Making another million

Do you feel like a million today? Here is a million and some change - http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/iraq/iraqdeaths.html
How does that feel?

I will not rant about the ludicrous injustice of this. Just look at the number again if you aren't already in the mood.

I want to talk about the idiocy of the ostensibly hard nosed economists/foreign policy experts and other miscellaneous cultural managers.

Lets talk about the economists first. There is an internal structure to the discipline - a caste system. The theorists (basically failed or greedy mathematicians) are the brahmins, the econometricians are the Vaishyas (the moneyed upper caste in the Caste System) - in the present context white collar technicians for Corporate America and the like (Yes, corporate America uses caps to describe itself) and the empirical/development economists who are the shudras (blue collar). Of course, the Marxists and others who deviate from the doctrine are the untouchables.

As in any doctrinal system there is not much wrong with the logic - the theorists ensure it is mathematically consistent, rather the doctrinal task assigned to economists consists of completely irrational acceptance/imposition of certain premises. Basically that human beings are fundamentally greedy, outcome oriented and care only about their own interests. So one has all these nonsensical paradoxes about why people vote, why they care about African poverty, why do they offer to share rather than take everything for themselves? Of course, all these deviations are discovered (kinda like white people discovering the New World) by empirical economists who are not allowed to speak in front of the theorists (thats the key). The indoctrination, as usuals, works - it has been found that economists are more selfish that others.

Most of the economists are doing their research on why people deviate from their conception of rational actors. (What the fuck is rational about pathological, insensitive jerks who don't care about anything other than themselves?) You would not believe the extent of literature in, for example, evolutionary game theory in this genre. The usual finding - in the long run it doesn't make sense for people to be pathological, what an amazing discovery!

The other central strand of propaganda is downright deception. Everyone who cares to look knows that almost all the industries are oligopolies (or have administered prices and subsidies). Yet in every single analysis they assume perfect competition which gives them the results that are desired of them obviously.

The most important secret in economics is the obvious fact that ALL economies that grew rich did so under very protectionist, state capitalist regimes. Europe, East Asia - There are no exceptions. The havoc wrecked on Mexico, Bolivia et al by imposing obviously terrible policies was criminal. I hold the economists culpable.

Let me clarify - there is no conspiracy and not all economists toe the line. This is how it works: If you have the wrong ideas you get weeded out at some point - getting admission into grad school, getting published, getting tenure track positions, research grants and getting tenure. The system is stable precisely because it is not rigid. Just like keeping a volume of Chomsky along with 20,000 volumes of intellectual masturbation, outright propaganda and mind candy suffices to make Barnes and Noble appear impartial.

I'll get to the Foreign Policy and Area Studies (Orientalists later). Sorry about the plethora of parentheses.