Posted by baseball55 on October 15, 2013, at 19:56:57
In reply to Re: gov't shutdown.... :(, posted by sigismund on October 15, 2013, at 14:08:22
Economics is extremely ideological. Hotly contested. Because,really, what is more important? Who gets what. The role of government in the economy. Social responsibilty vs individual responsibility. The level of wages in the world economy. Poverty and what that means and what goverments should do to counter it. On and on. Ethical, political controversy.
This is why economics is not taught in American high schools - too controversial, like teaching religion.Even at the college level, there are economists who don't talk to one another, who have sided with one political ideology or another.
So, for example, the debt ceiling. There are some who think the congress should not raise the debt ceiling, since this would force the government to run a balanced budget. There are others who oppose balanced budgets, since they require that governments cut spending in recessions, when tax revenues fall.
There is as much dispute in economics as there is in politics. It's the same issues, really.
can recommend a book -- old and out-of-print, but still available cheaply on amazon -- called Economics Explained. It's a bit out of date (the primary author died several year ago), but still a worthwhile read.
poster:baseball55
thread:1052214
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/poli/20120327/msgs/1052348.html