Outrageous fiscal mendacity is neither historically normal nor bipartisan. It’s a modern Republican thing.

It's a funny thing, by the way, how people who love free markets are also quite sure that they know that investors are being irrational.

Under the gold standard America had no major financial panics other than in 1873, 1884, 1890, 1893, 1907, 1930, 1931, 1932, and 1933.

...academic credentials are neither a necessary nor a sufficient condition for having your ideas taken seriously. If a famous professor repeatedly says stupid things, then tries to claim he never said them, there's no rule against calling him a mendacious idiot - and no special qualifications required to make that pronouncement other than doing your own homework.Conversely, if someone without formal credentials consistently makes trenchant, insightful observations, he or she has earned the right to be taken seriously, regardless of background.

I have friends, political scientists, sociologists, who all share an interest at least in certain kinds of science fiction.

The habit of disguising ideology as expertise has created a deficit of legitimacy.

These days, however, the main problem comes from the right - from conservatives who, unlike most economists, really do think that the free market is always right - to such an extent that they refuse to believe even the most overwhelming scientific evidence if it seems to suggest a justification for government action.