Expanding on the subject of boondoggling, my neighbor said, “If you think that’s mind-boggling, think about this chain of logic. If your intent is to put people to work, the more wasteful the work and the more costly it is in manpower, the better the project gets for providing more jobs. Naturally, that also increases government spending on overhead costs. But, it gets worse than that. Do you think that projects thought up by government bureaucrats will provide the same net addition to wealth and welfare per dollar expended as would have been provided by the taxpayers themselves if they had been individually permitted to buy or have made what they themselves wanted instead of being forced to surrender part of their earnings to the state?”
“No, I don’t suppose so. I have to admit, Neighbor, you’re making real sense here. Real—but very disturbing, sense,” I said. “You’re ‘rocking the boat’ of ‘common sense’ that I, and most people I know, have been sailing in all our lives. I’m being forced to accept the uncomfortable probability that most economic ‘common sense’ is bogus. The truth is becoming more and more clear. It is this. Most people have been brought up to believe in the fallacies you’ve described. I’m also sensing that most people don’t really know what ‘money’ is. I’m wondering why and how the fallacious beliefs came about.”
“For now, my neighbor responded, “accept as fact that economics is haunted by more fallacies than any other study known to man. Accept also, that this condition is not an accident. It’s not important, at this point, to go into the history of why and how the fallacies came about. What is important is knowing the economic beliefs that politically influential groups hold and can get government to act upon.”
“What do you mean, ‘not an accident?’ Are you telling me the fallacies are purposefully generated?”
“Let me answer this way,” said my neighbor. “To start with, there are inherent difficulties in understanding the subject of economics just as it stands. But those difficulties are multiplied exponentially by a particularly human factor. That factor is the special pleading of selfish interests. If the subject were physics, mathematics or medicine, it wouldn’t be a significant factor. In economics, it’s disastrous.”
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?”
My neighbor nodded, and said, “If you think about it, you’ll see an important truth. At any given time, any particular group has certain economic interests that are identical with those of all other groups. At the same time, every group also has interests that are antagonistic to those of all other groups. Certainly, there are public policies that would, in the long run, benefit everybody. Other policies, though, would benefit one group, but only at the expense of all other groups. Obviously, the group that would benefit from the policies has a direct interest in them. That group will argue for them plausibly and persistently. That group will hire the best minds that can be bought to devote their entire time to presenting its case. In the end, that group will either convince the general public that its case is sound, or so befuddle people that clear thinking on the subject becomes next to impossible.”
“No, I don’t suppose so. I have to admit, Neighbor, you’re making real sense here. Real—but very disturbing, sense,” I said. “You’re ‘rocking the boat’ of ‘common sense’ that I, and most people I know, have been sailing in all our lives. I’m being forced to accept the uncomfortable probability that most economic ‘common sense’ is bogus. The truth is becoming more and more clear. It is this. Most people have been brought up to believe in the fallacies you’ve described. I’m also sensing that most people don’t really know what ‘money’ is. I’m wondering why and how the fallacious beliefs came about.”
“For now, my neighbor responded, “accept as fact that economics is haunted by more fallacies than any other study known to man. Accept also, that this condition is not an accident. It’s not important, at this point, to go into the history of why and how the fallacies came about. What is important is knowing the economic beliefs that politically influential groups hold and can get government to act upon.”
“What do you mean, ‘not an accident?’ Are you telling me the fallacies are purposefully generated?”
“Let me answer this way,” said my neighbor. “To start with, there are inherent difficulties in understanding the subject of economics just as it stands. But those difficulties are multiplied exponentially by a particularly human factor. That factor is the special pleading of selfish interests. If the subject were physics, mathematics or medicine, it wouldn’t be a significant factor. In economics, it’s disastrous.”
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?”
My neighbor nodded, and said, “If you think about it, you’ll see an important truth. At any given time, any particular group has certain economic interests that are identical with those of all other groups. At the same time, every group also has interests that are antagonistic to those of all other groups. Certainly, there are public policies that would, in the long run, benefit everybody. Other policies, though, would benefit one group, but only at the expense of all other groups. Obviously, the group that would benefit from the policies has a direct interest in them. That group will argue for them plausibly and persistently. That group will hire the best minds that can be bought to devote their entire time to presenting its case. In the end, that group will either convince the general public that its case is sound, or so befuddle people that clear thinking on the subject becomes next to impossible.”
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