???

???

For that reason, we don't need to answer, “How do you know?” We're proclaiming right up front, “We don't know.”

Just speaking for me, but I don't give a rat's nads about “society”. I just imagine being free from the exploitation of the politicians. How do I know that would be a good thing? Well, I would be deciding for myself how to spend the 40% of what I create that they take from me. How do I know that I could make better choices for myself than they make for me? Confidence. Confidence in my own abilities. Confidence in the character of my neighbors. Confidence in the character of the productive class, and a complete lack of confidence in the character of the political class.

Unfortunately, too many people think they do know and it usually sounds something like, “Well, I can't even imagine. The financial system would have collapsed. Things would have been much worse. Are you stupid enough to think we'd be as well off as we are now if we let these massive banks fail?”

And then they stop thinking about and go on about their busy lives.

Unfortunately, too many people think they do know and it usually sounds something like, “Well, I can't even imagine. The financial system would have collapsed. Things would have been much worse. Are you stupid enough to think we'd be as well off as we are now if we let these massive banks fail?”

And then they stop thinking about and go on about their busy lives.

McCloskey on “how do you know?”:

Ask it of every paper you write and you'll get tenure; ask it of every paragraph and you'll become a distinguished economist; ask it, as Milton does, of every sentence you write and you can look forward to renting a tux or buying a gown for Stockholm in December.

http://www.deirdremccloskey.com/editorials/milt...

By way of example, from Keynes' “General Theory of Employment”;

If follows, therefore, that, if the consumption psychology of the community is such that they will choose to consume, e.g. nine-tenths of an increment of income, then the multiplier k is 10, and the total employment caused by (e.g.) increased public works will be ten times the primary employment provided by the public works themselves, assuming no reduction of investment in other directions.”

So, why on earth should we assume that a massive redistribution of resources to public works would not reduce investment in other directions?

And since I'm on a roll, one more…

Unless the psychological propensities of the public are different from what we are supposing, we have here established the law that increased employment for investment must necessarily stimulate the industries producing for consumption and thus lead to a total increase of employment which is a multiple of the primary employment required by the investment itself.

1. Laws are not establish on the basis of suppositions.
2. “Public works” does not equal “investment”.

“Commando 2: Capitol Hill”

McCloskey on “how do you know?”:

Ask it of every paper you write and you'll get tenure; ask it of every paragraph and you'll become a distinguished economist; ask it, as Milton does, of every sentence you write and you can look forward to renting a tux or buying a gown for Stockholm in December.

http://www.deirdremccloskey.com/editorials/milt...

By way of example, from Keynes' “General Theory of Employment”;

If follows, therefore, that, if the consumption psychology of the community is such that they will choose to consume, e.g. nine-tenths of an increment of income, then the multiplier k is 10, and the total employment caused by (e.g.) increased public works will be ten times the primary employment provided by the public works themselves, assuming no reduction of investment in other directions.”

So, why on earth should we assume that a massive redistribution of resources to public works would not reduce investment in other directions?

And since I'm on a roll, one more…

Unless the psychological propensities of the public are different from what we are supposing, we have here established the law that increased employment for investment must necessarily stimulate the industries producing for consumption and thus lead to a total increase of employment which is a multiple of the primary employment required by the investment itself.

1. Laws are not establish on the basis of suppositions.
2. “Public works” does not equal “investment”.