I am excited to see this community here on livejournal

[marissaelyse]

Hello everyone,
I am so excited to see this community here on livejournal! I am an aspiring economic student and plan on pursuing economics as my course of study once I graduate high school. I am stoked that this community is already set up and I look forward to reading posts! I am seriously interested in expanding my knowledge of economic terms and

Comments

[marissaelyse]

Yay! thank you so much for the reading recommendations! I am still very interested in Marx, not so much because I am a big angry communist yet, I honestly think I am to young and understudied to have such strong opinions, but I know for sure that I disagree with the system I currently live in and that I want to read as much as I can to be an informed intelligent decision maker when I do decide to throw my all into something. Or make something new up on my own that works? lol.

I think that's the thing that draws me to this line of study the most! there really are major ethical consequences that need to be faced when realizing the kinds of morals your economy will promote... (its all about money for example)

I have managed to understand already that value comes from labor. It was pretty well explained in Robert L. Heilbroners book the Worldly Philosophers, which I would recommenced to you if you haven't read it yet!

I've read somethings about Adam Smith, I will have to look up Carl Menger, and Friedman.... any recommendations on reading there?? And isn't John Maynard Keynes the guy with the trickle down theory???

I hope I can stand getting my degree through all of the dryer academia work!
I've got my head so wrapped up in the ideology...

[ninboydean]

I'm not sure about Keynes and trickle down. Reagan supported 'trickle down' at the behest of Friedman. I'm certainly not suggesting any reading because I necessarily agree with it.

Probably one of the most important things to keep in mind is that history has a compelling effect on economics. The changes that occurred in the late 80s and 90s (and even today) are drawing finances further and further away from production (though a the same time, supposedly unrelated financial decisions are more and more consequential to commodity-values). That is to say that the financial world is discovering how to make money without producing things. Understanding capitalism quickly leads to the realization that the commodity phase of an exchange is a "necessary evil" to accomplish the real goal: valorization of capital, or profit.

The government used to require that banks keep losses on their accounting sheets (which impacts the value of all sorts of things, especially houses). This means that banks had to actually account for losses.

Now, banks don't have to report losses until they sell an asset. This means bad assets are less likely to be sold off, and banks wont fail even if their accounts are all toxic.

Why I bring this up is because it confronts the primary right-wing argument about regulation. In this case, the free market lent itself to the self-interest of the economically privileged, and this meant that the free-market actually disempowered market-valuation.

The free market begets wealth for the privileged. In researching economics, you'll find a lot of nonsense about how its a democracy. But its not, and any free market will quickly reign in any dangerous pricing schemes - like honest accounting.

[goumindong]

"Reagan supported 'trickle down' at the behest of Friedman"

Not really, no. Reagan used Friedman et al in order to promote his ideology. But his ideology was not economic. Reagan wasn't even remotely close to Friedman's research or large ideas.

Or, to quote Greg Mankiw, an adviser for GWB and likely the guy that wrote your textbook (if it wasn't Samuelson) . Supply side and Trickle Down Economics have always been bunk.

[capthek]

Actually, before jumping into Marx directly you may wish to read another author who can help you in more modern terms. I highly suggest David Harvey's "Limits to Capital" who summarizes all of Marx's works.

[goumindong]

I agree with this. Though i haven't read the book recommended, getting into Marx without really understanding the underpinnings of Socialism as a movement in the 1850's is pretty tough (especially if you read the manifesto and not Das Capital)