I think Stockman is an interesting sort of amalgam.

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

However, the fact that an economist offers a theoretical analysis does not and should not automatically command respect. What is needed is some assurance that the analysis is actually relevant.

Can we break the machine that is imposing right-wing radicalism on the United States? The scariest part is that the media is part of that machine.

For most Americans, economic growth is a spectator sport.

In short, what the living wage is really about is not living standards, or even economics, but morality. Its advocates are basically opposed to the idea that wages are a market price-determined by supply and demand, the same as the price of apples or coal. And it is for that reason, rather than the practical details, that the broader political movement of which the demand for a living wage is the leading edge is ultimately doomed to failure: For the amorality of the market economy is part of its essence, and cannot be legislated away.

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.