Economic beliefs
from Richard Norgaard
Economistic beliefs are not detrimental because they are mere beliefs. People need a belief system to live together. Yuval Harari develops this argument around the following statement.
“Any large-scale human cooperation – whether a modern state, a medieval church, an ancient city, or an archaic tribe – is rooted in common myths that exist only in people’s collective imagination” (Yuval Harari, 2014, p. 30)
Many critiques of the recent neoliberal economy make the same point that neoliberalism survives on a set of necessary public beliefs, but most critics imply that those who profit from the system orchestrate the beliefs. While not denying that those who most benefit from particular beliefs have helped push them on the masses, the process by which beliefs come to be held and sustained is more complex than this. People need beliefs to explain the system in which they live, and they need beliefs to rationalize their decisions and those of others. Furthermore, people are able to choose between alternative beliefs and rationalizations being pushed by religious organizations, interest groups, and social commentators. The dominant choice of Europeans and North Americans switched during the 20th century from Judeo-Christian explanations to neoliberal economism. And the rest of the world also made this shift on their own time scales starting from their own religious bases. Economism and the Econocene
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Real-World Economics Review Blog 
nonsense, I’ve lost track of how many variations there are of christianity/christology are being promoted these days let alone over the ages and same for the rest, there is no means for mass indoctrination/socialization that provides for common starting understandings among populations let alone mass coordination of implications/directions over time.
meanwhile back on the ranch:
It is the “pass-time” of intellectuals to bombard each other with theories.
Meanwhile, the world marches on.
It’s true we have a common ground so we can participate in society. We act to seem normal and not draw unwanted attention to ourselves, unless we think we can stand out by virtue of some special ability, but even that is within the norm. But we can be fooled, Hitler was good at that.
Economics is a bit more complicated as it is an unknown quantity to most people. While they get that economics applies to many facets of day to day living it can be quite detrimental if applied in a distorted way. Take Neo liberalism, a result of a certain way of economic thought which has had dire consequences for the less well off strata of society. People have been convinced to vote against their own best interests by it. When society is a serious morass of lies how can it be remedied?
Here is some sense in the midst of nonsense: https://youtu.be/-IL2XwSkFJQ
Mr Pie hits home with every remark. Privatisation is the nub of the trouble. Thatcher is responsible for at least a dozen foreign companies owning British Railways. Brexit won’t solve the problems but it will show how much trouble politicians and their donors have caused. It will all have to be renationalised. The expense won’t matter. They can do it off budget if they think it will stave off inflation. But we need some inflation and raises to welfare to replace the cuts.
You got my vote!
I feel like a refugee from America right now. American but orphaned. As I watch Brexit and Trump I think Britain and the US certainly do have a special relationship. They both wasted their treasure (young blood and wealth) on invading a foreign country based upon neocon ideology and falsified intelligence, thereby releasing a wave of violence unprecedented in recent history. They both turned their futures over to a form of Unprincipled Conservatism that promised ‘compassionate conservatiam’ claiming they were going to float all boats with trickle-up kleptocracy, while they stole our children’s and grandchildren’s future by ignoring and even exasperating the real problems humanity is facing. Economics is known as the dismal science. BS! It is far worse than that, it is bunkum science lead by predatory mobsters in suits.
Brexit is a good thing, but it depends on how its handled to be certain. Not optimistic about the politicians capabilities. All over the world politicians are failing [not that they would agree] to govern with even a modicum of wisdom. The best illustration is Trump, He got the job because the same delusions that elected him voted for Brexit. Trump is turning into a slow train crash and needs to grow a spine. The outlook for Brexit fills one with some trepidation. But if neoliberalism can be wound back it will be a big positive, The Eurozone is neo liberal central, so for Brexit to work all they need do is rewind austerity etc. The Eurozone is a crash in waiting, Brexit might be the trigger for it to regroup. The idea for a Eurozone was good, but Delors and the Germans set it up as a neoliberal device and have terminally damaged it. It really is too bad, and sad.
I look forward to May Day, or Workers’ Day, or April Fools’ Day to write something by way of a spring offering to Mrs. May on 1st April. They all coincide this year. Must a miraculous warning from ancient gods!
Really enjoying your paper. Sent to me wife and daughters. Youngest studying in Canada is being exposed to such forward looking thinking.
It is correct that science looks more like the religion it claimed to supplant since the enlightenment period. The scientific method is fragmentary IN NATURE. What is necessary is what I have been saying on here since forever, that is, an integration/synthesis of opposites mindset AKA wisdom. It’s the whole reason I entitled my book Wisdomics-Gracenomics. Another integration/synthesis that needs to take place is abstraction and direct looking at the moment to moment operations of the economy in order to discern significances residing there regarding the entirety of the economic/actually productive process and where monetary and economic policy may be optimally applied. If you don’t look you don’t see, you know, and I thought science was being willing to look without prejudice or fear.
The quote you cite from Harari is well chosen. I want to comment on it to clarify your article.
“Any large-scale human cooperation – whether a modern state, a medieval church, an ancient city, or an archaic tribe – is rooted in common myths that exist only in people’s collective imagination” (Yuval Harari, 2014, p. 30)
This means everything Sapiens does is based in or on a common life that is demarcated by shared myths about right and wrong, good and bad, human and nonhuman, war and peace, love and hate, commerce and religion, rich and poor, etc. Creating these myths has resulted in conflict since Sapiens first invented sociality and created societies 30,000 years-ago. All mythologies and all societies fail. Some quickly; others more slowly. And the mythologies are flexible, changing with the circumstances of the humans they serve. But the purpose of the mythologies doesn’t change – to protect the society and its members, and, at least initially, the species. 30,000 years ago, the mythologies were created by the leader of a group intimately involved with the group members. As groups grew larger and spread out more widely, variations in mythologies were created. Things got thorny when humans invented agriculture about 10,000 years-ago and along with it the first class arrangements. That was followed by monarchies and aristocracies, leading for the first time to competing mythologies within the same society. From this period forward Sapiens mythologies were often incongruent and struggled for control of the entire society. From 5,000 BCE to about 1,900 CE the wars of mythologies were won almost 100% by the mythologies with the greatest resources and largest force of arms. This pattern is changed by the spread of democracy (from a deviant mythology) and science (from another deviant mythology). Later economics began to change the pattern, as well.
The dominant mythologies in America today are neoliberalism and neoconservatism. Those who live these mythologies spent years, lots of money, and committed many crimes (including murder) to achieve this dominance. But as with all previous mythologies Sapiens has created, this one is now failing. It can be destroyed more quickly by attacking its weak spots. First, its rejection of empathy and sociality. Both have been part of human societies long before these current mythologies were created. Their long history makes it nearly impossible to dislodge them as central parts of human groups. Second, and similar, neoliberalism and neoconservatism violate the notion that everyone who accepts a mythology gain from it. Finally, and most important the dominant mythologies today do not protect our species. Rather they put the species in ever greater danger of extinction. These are fundamental flaws in the dominant mythology. They condemn it to death. The economic and political resources controlled by neoliberalism and neoconservatism protect it today. Including academic economics. How long that protection lasts depends entirely on how much political, economic, and physical pressure its opponents can bring to bear.