Necessary Mental Revisions of Reality

[peristaltor]

In my very early twenties -- the first year, in fact -- I was (as they say in the vernacular) shooting the shit with a friend over cheap beers. (Muscles, if you're curious, bleaknemesis, and near the Sprinker Rock.) My friend had made a tired joke. Though I try to avoid tired jokes myself, it was giddy enough or late enough or I had consumed beers enough to

Comments

[plantyhamchuk]

Very interesting - thanks for posting. In my media-gathering all too often I find the Austrian school touted as the only school worth noticing, the only one that is backed by evidence, etc. etc. The rich should be allowed to have the most money because they have the most experience with handling it, and incidents like Katrina where the poor were handed large sums of money and certain individuals were reported to have bought designer handbags as proof that the poor are too stupid to handle their own affairs having been made dependents by too many years of government welfare. What I haven't ever seen anybody do convincingly, EVER (maybe the book you're reading is different) is how policy A leads to result B. There's too many variables involved, with everyone wanting to claim that their theory leads to success and that anything wrong that happened was due to too much influence from another school of thought/policy/party/the guy that was in power before. Maybe the issue is that success is defined depending on where the author is standing

[peristaltor]

Oh, this current book is very different from the usual econ blather, citing lots of examples where popular theory lacks or is contradicted by evidence, and "old" theories, by contrast, still appear remarkably robust.

The Austrian School especially seems to me filled with curmudgeonly old codgers and spoiled frat boys who all hate any form of collective governance and regulation with a scalding rage.

[wildilocks]

[wildilocks]

of course this is LJ, but the sentiment is there. Incidentally, couldn't find any Google references for parting the dust, and only one for farting dust, so .... that remains inconclusive IMHO!

[peristaltor]

Yeah, Muscles was known for his unique misunderstandings. And this happened loooong before Google was about for corrections!

The Wounds You have Opened

[bleaknemesis]

I first heard the "farts dust" comment from Pete (across the street) and used it ONCE... a sibling heard it and immediately reported it to my mother. I, of course, denied having said such a thing (my grandmother had passed away several years before) but she still laid upon me the greatest guilt trip ever known to Man. The scars of said guilting you have now reopened.
It is interesting that my perception of the "joke" was that the grandma was already dead and was posthumously passing dust instead of gas. Kids.

Re: The Wounds You have Opened

[peristaltor]

I must say, you had in your younger days, at least, the most uncanny ability to be punished severely for behaviors the rest of us considered as normal as breathing.

It looks like you and Muscles had a similar mis-interpretation of the saying, though yours was probably much closer to the intended. I always had this image of someone so old -- and alive -- that dust passed before grandma did. Interestingly, the alternative saying was, "That's as old as Moses' toes and twice as corny." I never used it, though, because I didn't know what corns were, and therefore avoided it lest it was somehow dirty.

[bleaknemesis]

Have you had a chance to listen to Money Planet's interviews with a Marxist_Socialist and two Libertarians? I finally pried enough money out of my wallet to get an MP3 Player so I have been listening to various podcasts at work. I should have gotten one of these things long ago.

[peristaltor]

What's on your rotation? I'll show you mine if you show me yours.

[bleaknemesis]

Currently catching up on Kunstlercast. Also have Money Planet, NPR's Wait, Wait ... Don't Tell ME, and The Bugle (John Oliver and Andy Zaltzman).

[peristaltor]

John Oliver has a podcast?!? See, this is why I ask.

I think it's time once again to weigh the ox and ask the intertubes what new stuff is out there. I'll address my own line-up -- which is getting too long -- in my next post.

claim insurance

[anonymous]

I just cant stop reading this. Its so cool, so full of information that I just didnt know. Im glad to see that people are actually writing about this issue in such a smart way, showing us all different sides to it. Youre a great blogger. Please keep it up. I cant wait to read whats next.