It's the Economy, Stupid! So What's Up With All the Stupidity?

It’s the Economy, Stupid! But What’s With All the Stupidity.

In retrospect, the speeches in that file of commencement encapsulated defining moments in recent history. Reading the points of view from those who paved my way revealed distinct shifts in tone, substance, and outlook every decade or so. Most striking was the high minded sense of duty apparent in speeches written during the ‘50’s and ‘60’s. High school students actually spoke of civics, diplomacy, ethics, and economy not only like they knew what they were talking about. They spoke of these subjects as if they mattered.

I won’t be winning any Nobel prizes anytime soon for groundbreaking economic theory. But economics isn’t that hard; and I don’t get why otherwise smart talking heads can’t shut up long enough to get their heads around the idea. If people actually paid mild attention to the economy and understood the inverse relationship between supply and demand enough to apply it, the economic meltdown would have been predictable.


Instead of a pre-emptive stimulus to the economy, the silly debate regarding a solution rages on. That debate exists at all is a scary sign that our elected officials fail to get the economy. Spending is not debatable; is where and how much to spend that you might find room for scrutiny. The efficiency and reach of the stimulus relates directly to how much capital flows back into a system low on cash and high on demand. To those who question spending in these times I can only recommend some good old fashioned economic study time. If they truly understand economics, then they are simply sabotaging America which is absolutely unacceptable.

Making matters worse, talking heads MSNBC remain unsure of the solution themselves, but nonetheless they have opinions. Thankfully Rachel Maddow got it. She just needs to say it often and say it loud so that the voice of reason can rise up among widespread misinformed banter. It’s great to know that Keynes had an economic theory that ran counter to Friedman’s economic theory; in the end, just learn the study the theories and go online and find some fun economic game site and play supply demand. Most people overthink economics, I think; so keep the idea that economics is easy in mind.

But since learning economics sounds more Herculean than it is, I’ve created a cheat sheet for all those talking heads out there to jump to at least sound like they know what their talking about. The Republican strategy to overcome the meltdown may well be hopeless, but they stay on point and the sound as if the know what their talking about.

To get talking heads started down the path of talking about the economy simply and accurately, I’ve created a little cheat sheet. It’s dedicated to the fine cheaters who bankrupt America, rewarded themselves, and blamed everyone else.

Economics is a measure of societal welfare, or happiness. Measures of the strength of an economy come in various forms like job growth and the stock market. Sound economic policy inherently is its own check and balance and system and measure. Economist peal various systems down to their fundamental cores to try and create tools that those engaged in economy can use to make it strong. Some tools have their core in capitalism and others use socialism. To take either one off the table leaves the economy exposed to failure. But theories do not fail on their own; what unites fundamentally capitalist tools and fundamentally socialist tools are they they are only as effective as the people who use them. Taking tools of socialism off the table because they are "socialist," is a lot like throwing out your hammer because screwdrivers are American and hammers aren't is stupid; if you get nails instead of screws, you're screwed and its not the screwdriver's fault that it can not hammer a nail. It is the toolman's fault for being stupid. Likewise, the economy has failed because... Well, I don't think we're quite ready for accountability yet.

If this is a shock to you, please check back daily for my Take Back the Economics Series to Take Back Economcis!