have a liberal bias. And in this case, Paul Krugman notices that the IMF, austerity perpetrators par excellance, have… err… noticed that austerity causes economies to get worse than doing nothing at all. Because, y’know, the Austerity Fairy simply isn’t *real*.
Which Paul Krugman has been steadily beating the drum about for the past five years, to the point that he must be as sick and tired of pointing that out as I am, but it’s nice to have, like, actual facts on your side. Of course, conservatives then whine the IMF is wrong. Except, err, the data is the data. What is, is. You can’t just wish away reality with a wave of the Austerity Fairy’s magic wand. Or even with a firm application of said wand up the posterior. Reality simply doesn’t work that way.
But nevermind, the facts have a liberal bias, thus must be ignored. Ignorance is strength. Damn, I wish the conservatives would quit using 1984 as an instructional manual. Besides, austerity allows cold-blooded lizard people from Planet Sociopath to snap up the assets of entire nations at fire-sale prices, and it’d be wrong to interfere with our reptilian overlords, right? Right?!
- Badtux the Economics Penguin
Ugh. Me Austerity Fairy. Bend over.
It occurred to me that the pride the privileged take in their ignorance might be a variety, or subset, of the conspicuous consumption process Veblen described. If a thing has no utility or, in this case, an idea has no veracity, it operates to increase the status that thing confers on the rich. Sometimes certain fashions have status precisely because they prove that the person wearing them doesn’t have to work for a living. Maybe they feel the same way about economic ignorance. Maybe they think it proves how powerful they are that they can even be very very stupid and still be rich!
I’ve always been thrifty.
You’re born, you live, and then you die. Depriving yourself of enjoyment during the brief period you’re alive out of some sense that suffering is a virtue is just plain wrong, and just another way our lizard overlords from Planet Sociopath get us to go along with their plans.
Depriving yourself of enjoyment during the brief period you’re alive out of some sense that suffering is a virtue is just plain wrong
SSSSH — Don’t tell the church! Any church, from Old Testament Judaism to Medieval Catholicism to almost every iteration of Islam (except the Sufis) and even the Hindus/Buddhists (suffer in this life so you can come back better in the next). Ruins their whole raison d’etre.
Yes, religion has long been a tool used by our reptilian overlords from planet Sociopath to transfer all enjoyment from us, to them. Funny how that works, hmm?