I couldn’t believe what I had just heard. I asked myself,“Have we gone full circle on this?” I started, “Henry, what...”
Henry, his eyebrows arched, interrupted me with his hand “traffic signal”, then continued, “This is no accident...”
It was my turn to interrupt, so I gave him back his hand “traffic signal.” “What do you mean, ‘no accident’, Henry. Are you telling me that the fallacies we have been talking about are purposefully generated?”
Henry resumed, without missing a beat, “The inherent difficulties of the subject would be great enough in any case, but they are multiplied a thousandfold by a factor that is insignificant in, say, physics, mathematics or medicine—the special pleading of selfish interests.”
Picking up on that idea and running with it, I posited, “So you are saying that the fallacies in the area of economics are generated by special interests? That’s the problem—special interests?”
Henry nodded, and said, “While every group has certain economic interests identical with those of all groups, every group has also…interests antagonistic to those of all other groups.”
“Okay,” I said. “I think I can see that. Where does that line of thinking take us?”
Explained Henry, “While certain public policies would in the long run benefit everybody, other policies would benefit one group only at the expense of all other groups. The group that would benefit by such policies, having such a direct interest in them, will argue for them plausibly and persistently. It will hire the best buyable minds to devote their whole time to presenting its case. And it will finally either convince the general public that its case is sound, or so befuddle it that clear thinking on the subject becomes next to impossible.”
The light in my mind was getting brighter. The brightening light allowed my thoughts to drift, to start cascading, to see that there was something more at work here—some additional “thing” just out of sight—some important factor—some kind of operating principle—something that is either not immediately apparent or not anticipated—a regenerative factor of some kind.
The sound of Henry, clearing his throat, broke my chain of thought. Returning to the present, I vocalized, “Henry, it seems to me that there is something else going on here, something fundamental. It has to be more than just ‘self interest.’ Is this ‘fundamental something else’ the thing you are driving at?”
With a broad smile illuminating his face, Henry responded, “In addition to these endless pleadings of self-interest, there is a second main factor that spawns new economic fallacies every day.”
“Every day?” I spouted.
Henry, his eyebrows arched, interrupted me with his hand “traffic signal”, then continued, “This is no accident...”
It was my turn to interrupt, so I gave him back his hand “traffic signal.” “What do you mean, ‘no accident’, Henry. Are you telling me that the fallacies we have been talking about are purposefully generated?”
Henry resumed, without missing a beat, “The inherent difficulties of the subject would be great enough in any case, but they are multiplied a thousandfold by a factor that is insignificant in, say, physics, mathematics or medicine—the special pleading of selfish interests.”
Picking up on that idea and running with it, I posited, “So you are saying that the fallacies in the area of economics are generated by special interests? That’s the problem—special interests?”
Henry nodded, and said, “While every group has certain economic interests identical with those of all groups, every group has also…interests antagonistic to those of all other groups.”
“Okay,” I said. “I think I can see that. Where does that line of thinking take us?”
Explained Henry, “While certain public policies would in the long run benefit everybody, other policies would benefit one group only at the expense of all other groups. The group that would benefit by such policies, having such a direct interest in them, will argue for them plausibly and persistently. It will hire the best buyable minds to devote their whole time to presenting its case. And it will finally either convince the general public that its case is sound, or so befuddle it that clear thinking on the subject becomes next to impossible.”
The light in my mind was getting brighter. The brightening light allowed my thoughts to drift, to start cascading, to see that there was something more at work here—some additional “thing” just out of sight—some important factor—some kind of operating principle—something that is either not immediately apparent or not anticipated—a regenerative factor of some kind.
The sound of Henry, clearing his throat, broke my chain of thought. Returning to the present, I vocalized, “Henry, it seems to me that there is something else going on here, something fundamental. It has to be more than just ‘self interest.’ Is this ‘fundamental something else’ the thing you are driving at?”
With a broad smile illuminating his face, Henry responded, “In addition to these endless pleadings of self-interest, there is a second main factor that spawns new economic fallacies every day.”
“Every day?” I spouted.
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