General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsPaul Krugman Blog- High Fallutin’ Nazis
Here comes another billionaire who thinks that anyone who talks about income inequality is a Nazi; this time its Ken Langone, co-founder of Home Depot. I dont have anything useful to say about this, other than the observation that there must be a lot of these guys. I mean, there arent that many billionaires, so that coming up with multiple examples of the genus who not only believe that progressives are just like Hitler but are willing to say so in public must indicate that a substantial proportion of our billionaires share this belief, but more privately. Luckily, great wealth doesnt bring great political influence in modern America does it?
But Jonathan Cohns report on Langone brought to mind an earlier rant by the same guy, in which he denounced yours truly and my high-fallutin thoughts and ideas. And I think, now that I remember that, that this rant (and others like it) gives a partial clue to the mystery of the continuing popularity of the Wall Street macro canon, despite its total failure in practice.
For what, after all, was Langone raging against? Well, me, of course. But not, presumably, against high-fallutin ideas in general: Langone cant really be a stupid man, and Im sure that when it comes to, say, information systems for inventory management hes quite willing to accept the idea that some things are technical and require some knowledge.
No, what I think hes really raging against are two things. First is the idea that understanding economics, as opposed to other issues, might involve some kind of special expertise. This is an all too common problem with the wealthy, and maybe especially among self-made men: they think that their personal financial success means that they understand the economic system, and bristle at the notion that macroeconomics may be more than the sum of individual business strategies.
more
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/03/18/high-fallutin-nazis/?smid=re-share
phantom power
(25,966 posts)I'm sure part of the fury of our Galtian Overlords is that people like Krugman threaten to explain to the rest of us that they're all emperors with no clothes.
kimbutgar
(21,168 posts)My mother in law who lives in red Arizona refuses to shop at home depot because she heard the head guy is a right winger. I don't know where she heard it but I was surprised.
I rarely go there and only after hitting lowes, and orchard. Now I will Never go there again. What a jerk.