I have had my fun with establishment American economists,
likening them to denizens of Plato’s Cave, building brilliant careers on
guessing at the succession of images flickering on the cave wall. Still and all, fair is fair, and though they
are biologically incapable of forming the words “Karl Marx,” the best of them
really are good at predicting
shadows. So this morning, I shall tip my
hat to Paul Krugman, shadow guesser supreme, who in this Op Ed column does a
nice job of anatomizing the self-destructive inanity of Trump’s trade wars.
Do you follow Dean Baker? I don't know if he, as co-founder with Mark Weisbrot, of the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR), is considered establishment, but I think he is very good. But now I'm curious; I will have to google his name and that of Marx and see what comes up.
ReplyDeleteIt is incredible that someone as bright and as learned as Krugman has never bothered to read Marx seriously. I bet that Keynes read Marx with attention. That's the difference between a true public intellectual, Keynes, and a very bright technocrat, Krugman.
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