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To: yard_man who wrote (108629)	6/13/2001 7:42:53 PM
From: Mark Adams	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 436258

I get frustrated with this type of material, 'aimed at the lay person' as it's just a teaser. If you try to recreate the work, there isn't enough detail to even get started. That suggests that it's aimed for a more sophisticated audience or that it fails in its purpose, that being conveying an issue of concern to lay people. It's not likely that he's just baffling us with bullshit, is it? I agree with you on wading through fully documented material to extract the points of interest- would loose much of the audience. Yet this is where the web excels- put in links for additional detail. Or footnotes or an appendix documenting methods.

To: yard_man who wrote (108629)	6/13/2001 11:08:49 PM
From: Ilaine	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 436258

Now, Tip, why don't you PM Corrigan and ask him where he gets his data - every reference I've seen is to BLS, IRS, and FRB. So we're all working with the same data here, I think. The "debt to GDP" ratio/proportion/comparison is a new one on me, but that doesn't mean anything in and of itself. I was browsing economic data at the George Mason library this evening - mind-boggling, how much there is. Shelves upon shelves. I'd never claim to have all the answers, and I am leery of anyone who does. I admit to being biased in favor of people who have Ph.D.'s in economics, and publish their analysis in peer-reviewed journals. That doesn't mean that they are right, but it means they've made the effort to learn how to do it. Just as I'd never trust an amateur, no matter how intelligent, to perform the functions of an EE. As a lawyer, I know all too well that just having a law degree and a bar certificate doesn't mean a whole heck of a lot by itself, but without it, you are missing more than just a couple of fancy sheets of paper. Credentials don't guarantee competence, but lack of training is really detrimental to competence. Don't let the fact that trained professionals make mistakes blind you to the importance of training. I do concede that a gifted self-taught amateur with patience and persistence and good insight can do extremely well, but those people have the functional equivalent of professional training, the hard way.