re: #674 Claire

Sure, we do. We just look at what the history of doing exactly that has already yielded, and look at the trend of information that it yields over time. (Increasing exponentially.)

Why on earth would you think that from this arbitrary point in time, that trend would just stop?

What trend? You have no scientific way of tracing back causality… I say free enterprise is responsible for the explosion of technological advancements and scientific breakthroughs. You say government subsidizes are.

Some say unionization is responsible for the increase in wages and improvements in working conditions for labor… I say free enterprise and free trade are.

Oh, by the way, I am well-read in economics, and I do hold a degree in the field. What if I told you that a socialized centrally-planned economy is the way to go (I wouldn’t; don’t worry)? I have the credentials… Do I, by extension, have the authority to take the money you have earned and employ it where I think the greatest “social profit” will ensue?

Nearly every economist has a master-plan for humanity, and more than one set of economic theories to justify it. After all, little people do not understand the subtleties of convex marginal utility functions, and the augmented Phillips curve, or effects of the money multiplier. Why let them run their lives as they see fit? Why keep any semblance of a free-enterprise system in function?

A summit of economists could just dictate us economic policy.

Economists are peer-reviewed too, you know… They hold PhDs too…