The Nobel World

By James B. Rogers, South China Morning Post, January 27, 2014

This year, the Nobel Prize for economics went to two American professors and one British-Cypriot academic. The award brings plaudits and 10 million Swedish kronor (HK$11.4 million) to each of its laureates, but an examination of the real world indicates that the prize has a shaky basis in reality. If nothing else, the committee awarding the prize should take a few basic courses in economics and history.....

But 40 years later, the world is experiencing a historic shift from West to East. The great economic successes since 1969 are certainly not the United States or Europe. In this span, the US went from the largest creditor nation in the world to not just the largest debtor nation in the world, but the largest debtor nation in the history of the world. That U-turn may deserve a prize, but one that brings embarrassment rather than prominence.......

In fact, one esteemed Nobel laureate published a paper in 1994 titled “The Myth of Asia’s Miracle” in the journal Foreign Affairs. The same winner proclaimed loudly in 2009 that it was untrue that huge amounts of Western assets had moved to Asia. Perhaps he had to try to cover for his 1994 paper. He has not returned his award. (This same laureate insisted this year that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac had nothing to do with the mortgage and housing collapse.).......

And don’t even get me started on the Peace Prize.

My Take - It is said that statistics is the arcane science. Well, so is economics. David Brinkley once talked about how many presidents he had known in his career and noted none of them understood economics. Well, why would they? Economists clearly don't understand economics. If they did there wouldn't be so many differing opinions as to what it is.   Unfortunately the ones who embrace stealing gigantic amounts of money from the people in the form of taxes, and borrowing un-payable sums to spend on “social justice programs” that are bottomless money pits seem to be in charge.  Let me make this clear.  This kind of clabbered thinking permeates all the academic disciplines, including science! Being politically correct has become more important than being factually, practically or morally correct.