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Strategies & Market Trends : The Epic American Credit and Bond Bubble Laboratory -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Chispas who wrote (7327)	2/8/2004 12:09:28 PM
From: Jim Willie CB	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 110194

most economists come from one of the following: - government front man - political priesthood - Keynesian apologist - brokerage harlot - corporate nuisance - research institution gadfly - academic quack "A Statistician's Indictment of Economists: 12 Counts of Incompetence, Deception, Collusion" by Jim Willie CB August 21, 2003 financialsense.com COUNTS WITHIN INDICTMENT: 1) Ignorance and Revision of History 2) Intellectual Support of an Intervention Policy 3) Disputable Assumptions used as Policy Foundation 4) Myopic Statistical Analysis Methods 5) Incomplete Statistical Analysis System 6) Legislative Divisions to Promote Political Agendas 7) Institutional Conflict of Interest 8) Distortion in Economic Reporting 9) Pursuit of Public Adulation by Fed Chairman (Pied Piper) 10) Collusion with Corrupt Financial Power Elite 11) Deceptive Indoctrination of Economic Definitions 12) Benign Negligence during Pillage of National Gold Treasure While economist capabilities are generally competent, an acidic vein runs through much of their work. Vibrant statistical lifeblood has been largely displaced by political inspiration. Work might frequently be described as analytically shoddy, deceptive in representation, and clinging to heretical and discredited methods. Overtly misleading aggregate statistics are now routinely disseminated as part of their (witch)craft. Lately, psychological defensive fronts have been opened, which employ “1984-like” group-speak to deceptively redefine economic terms. Has Political Correctness now infected economics? This indictment is not intended as humorous, nor as legally binding. Before citing the 12 counts in detail, I will expand upon three critical background factors which create conditions ripe for exploitation by this bungling and largely inept profession. The scientific method is not an integral weapon in their arsenal. The nature of economics renders deficient policy nearly impossible to disprove. Most challenges degrade into a useless political debate. Illiteracy among the public leads to submission, silence, blind trust, desperation, and surprisingly deep commitment of capital in the form of life savings. The public either accepts the system for what it is, or distrusts it while feeling helpless, commitment notwithstanding. Academia has built an economist ivory tower with the majority of paths more political than analytical. The eyes of Nobel are very much aware, shunning their heretical enclaves. The leading academic economist communities have mutated into political priesthood, hawking ideology every bit as much as Karl Marx. After delineation of the charges, a conclusion is offered as Friends of the Court are cited. Their numbers are few, but their economic forecasting efforts are as significant and expert as they are unwelcome and accurate. (Stephen Roach, Bernstein, Sullivan, Gross, Krugman, Wyss, Kasriel, Sohn, Puplava, Batra) / jim

To: Chispas who wrote (7327)	2/8/2004 12:22:08 PM
From: mishedlo	Respond to of 110194

Just last week, Eastman Kodak Co. said it would cut 15,000 jobs as it redefines itself to keep pace with the market for digital products. Kraft Foods Inc. said it would cut 6,000 jobs and close 20 plants as it reported lower fourth-quarter earnings. Both Dow Chemical and rival DuPont Co. reported higher-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings and gave optimistic forecasts for this year -- but still announced plans to cut more jobs. And in a trend consistent across the banking industry, Wells Fargo & Co. last month reported strong fourth-quarter profit, but said it cut 7,500 of its 10,000 temporary mortgage positions since September. More layoffs are on the way, the company said. Meanwhile, only 1,000 new jobs were created in December, the Labor Department said. Last week, initial claims for state jobless benefits fell by 1,000, to 342,000, from the previous week. John Lonski, chief economist at Moody's Investor Service, predicted job growth could start as early as March, based in the rapid increase nationwide in company productivity. [This guy is really clueless: more productivity equals less jobs - mish] [This next sentence is what it all boils down to - mish] "Economists keep saying that these companies should be hiring," he said. "But they're not." biz.yahoo.com ======================================================================== Economists are clueless Mish