[extropy-chat] POLITICS: 537 Economists Criticize Bush and Kerry

[Mike Lorrey]

Saw the other day that the fellow who just won this years Nobel in
economics says the Bush tax cuts were not big enough.

--- Hal Finney <hal at finney.org> wrote:

> In recent political news, 537 economists have blasted the policies
> of Bush and Kerry, for both raising and lowering taxes.  The helpful
> economists, who include 8 Nobel laureates, also advised the
> candidates
> to both increase and reduce government social programs.
> 
> See <http://www.openlettertothepresident.org/> and
>
<http://www.nationalreview.com/nrof_comment/release_bc04_economists.html>.
> 
> Well, of course this advice did not all come from the same people. 
> Some
> of them criticized Kerry and some Bush.  Neither praised any
> candidates.
> (Actually I didn't look to see whether anyone signed both letters.)
> 
> Consider that these people are among the greatest experts in the
> world on
> economic topics, that they have devoted their entire professional
> lives,
> countless hours of intensive study, and intensive intellectual
> scrutiny
> and debate to these issues.  And yet they come to diametrially
> opposite
> conclusions.
> 
> Given this reality, what hope have any of us in deciding what is the
> truth here?  Should taxes be raised or lowered?  Entitlement programs
> revised up or down?  If study and intelligence would lead to answers
> to
> these questions, why do the people who have applied both, to the
> highest
> degree possible, still have such sharp disagreements?
> 
> And yet, I'll bet many politically oriented readers, especially those
> who have pledged their allegiance to an ideological system, believe
> that they actually know the truth of the matter.  They think that
> they,
> with their cursory and amateur levels of study, know these issues
> better
> than hundreds of hardworking, brilliant experts.  Or perhaps,
> prompted by
> ideological certainty, they will comfort themselves that those
> hundreds
> of experts on the other side are evil, wicked liars.
> 
> I'm not sure what lesson to draw from this, other than to recognize
> that
> the world is a more complicated place than we sometimes let ourselves
> believe.  And perhaps, we should keep in mind that even those who
> disagree
> with us may have just as good reasons for their beliefs as we do for
> ours.
> 
> Hal
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> 


=====
Mike Lorrey
Vice-Chair, 2nd District, Libertarian Party of NH
"Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom.
It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves."
                                      -William Pitt (1759-1806) 
Blog: http://www.xanga.com/home.aspx?user=Sadomikeyism


		
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