes of Brooklyn 