If you look at my front page I have the words at the top right Annoy Scott Sumner-read Diary of a Republican Hater. Now someone innocent of the monetary wars of the last few years may well wonder why I give Sumner such a hard time.
Well, believe it or not, it's self defense. Sumner is just like his idol, Milton Friedman in good ways and bad. One bad way is like Friedman he is as dishonest intellectually as he has to be. Another way, is he is a pompous bully when you don't agree with him. Here's an example right here-LVM the Pragmatic Capitalism reader noticed this.
"Here’s Scott Sumner calling one of his readers a moron:
Well, believe it or not, it's self defense. Sumner is just like his idol, Milton Friedman in good ways and bad. One bad way is like Friedman he is as dishonest intellectually as he has to be. Another way, is he is a pompous bully when you don't agree with him. Here's an example right here-LVM the Pragmatic Capitalism reader noticed this.
"Here’s Scott Sumner calling one of his readers a moron:
“More evidence that you are a complete moron.”
"Cullen, he also says you’re sensitive and misrepresenting his views."
Read more at http://pragcap.com/are-we-in-a-stock-market-bubble#61fqMkHGZmeh0L8u.99
I think anyone who has read a few sentences from me knows that's just spiteful slander on Sumner's part for him to call me a moron. Yet, the bigger point is even if it were true-suppose I were a moron? Would this make Sumner's conduct any better? Is this how he teaches his classes at Bentley where if he gets a student in his class who disagrees with him or is even a moron he belittles him in front of the rest of the class for kicks? There's term for that: a bully. That's what Sumner is-a very thin-skinned, small-minded bully.
Read more at http://pragcap.com/are-we-in-a-stock-market-bubble#61fqMkHGZmeh0L8u.99
You'd think that as both an economist and an educator he'd try to encourage lay people who try to get more engaged with economics. However, with me he's tried time and again to convince me that I'm a moron, I don't understand economics, I never will, and I should give up. I hope it's obvious that he has not bee successful.
What he fails to get is the economic concept of the free good. Sumner is frustrated when I give him a hard time but he fails to get that as he's a jerk to me whether I'm nice or not, I might as well give him a hard time. That's the economic point that bullies always forget: if you're mean to someone no matter what they do then they have no choice but to fight back.
Cullen Roche's reply to LVM nailed Sumner and his Market Monetarists and what they're all about:
"The Market Monetarist people aren’t out to learn, engage in a discourse or try to understand other people’s views. They are promoting NGDP targeting. That’s it. It’s a policy agenda. And if you disagree or get in the way of that agenda then they call you names, misrepresent your point to reinforce their own, accuse you of being the bad guy, and do anything in their power to tear down your position so they can build up their own. There’s no point in engaging them if you don’t agree with their policy agenda."
That's exactly right. We have to fight back. I know a lot of Keynesian types whether MMT or MR or just plain old Keynesian-'post' or otherwise-prefer to ignore the MMers. I think that's the wrong approach. That's why this blog is kind of what my commentator Greg dubbed it once: the blog to read about STSSS-'Stupid things Scott Sumner Says.'
Think of my like the economic and monetary version of Media Matters-I read Sumner so you don't have to-though I'd recommend that you do-if you don't want to comment there I understand, that can be a very nasty business as the above insult Sumner through my way indicates.
Still, I need your help. I am very interested in econ and yes you may have noticed that I know a little about it but still can use any things you know that can help out in the effort .A perfect example is the job that Peter P. did in answering Mark Sadowski's attempt to intimidate by the use of Granger Causality (GC).
http://diaryofarepublicanhater.blogspot.com/2013/11/id-like-to-welcome-mark-sadowski-to.html
What I mean if you understand things-like for instance, GC-definetly give me your knolwedge and analysis as it certainly is welcome and helps. I defintely can use your help if we're to fight back against the reletnless attacks of Sumner against average Americans-who he says are too stupid to even have an opinion about economic matters.
Still, I need your help. I am very interested in econ and yes you may have noticed that I know a little about it but still can use any things you know that can help out in the effort .A perfect example is the job that Peter P. did in answering Mark Sadowski's attempt to intimidate by the use of Granger Causality (GC).
http://diaryofarepublicanhater.blogspot.com/2013/11/id-like-to-welcome-mark-sadowski-to.html
What I mean if you understand things-like for instance, GC-definetly give me your knolwedge and analysis as it certainly is welcome and helps. I defintely can use your help if we're to fight back against the reletnless attacks of Sumner against average Americans-who he says are too stupid to even have an opinion about economic matters.
Bullying is the way of someone who knows their arguments cant hold up to rational discourse. Bullying is endemic to the modern American conservative way of thought. Look at Rove, Cheney, Limbaugh, Issa, Scalia and Fox News. Bullies every one of them. Their first instinct is to degrade and then point and laugh instead of honest back and forth. Their assumptions arent to be questioned, like the assumption that govt is always the problem or that privatization will always improve outcomes.
ReplyDeleteThe bullies are being questioned now and interestingly they accuse their questioners of bullying. Its common to hear Obama called a bully, a clear example of projection. I know Sumner likes to claim he's not a republican in an attempt to make his arguments sound technical as opposed to political and that Sadowski claimed somewhere that he was a democrat ............... but I aint buying it.
I hate bullies.
Agreed Greg. Sumner's whole hook is to claim to just want apolitical tehnocratic governance out of the CB. However, the very idea of apoliticaness is a red herring.
ReplyDeleteFor me what matters is not whether Sumnner says nice things or not nice things about Republcians but whether he supports their fiscal policies and the answer here is clearly yes.Note I emphasized fiscal because if you don't put that he'd say "You're a moron-I have repeatedly explained how I support pot legalization, what Republican does that?'
Right. Also one of the issues we have in econ I think is getting folks to agree on what a particular term means. Fiscal vs Monetary is one clear example. Sumner seems to want to appear contrarian as a way to separate himself from the clearly dysfunctional current status quo but in doing so he often takes liberty to redefine things so they fit HIS model exactly. I think some of his points are valid especially regarding interest rates but he likes to create his own world too often. When you are the creator of a world you get to dictate what goes on in it.
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