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[felis_ultharus]

For those struggling to understand what's going on in the American economy and elsewhere, here's an analogy that might help.

Imagine that -- thirty years ago -- the Creationists had made a successful assault replaced the theory of evolution with the story of Adam and Eve among scientists. Imagine that the theory had taken over universities to such a degree that no one in science programs could hope to get a degree unless they subscribed to these theories.

Imagine the creationists gained the ear of governments, replaced the real scientists in bureaucracies and NGOs, and that newspapers and political leaders at least felt the need to pay lip service to the Adam and Eve story.

Imagine that the theory of evolution was described as "old-fashioned" and "discredited" by every mainstream newspaper. Imagine that the discoveries of paleontologists and geologists and physicists were described as statistical blips, one-time oddities, explainable curiosities that had nothing to do with the big picture.

Imagine that Darwinists were considered by governments and mainstream press to be "irresponsible," or even "dangerous." Imagine that -- after 9/11 -- people who talked about Darwinism were lumped in increasingly with terrorists.

As far-fetched as this sounds, it's a fairly accurate analogy to what's happened in economics in the last thirty years. A discredited, 18th- and 19th-century economics returned with a vengeance, erased our jobs. It has increased the gap between the rich and the poor, destabilized our economies, demolished our infrastructure, and returned us to the chaos of winner-take-all boom-and-bust cycles.

The theories don't work any better now than they from the 18th to the early 20th centuries. Some economists are finally beginning to doubt them.

But most economists are recommending that the cure for the chaos is -- you guessed -- more of the same. More deregulation. More corporate tax cuts. Fewer trade barriers. Fewer social programs. So if the world survives this crisis, expect the next bust to be even larger.

Most economists believe that the world is flat. Is it any wonder we're going over the edge?

Comments

[jc2004.livejournal.com]

What's truly terrifying is that your analogy isn't just accurate for economics - it's a plausible future dystopia in and of itself.

[felis-ultharus.livejournal.com]

Yeah, and even as I wrote that, I was expecting someone to say, "Well, that's pretty much the US, isn't it?" Presidential candidates have to show their respect for Creationism even if they aren't Creationists, and many of them are.

The fundamentalists have also been setting up their own alternative universities -- like Bob Jones University in South Carolina, where the science department teaches young-earth creationism.

Many other schools in the US now teach creationism as an "alternative" to evolution, under the name "intelligent design." In public schools, they avoid referencing Adam and Eve, because then it cuts into the separation of church and state, but the idea is to prep them for the idea that the earth could only be 6000 years old.

Me, I have more trouble with the "intelligent" part than the "design" part. The universe could've been invented two minutes ago by a god with a weird sense of humour, and all evidence of a past one giant cosmic joke.

But no universe that includes Sarah Palin can be said to be "intelligent."

[rougemacabre.livejournal.com]

I was horrified yesterday when my mother told me on the phone that the "solution" to America's problems was a return to laissez-faire. My jaw was on the floor at this proposal. This is the same woman who HATES the power corporations have and the immorality with which they treat the populace. Yet, she's supporting an economic theory/model, which is exactly the model that created the thing she hates. :-/

I think part of the problem is that these words have been repeated to the American populace from childhood onward. How "wonderful" it is to live in the "most free" country in the world. How we're so damned lucky to have laissez-faire economics. The words are actually empty of meaning, because it seems the every day American citizen doesn't really know what they mean or entail - but they want them, because they've been told to want them for so long.
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[felis-ultharus.livejournal.com]

It's no different here. Even the most progressive in this country seem to have bought the laissez-faire myth.

But I think it's changing, both here and there. Growing numbers of North Americans are getting sick of the system, and seeing it's not working.