Truth in Labeling

What air-head does not consider himself or herself sufficiently qualified to address economic issues on seemingly no better grounds than that they have learned how to balance a check-book? The foolishness that attends such discussions on television  reminds me of the babbling I used to hear in barber-shops when I was a kid. For the sake of whatever credibility TV news reporting might still have, I suggest that every broadcast that deals with economic matters contain Murray Rothbard’s warning at the bottom of the screen:

“It is no crime to be ignorant of economics, which is, after all, a specialized discipline and one that most people consider to be a ‘dismal science.’ But it is totally irresponsible to have a loud and vociferous opinion on economic subjects while remaining in this state of economic ignorance.”

Would you allow journalism-school graduates, or Hollywood celebrities, or anyone at MSNBC to perform brain surgery on you? If not, why would you listen to equally qualified nitwits inform you that higher gasoline prices are caused by investment speculators?

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11:23 am on March 10, 2012