I know not if Greenspan still espouses any allegiance to Rand or Objectivism. I do know that if he does, he should be glad that Rand is 27 years dead, for she would have long since performed the Objectivist analogy to excommunication on his pathetic poser ass…

AleG

“There is a compelling argument that the media’s growing ability to shape economic sentiment in its reporting of the financial crisis should bring with it commensurate responsibility.”

…just an easy strawman among thousands of alleged “journalists”. He’s merely a biased pundit, performer, and sometime political stenographer.

Professional news ‘Journalists’ should, as a bare minimum qualification, be truth-seekers & truth-tellers.

Few meet that base standard… which is blatantly obvious in any contact with the daily product of the dominant news media.

The problem is not “credulous and fatuous” journalists — but that the credential of professional-journalist is assumed to be true for anybody in the media who claims it.

Our mainstream “Journalists” are not sources of truth — so why be so frustrated by mere mislabeling ?

The thing that really irks me however is when actual economists like Krugman, Stiglitz, DeLong and others use this type terminology…and seem to believe it.

When a lightweight like Juan Williams uses this type of language as Klein describes, it’s bad enough. Klein is right to say that Williams:

“has the political-economy understanding of a fifth-grader”

But what about actual economists?

Outside of popular jargon, the term “Free Markets” actually has a real meaning on both an analytical and prescriptive level.

Economists like those I mentioned must surly know what those real meanings are…right?

Yet, no matter how many times I see economists take shots at Bush with terms like “Free Marketeer” or Greenspan with the same words and “Randian” and “Libertarian”, I can’t help but steam a little inside.

I don’t know how many times to no avail I have asked what is so “Randian” about Greenspan’s policy record at the Fed. Same for Bush. Like I’ve said, I don’t care how much of fan Greenspan is of Rand in his private life. It has absolutely no substantive relevance in informing Greenspan’s actions in his government post.

Greenspan may also have been a fan of Flash Gordon or the Green Arrow in youth. SO what?

“I grew up in an extremely secular home in New York City. I am officially Jewish, but I’m Jewish in the same way that the Olive Garden is an Italian restaurant. Which is to say: not very. I attended no Hebrew school, ate no matzoh. The closest my family came to observing Judaism was that paradoxical classic of assimilation: a Star of David on top of our Christmas tree.”

OK, I guess it was very exotic and “European” in a very American way. But my European self found it quite confusing to be greeted in French in a restaurant claiming to be Italian. Maybe “bon giorno” is too difficult to pronounce for the average headwaiter wannabe?

In any case, I guess the analogy is double-valid: Bush’s policies are pretty “French” in substance…