Wednesday, 5 October 2011
Not easy this economy stuff is it Dave?
Paul Stott once remarked that taking the trouble to really learn about economics was a bit like decorating the spare room - seemed like a good idea but you just never find the time. Politicians frequently attempt to help us simple people make sense of such higher matters by comparing the nations economy to our own household finances. Margaret Thatcher was fond of equating the mysteries of our part in the web of global capitalism to putting a few extra tins in the cupboard in case one of the kids turns up unannounced. Now the Great Helmsman is telling us that just as he is dealing with the national debt as he pilots us safely through the maelstrom of financial crisis so we must play our part by paying off our debts and putting a bit by for the coming shit storm. Just in time the finance monitor whispered in Dave's ear that what the punters should actually be doing is spending like sailors on the last night ashore. There's obviously more to this financial malarkey than meets the eye.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
In the late 80s in a pub in Oxford the late Marxist economist Peter Donaldson explained to a few ex miners and me why studying economics was a "a cul de sac" and the whole academic pursuit of economics was becoming a waste of time. He explained that statistics and the almost automatic collection of consumer data would determine and drive patterns of consumption that would alienate politics from economics. How right he was. "Politics is the only game in town but for obvious reasons it's not encouraged in working class schools."
"The word economics is synonym for ideology." (Larry Gambone)
Post a Comment