The Myth of the Muttering Madman is a project in self-realization.

Tuesday, September 04, 2007

e·con·o·my

I've always thought of Bram Cohen as a snotty nosed little kid - despite him being primarily responsible for revolutionising file sharing on the internet (BitTorrent) - however his last few posts on his blog have really been jiving with me. I've been thinking about the logic behind global economic theory and the share market more and more lately. Not much of it makes sense. Cost increases over time. People are given good credit ratings for effectively being a "high credit risk". Western Australian politicians positively stain their shorts when the President of China visits their state - "We can make billions".

What gives? I'm expected to be impressed by economic theorists building economic models which borrow from expansionist theories of the universe? I can type equations into LaTeX? That undoubtedly lends weight to my malignant stupidity. Give me a break! What data supports this? People like Nick are swayed by the mathematics. They have no idea what it means. Who are they to lend weight to the ideas presented here? Do they? Undoubtedly not.

So Cohen launches into self obsessed rant after rant, but it's invariably enteraining:

Mortgage Lending
Insurance Rates

Well I'm going to learn something about it and get back to you all. I suspect it'll be as scientific as psychology and about a rational as postmodernism.

Greed factored into the economic equation? Doesn't seem quite so illogical anymore.

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