whoosh

"Nobel Laureate economist Angus Deaton has delivered a ferocious rebuke to his own profession, saying economists have failed to understand that #capitalism is about #power."

"when efficiency comes with upward redistribution — frequently though not inevitably — our recommendations become little more than a license for plunder”

https://www.crikey.com.au/2024/03/12/nobel-laureate-economist-angus-deaton-capitalism-power/

"“We have largely stopped thinking about #ethics and about what constitutes human well-being."

Nobel laureate economist savages his own profession as clueless and unethical

Nobel Laureate economist Angus Deaton has delivered a ferocious rebuke to his own profession, saying economists have failed to understand that capitalism is about power.

Crikey
Mar 23, 2024 at 7:26pmWeb
Show threadthe Stripey GoodnessMar 23, 2024
@whoosh there is no such thing as a 'Nobel Laureate Economist.'
The prize has no such endowment.
Show threadJuggling With EggsMar 23, 2024

@whoosh

‘It speaks volumes about how sheltered many mainstream academic economists really are.’

Academic economists unwillingness to acknowledge that capitalism is about power and that there is an ethical dimension to all economic decisions was made abundantly clear to me during the financial crash of 07/08. I worked in a prestigious university economics department. Virtual silence as they witnessed what their students had gone out into the world and done.

Show threadJuggling With EggsMar 23, 2024

@JugglingWithEggs @whoosh

Only one professor would admit to me his shame at what was allowed to unfold. I listened to the department’s meetings and read their working papers astounded at their collective silence and lack of reflection. During this period I remember going out at lunchtime and witnessing people queuing down the street and crying at the thought of losing their life savings in Northern Rock bank. The remote ivory tower academic stereotype had never fitted better.

Show threadBookMar 23, 2024

@whoosh "frequently not inevitably"

Well, he's getting there.

Show threadDr Pieter PeachMar 24, 2024
@RageSheen 👆
Show threadI am Jack's Lost 404Mar 24, 2024

@whoosh

Welp the cat's out of the bag now...  

Show threadJörg SeidelMar 24, 2024

@whoosh
Yes. Been saying since decades that we need a broader separation of powers. Besides executive, judicative, and legislative powers we also need to separate the economic power.
@malterehbein

#capitalism #power #ethics

Show threadFediThing Mar 24, 2024

@whoosh

"...unions raised wages for members and nonmembers, they were an important part of social capital in many places, and they brought political power to working people in the workplace and in local, state, and federal governments. Their decline is contributing to the falling wage share, to the widening gap between executives and workers, to community destruction, and to rising populism.”

Show threadFrank Bennett 🇯🇵Mar 24, 2024
@whoosh This captures what eventually repulsed me in the vulgar economics I was taught in law school.
Show threadDeadly HeadshotMar 24, 2024
@whoosh
Pretty sure it's more about greed than power...