I am changing the name of my economics blog to Fantasy Free Economics. Common sense is largely misunderstood. Being fantasy free is the primary attribute necessary for using common sense. Mainstream economics is based on fantasy in more ways that it is possible to enumerate. Fantasies can create dynamic economies which appear to be flawless until they start to crumble. The biggest economic collapses occur in economies where fantasies are mainstream and give rise to flawed conventional wisdoms.  The German economy under Adolph Hitler is a prime example. The fantasy of Aryans being a master race kept Germans focused on the future until the country was destroyed in war.

Fantasies, some potentially as damaging, are the foundations of many economies and political systems. Fantasies Americans have about themselves and the United States abound. Fantasies can be nice thoughts but they always come undone and reality eventually imposes itself on the general population. This is in the process of happening right under the noses of American citizens.

Some fantasies are lethal as was Hitler’s Aryan fantasy. Americans claim to be special but are unwilling to engage in the behaviors upon which “being special” is based. The notion that government is benevolent is another one. Is the U.S. military actually promoting freedom around the globe? All evidence shows that it is not but the minds  fantasize that it is . As wonderful as all of these fantasies are, there is certainty they we will all be impoverished by believing them. Chances are these popular notions will get many of us killed and result in the loss of our political system.

I am the world’s best economist, but nowhere close to the smartest. Being the best is only temporary. That will be clear when others discover my observations. Right now mainstream is seriously handicapped by treating individuals as being autonomous and independent in decision making. Human beings rarely make individual choices and that is a big disadvantage to all who insist that they do.

A fine timely tune by Curbside Jimmy, Euphemism Mountain Euphemism Mountain

Views: 1