Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Economic Fallacies

I believe there are so many fallacies, failed theories, and erroneous planning in the world of Economics because of the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle.  The great thinkers, planners, and mathematicians fail to account for the human factor and, in particular, how human beings react to their changing surroundings.

We are not robots. We will not do what you say. We may act one way today but a different way tomorrow. We do not know our futures, and therefore neither do you. We will not respond to incentives the way you think we will. We will not respond to all incentives. We all will not respond to incentives the same way.

Economics fails not because it’s a faulty science but because our "leaders" see it as a means of controlling us, our wealth, and our potential to produce. Regardless of the merits of their intentions, Economics cannot be used to control or predict; it can only be used to measure and explain. As Adam Smith tried in vain to tell us...the greatest amount of wealth will not be created by organizing people toward a common goal but by leaving them alone to work towards their own individual goals.

Of the hundreds of examples of planned economies in the past 3000 years, none of them have matched the level of production of the Invisible Hand, which has sadly been seen rarely, such as in parts of American history, tiny pockets of Europe, and in Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, and only a few other places.

We are doomed to produce less than our potential because we let our “leaders” tell us what to do.  The stronger they get, the more power they have, and the more parts of the economy they control…the poorer we will be.

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